Working with the Quillayute Valley School District
New Pictures Of 7th & 3rd Graders Releasing Fish In Mill Creek
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The Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition feels that educating children about salmon habitat enhancement and nutrient enhancement are a key to the future of salmon survival and human survival. This is a form of conservation for both the salmon and for the future of our children here in the Pacific Northwest.
The communities of the Quillayute Valley School District once based their livelihoods on the logging and wood products industry. Due to recent cuts and regulations, this industry is no longer able to supply the jobs it once did for students who graduate and wish to stay in the area. Our school system is trying, with great success, to offer a curriculum based on the current needs of our community and the environment around us. To view the Quillayute Valley School District website, click here http://www.forks.wednet.edu/ (You will be taken to a different website). To view the Washington Virtual Classroom created by the Quillayute Valley School District in conjunction with eight other school districts in Washington State, click here http://www.wavcc.org/ (You will be taken to a different website). If you wish to return to our site, simply add us to your favorites.
Forks High School Hatchery
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 A student rinses filter components to be reused. |
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The Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition provided the funding for the high school to set up and maintain a 'Fish Farm', also known as a hatchery. There are 3 seven-hundred gallon tanks and a smaller tank for degassing the tapped in city water. The water must be de-chlorinated before it is used for fish rearing or else the fish will fail to thrive and may die. The facility is a 'Quonset hut' set on a concrete foundation.
Click here to see Images from the High School Science Class. (You will be taken to a different website. Click the 'back' button on your browser to return to this page.)
The fish, (mainly Coho salmon) and the food are provided by the Sol Duc Fish Hatchery, and students and coalition members take care of the fish and the maintenance of the water quality. The fish arrive as eyed-eggs. They hatch and spend approximately 4-5 months being reared at the high school facility and are returned to the Sol Duc hatchery to be released with their stock.
Middle School Aquarium Hatchery
7th Grade & 3rd Grade Buddy Program
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In the Library, at the Forks Middle School, Coho salmon are being raised to be released in March of 2002, in prairie creek. They hatched eyed-eggs and have just celebrated the event with a gathering of the "Buddies". The "Buddies" are Mrs. Keene's class of 7th graders and Mrs. Rhorer's class of 3rd graders, that have partnered up and are documenting the lives of these Coho salmon. The two classes get together at arranged times and learn, observe, and keep journals of the growth progress of the fish. The "Buddies" will be going on a field trip together in March to release their fish into the wild. Stay tuned for added pictures of the trips.
Click here to visit the Middle School's 7th graders Salmon In The Classroom page. (You will be taken to a different website. Use your 'back' button on your browser to return to this page.)
This group has also been studying water quality, and they have been documenting the water quality of Prairie Creek. They use field-test kits and hand-held Palms with temperature and PH probes to do their testing. Our Education Liaison attended the last field trip to the creek, and was very impressed at the knowledge and enthusiasm the students had for their work. Our coalition is partially responsible for the funding of this program and has OK'd funds to purchase more equipment for testing, including more probes for the hand-held Palms. We are trying to work toward involving the entire school system, K-12, with the school hatchery program.