OROVILLE – After watching steelhead trout grow from eggs to alevin and then into fry in an aquarium at the Butte Environmental Council office, home school students from throughout Butte County congregated at Riverbend Park Monday to release the baby fish into the Feather River.
“I didn’t know about their life cycle,” said Maya Johnson, 8, as she watched the fry she released into the river swim away. “Of all the stages, I like fry the best.”
The trip to the park for the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students was the culminating activity in their participation in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s statewide Classroom Aquarium Education Program which, is designed to help students learn the value of watersheds, habitats and fish biology.
The 2023-2024 school year is the first time BEC has hosted the education program, making it available to Butte County home school students. BEC joined nine public schools in offering the program in both the fall for salmon and the spring for steelhead. Combined this program reached about 450 local students this school year.
In Butte County, the Classroom Aquarium Education Program is managed by Jada White, fisheries biologist with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission who is a contractor with the California Department of Water Resources.
“As a little girl at Paradise Elementary School we had salmon eggs in an aquarium in the auditorium,” said White. “Without that experience I would never have become a marine biologist or gotten my Ph.D. Because somebody gave me that opportunity it catapulted me into this field. I want to make sure that opportunity is available to this generation.”
The day-to-day program was co-managed by BEC Climate Action Corps fellows Olivia Henderson and Morgan Colling. The pair kept an eye on the tank and its growing inhabitants, provided parents with program curriculum, developed curriculum and created activities for the students that included making fishing line recycling containers from empty tennis ball containers and steelhead or salmon puppets to create a “school of fish” that was on display at Saturday’s Endangered Species Faire in Chico.
Henderson, who grew up fishing and for whom fly fishing remains a “passion,” said managing the program “has been a lot fun.”
“Educating the kids about the fish and the importance they play in the eco system teaches them the importance of preserving these fish,” said Henderson. “ The education the kids get through the program makes a difference because it gives them access to something they wouldn’t otherwise see and, maybe, ignites their interest in science. It’s really rewarding to see the look on the kids’ faces as they see the progression of the fish from a jelly-bean looking egg to a little fish. The look of astonishment on their faces is priceless.”
In addition to releasing the fry into the river students also participated in several other activities including coloring salmon-themed hats, learning about aquatic invertebrates and traditional Maidu ecological knowledge during their field trip. Volunteers from Friends of Butte Creek and Enterprise Rancheria assisted in providing these activities.
Home school parent Jenna Johnson said she appreciated the “opportunity to learn about the environment” BEC gave the students through the Classroom Aquarium Education Program.
“We’re always looking for opportunities for hands-on learning,” said Johnson. “Seeing and experiencing firsthand the entire life cycle of the fish is such a good way to learn about nature.
