Recently Trout Unlimited volunteers helped students think like a fish to have some fun in the sun while learning about the plight of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. (submitted photo)
Recently Trout Unlimited volunteers helped students think like a fish to have some fun in the sun while learning about the plight of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. (submitted photo)
Recently Klickitat Trout Unlimited volunteers reached out to local youth to think like a fish to help them better understand salmon and the challenges they face while having some fun.
Lisa Beranek, Tom Fritsch, Shari Trout, and Laurie Wilhite of Klickitat Trout Unlimited Chapter volunteered as part of the after school enrichment program at White Salmon’s Whitson Elementary in May. Around a dozen Whitson students showed up after the regular school day to learn more about the salmon life cycle while exploring active games, art, and casting. Longtime Trout Unlimited member and avid local fisherman Tom Fritsch joined a session and to teach the students how to cast a fishing rod properly.
Session topics in the Whitson Elementary’s outdoor classroom included making postcards of the salmon life cycle, making watershed replicas out of brownies, discussions on what fish eat, and acting out a salmon life cycle obstacle course. In this last of the many engaging activities, the students were divided into two groups: students acting as salmon traveling up a river with the other group of students acting out the challenges that salmon face as they progress up the river (predators, dam turbines, waterfalls, warm water, etc).
The lively student salmon first have to play rochambeau (rock, paper, and scissors hand game) to advance to more developed stages of the life cycle. The cycle is continuous according to Beranek, Klickitat Trout Unlimited volunteer. “The life cycle of salmon is like a circle, it never ends. As salmon live, they go through different life stages like humans have their own life stages: eggs, alevin, fry, parr, smolt, and adult salmon which will likely reproduce if conditions are conducive. Each life stage has its own habitat needs. We are trying to replicate that with our students in a fun and memorable way,” she said.
Predators and obstacles that get in the way of salmon trying to reach spawning spots include predators (birds, bears, humans), man-made structures (dams and insufficient culverts), river conditions (waterfalls, water quantity, habitat damage, water quality issues) and many others. During the salmon obstacle course, half of the students acted as if they were salmon and ran the gauntlet of obstacles while other students acted out the challenges. If a “salmon” failed to pass an obstacle, they had to go back to the beginning of obstacle course and consider a new strategy using the information they learned about salmon in the wild.
The mission of Trout Unlimited is to conserve, protect and restore North America’s cold water fisheries and their watersheds. There are local chapters active in Klickitat and Clark Counties in addition to chapters around the Portland metro area. The Klickitat Trout Unlimited Chapter members work with local efforts to increase fish conservation and fun through a variety of activities including tree plantings, informative talks, kids’ events and casting clinics.
“The Whitson students were a delight to work with,” said Laurie Wilhite. “My favorite part of volunteering for this Trout Unlimited three-part series of activities was watching students go through the salmon obstacle course. The students were learning about the salmon life cycle while having fun outdoors on a beautiful spring day,” she added.
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