|
Salmon Watch includes a classroom curriculum tied directly to state benchmarks and a streamside field trip where students observe spawning salmon and conduct field studies including water quality analysis, macroinvertebrate distribution, and riparian assessments. The program ends with a service learning project, which gives youth an opportunity to put their learning into practice to benefit their community. Previous projects have included streamside vegetation restoration and salmon carcass placement.
“The Salmon Watch® program is a premier example of an
outstanding environmental program available to middle and high school
students. —Betsy Berg, Corvallis High School Teacher
Salmon Watch® is the only program of its kind in Oregon and
a number of organizations have recognized its unique contribution
to Oregon education. The program won the 1997 Governor’s Community
Partnership Award and was cited in 2002 by the U.S. Forest Service
for its success. Most importantly, Salmon Watch® has shown a
46.5% increase in student knowledge of salmon and healthy watersheds
and successfully taught a generation of students the value of watershed
conservation, native fish, and environmental stewardship. |
Oregon
Trout’s Salmon Watch® program fulfills a unique need for
experiential science-based education. Salmon Watch® teaches
middle and high school youth about the importance of watershed stewardship,
using salmon as an indicator of watershed health. Students are engaged
in determining the health of the watershed, and gain an understanding
of riparian ecology and the relationship of humans to our environment.
