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TREES EAT SALMON!!!!!!!!

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The gray clouds that morning were not a new sight for our field trips. Most of our field trips were in the rain or even the snow. I’ve gotten the process down too, thick socks, muck boots, rain pants, fleece, vest, jacket, rain coat,

hat or something else to cover my head, then the hood(s). I’m from the PNW but that doesn’t mean I like to be wet and cold, I mean who even likes to be wet and cold?

That day was not the usual rainy days though; it was a constant and solid rain the whole day. When we were not under the cover of the trees, it was a steady stream. When we were under the cover of the trees, it was huge, fat drops plopping on your face. I actually do love the rain and being in the rain, but not cold and not wet.

I always felt bad for the kids as they come off the bus; some aren’t dressed nearly well enough for being outside for a couple hours in the rain. A lot of the girls had little zip-ups and there were boys with shorts. They get off the bus cheery enough, the warmth that is still with them is deceiving, there were even some foolish enough to play in puddles at the onset of the field trip.

“Don’t get any wetter than we already will!” Mentions a teacher; wise words from a wise woman.

My job in these field trips is always the same, leading the nature walk. The nature walk is really the best of the stations, mostly because I get to lead children around on trails and talk to them about plants while also letting them eat some of them. Plus, who doesn’t like competing to find the biggest Big Leaf Maple leaf?? However, due to the fact that it was the end of November, most of the leaves were gone and mushy, and all the edible plants were becoming a little bitter. I decided that it was time to teach on evergreen trees. It’s a really great lesson to learn, evergreen is different than deciduous. Salmon help trees and trees help salmon. The hardest part was keeping them interested in trees that, from an uneducated eye, looked pretty similar.

The students were really quite interested in all the trees and were talented in noticing the differences between a hemlock, spruce and a cedar (I should mention that they were in 3rd grade). They loved grabbing the spruce because it poked them. What was truly the most exciting was the fact that a chum carcass had washed up on the banks of Friday Creek, right where we usually go see the stream. I got to ask them how trees help salmon, to which they gave many good responses:

“They give them shade!” One little girl said. “And what does that do for salmon?” I’d ask.

“Keeps the water cool!” a boy chips in.

“Are there any OTHER things?” I press.

“Oxygen!” A couple of them would yell. “Now how does that help salmon? Do salmon need oxygen?” There was much fervent nodding.

“They need it to breathe!” says another student.

“Great job! Now, my next question is: How do salmon help trees?” This question always brought o

n many puzzled looks. These answers are really my favorite.

 

“Maybe the salmon splash water onto the tree so that it can be watered?” a little girl asks tentatively.

“When it dies?” says another girl quietly. A little boy said “It’s can’t help it when it dies!!”

 

“Can you expand on that? How can it help when it’s dead?” I tried to encourage, but she didn’t want to continue, which is so sad because she was so close!

“Do trees eat the salmon?!” I asked playfully.

“NO!!!” They all yelled and laughed.

“What?! They don’t reach down with their branches and catch a fish and gobble it all up?!!” I said as I acted like a tree and exaggerating my eating of the delicious salmon. I got many giggles out of this.

“NO!!” they all laughed.

“What?! That’s exactly what happens! When the salmon dies, its body will decompose, break down, and go into the ground where the roots of the trees are. Those nutrients are taken up by the tree and help it to grow! Did you know that scientists have found nutrients from the OCEAN at the tops of trees, miles away from a stream! Now how did those fish get so far away from the stream? I’ll give you a hint, they have claws and teeth…”

“A bear!”

“An eagle!”

“A wolf!”

“A fox!”

“Yes, yes! All good answers!” I said happily, “Do want to see all this happening RIGHT NOW?!” of course this was always responded to with everyone exclaiming,

“YES!!!” to which I would respond by racing them to the shore to see Nature in its natural habitat.

These students really are very smart and they were all troopers even in the wet and cold. It was so fun teaching them about the wonders of the world, being able to show them how exciting science is. I may be a little biased because conservation and restoration really is one of my deepest passions.

 

It was the wettest field trip I have ever been on, but they always are and they’re always great fun.

Warning: Salmon Gore!

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Two Cascade students hold up the chinook that was just dissected in their class.

Science is messy. It’s just a fact. The study of salmon is no exception, especially when it comes to what’s inside. Many people never bother to look past the fillet, but there’s so much more to these fish than that! With the help of longtime volunteer and dissection artist Chris Brown and fellow AmeriCorps member Keelin Maurmann, my mission in October was to bring salmon anatomy into the classroom. Our Junior Stream Stewards spent the month squealing with both delight and disgust as they watched us cut into salmon and reveal the structures within. By the end of the lesson, most students were unfazed by our bloody hands and eager to touch the fish and its organs for themselves.

