Salmon Watch Program

Students’ names: Kaitlynn Stallard and Megan Seymour
Teacher’s name: Tim Whitley

Rachel Carson’s participation in Salmon Watch:
Beginning the first year of the Salmon Watch program in the Eugene area (1998), Rachel Carson students have participated in this fantastic educational opportunity. The Salmon Watch program allows the students to have a direct experience with wild salmon and their environment and provides for a hands-on and engaging introduction to our 6-week unit on Pacific salmon. In addition to participating in the trip each November to learn about and view salmon, many Rachel Carson students have volunteered to help as leaders for groups of other Salmon Watch participants. Many former students relate to me that the Salmon Watch experience was very important to them and have even taken parents and friends to various viewing sites to share the experience.

The Salmon Watch Program is designed to help public school students learn about and understand the importance of wild salmon. This program is sponsored by Oregon Trout in Portland, a nonprofit organization. Two students (Kaitlynn and Megan) from Churchill High School’s Rachel Carson program volunteered to help with Shasta Middle School and Madison Middle School’s salmon watch trips this fall.

Our job was to teach students about water quality including the basics of how important it is to have clean, cold water for the salmon to live in. We taught the middle school students how to run pH tests, dissolved oxygen, and water temperature measurements. Once they understood how to run these tests they were able to do them in teams. We also identified various types of aquatic macro invertebrates. We used nets to sweep the bottom of the stream to collect the water bugs and put them in trays to observe them closer.

The participants enjoyed being in the natural environment and seemed to enjoy the hands on activities. They were interested and open to learning new information. Running various water tests was a highlight because they felt in control. It was nice to have the opportunity to educate young people about a variety of factors that influence the health of wild salmon. This field trip was a great experience for the students to get out in the environment, away form the class room and lean about wild salmon in their natural environment.