by Jack Hulgan

It’s that time again! The pinks are back to spawn, and we are taking the opportunity to educate the children of the White River School District on their beautiful life cycle with a series of field trips. 2025 has been an excellent year for education due to the biennial mating cycle of pink salmon, and we kicked off our salmon education program with a visit to South Prairie Creek Preserve.

After a quick hike and debrief, the kids started their field trips right on the banks of the creek. The aroma of salmon finalizing their life cycles coupled with sounds of splashing mothers building redds added to the weight that we were witnessing a process millions of years in the making. Interested in the unique smells and behaviors, we learned the importance of this migration back to freshwater and how those smells were signs of vital nutrients gathered from the ocean being deposited into this ecosystem. These smells attracted beneficial insects which would eventually provide food for the hatching fry. Large trees, riparian plants, and woody debris were identified, and their importance in cooling and enriching the local waters was made apparent.

The first stop at South Prairie Creek Preserve with students pointing out salmon.

Once the creek was viewed and discussed from multiple angles, we returned into the forest for another walk to our next station! Binoculars and magnifying glasses fostered our visual curiosity, and we searched high and low for bugs, birds, and bones! Bones collected and cleaned on site gave the kids a chance to reinforce the importance of the life cycle on the local ecology. 

Students interested in the function of the venation in fallen leaves.

The final activity gave us the confidence that we too can make a positive impact on the environment and lend a helping hand to our pink friends. A planting demo conducted by our hardworking staff, volunteers, and Americorps service members taught us that we have the knowhow and power to recognize important native species, understand their position in the ecosystem, and make an educated effort in restoring habitat for such a vital resource: salmon!

Students planting a native tree with the help of an Americorps Service Member, Maria.

We’d like to thank all of the hardworking educators and volunteers for the White River School District for making this wonderful opportunity possible! Loving and wanting salmon to thrive is a great start, but fully understanding their position within the greater ecosystem allows our future conservationists to build a holistic foundation for restoration work moving forward. Nothing reinforces an ecological framework like seeing a beaver cut down a tree to further diversify a creek, bones of mammals playing a crucial role in regulating vegetation, or a rotting pink salmon providing for the next generation! These field trips are just the beginning! Over the next few months, classes will receive salmon eggs where they will care for them as they grow. Once the fry reach a good size, we will return them to a local stream to begin the lifecycle we witnessed at the field trips!

A huge thanks to the staff and volunteers that helped make these lessons possible. Interested in becoming an education volunteer? Check out our Education Volunteer Program!