 

 

A Cascade student holds a salmon heart as Chris Brown prepares to continue the dissection.

You might be surprised how much you have in common with a salmon. Stomach, liver, spleen, and brain are all organs that can be found in both salmon and people. Many shared structures have different adaptations however. For example, salmon have no eyelids. When you live in water, there’s no need to blink to keep your eyes moist! Plus, having their eyes on the sides of their head gives them the best chance to spot predators and prey alike. Another similar organ is the heart. While a human heart has four chambers and is located in the chest between the lungs, a salmon heart has only two chambers and is located between the gills. This allows the fish to efficiently pump its blood out of the heart, through the gills, and on to the rest of its body.

 

 

 

 

 

A La Conner student holds up the gills for inspection while classmates handle the other organs.

Students love guessing about the function of body parts unique to salmon. Every salmon has a large air filled sac in the middle of their body that is often a surprise to students. Don’t be fooled, it isn’t a lung. This is the swim bladder, which helps fish maintain the correct buoyancy in the water. Another cool structure, and one of my personal favorites, is the gills. Just as we use lungs to take oxygen out of the air, fish use gills to take oxygen out of the water. Up close, the gills look and feel like stacks of dark red feathers. All that surface area makes it easier to take up oxygen. The gills are very delicate and are protected from the outside by the bony plates of the gill cover and from the inside by the gill rakers, which filter particles out of the water before reaching the gills. And for the squeamish, even the outside of the fish has a unique sensory structure known as the lateral line. Often a clearly visible dark horizontal line down the side of a fish’s body, the lateral line is made of specialized scales and pores that feel vibrations in the water. These are just a handful of the salmon’s adaptations to aquatic life.

 

A group of La Conner students examines the salmon carcass post-dissection.

At the end of the day, the most memorable part of this lesson wasn’t the anatomy itself, but the hands-on opportunity it gave students. Not a single lesson went by without a crowd of eager participants feeling the fish and organs at the end. Some of the students who made the most extreme faces during the dissection became the most excited to touch the fish. After all, how often do you have the chance to hold gills? I’m glad I was able to help students see salmon in a new way, but I mostly loved simply getting my hands dirty with them in the name of science!

 

 

Special thanks to Chris Brown for teaching me everything I needed to know to lead salmon dissections. And a huge thanks to our sponsors, Fidalgo Fly Fishers, Tulalip Tribes, Samish Indian Nation, WDFW- ALEA Grant, Island Adventures, DOE Clean Samish Initiative, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community,  Skagit County Clean Water Fund , and Mountaineers Foundation for making this and other incredible activities possible through their generous support of Junior Stream Stewards!

 

By WSC Education Associate Emily Jankowski

Wonderful Watersheds

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Two students at Conway School inspect their paper watersheds.

September may signal the end of summer, but it also marks the beginning of another school year. For us, it’s once again time for Junior Stream Stewards. Throughout the year, we lead lessons on salmon and their habitat in area middle schools. This month is all about watersheds!

I have already visited a few schools and one thing is clear: watersheds are a big topic. Like many students at the beginning of our lesson, you may have trouble defining the term, or not know in which watershed you live. Watersheds are large drainage basins, where all the precipitation eventually comes together into a common body of water. Here at SFEG in Mount Vernon, we are in the Skagit River watershed. It’s important to remember that storm drains lead directly into nearby bodies of water as well! Everything we spill has the potential to be carried into the river and pollute it. This connectedness of the watershed as a whole means everyone has a part to play in its stewardship. Our students began learning about the salmon in the Skagit and how they can help preserve their habitat. Picking up trash, planting native plants, and sharing what you know with others are all great ways anyone can be a stream steward.

The aftermath of the rains on one watershed model.

Students concluded the lesson by creating their own unique watershed models. Science and creativity came together during this activity, which students tackled with glee. Papers crumpled enthusiastically all around the room as mountains and valleys took shape. Marker outlines of ridges and valleys predicted where water would flow and then other drawings began to populate these small worlds. Buildings of all kinds were scattered around the small landscapes, representing houses, chain restaurants, schools, amusement parks, and more. In one class, several unicorns could even be seen grazing on the paper hillsides! With everything sketched into place, all our watersheds were missing was the water. Thunderstorms poured out of spray bottles, soaking models and desks alike. Colors ran downhill and collected in little puddles, occasionally washing out or flooding a building. It was a fun way to demonstrate everything we had learned about watersheds. I love seeing everything the students come up with for their watersheds, and I am looking forward to doing it again in the next classroom.

 

By WSC Education Associate Emily Jankowski