Salmon in the classroom, the final chapter

IRON COUNTY – Two busloads of middle school students from Forest Park and West Iron County Schools along with several buckets of small salmon fry converged on the boat landing at Black River Harbor the morning of May 12 for the big release. After raising the small fish from eggs provided by the Michigan DNR last November, the students were ready to release the 3–4-inch fingerlings into the wild.
Each student had a plastic cup full of river water as they lined up to receive a fish. The teachers netted a fish from a transport bucket and carefully transferred it to the student’s cup. After a long winter of feeding the fish, cleaning the fish tanks, making sure the aerators and chillers were working properly; pouring the cup of river water containing the small fish into the river was an exciting moment. “You can love your fish for a while,” middle school science teacher Brianna Walls told them, “But then, let them go.”
Both Brianna Walls at West Iron County and Samantha Dalton, science teacher at Forest Park, have packed a lot of science study into the process of raising the fish. They studied the life cycle of fish. They learned to test for water quality and how important clean water is to living things. They learned about invasive species and how all these pieces fit into a total ecosystem.
The students had another chance for some hands-on learning thanks to the Michigan DNR who brought a fish transport tank to the boat landing. Students had a chance to pet a musky, see other warm water species up close and ask a lot of questions.
After the big release and a picnic lunch, the students had time to explore the beach on Lake Superior. The buses also made a stop along the Black River to explore Gorge and Potawatomi Falls before heading back to campus.
Volunteers from the Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited provided the equipment for the Salmon in the Classroom program. Several of the TU volunteers met the students at the boat landing to experience the project’s grand finale. There were 12 schools participating in the SIC program across the U.P. this year. Fred Waara TU volunteers are hoping to expand the program into more schools this fall, especially after witnessing the students’ enthusiasm and engagement in the SIC program firsthand.