Union seventh graders are students are raising salmon

Published 11:00 am Sunday, March 10, 2024

UNION — The long list of hats Union High School science teacher Greg Poor wears at Union High School has a new addition — salmon hatchery manager.

Two hundred tiny coho salmon are now being raised at the school by some of Poor’s students.

The coho salmon are in a 10-gallon aquarium and will be released in April into Catherine Creek where they will begin their migration to the Pacific Ocean. There they will spend three to four years before, if they survive, will return to spawn in Catherine Creek.

The young salmon, known as fry at this stage of their development, are from eggs provided by the Oregon Department of Fish Wildlife’s fish hatchery near Irrigon in December. The fertilized eggs for the coho salmon were placed in an aquarium by Poor in his classroom in December before the start of the holiday break. By the time school had started again in early January, the aquarium was filled with tiny fish which had emerged from their eggs.

The sight amazed Poor’s students.

“It was like a Christmas present,” Union seventh grader Jenna Johnson said.

Poor’s students are raising the coho salmon as part of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fish Eggs to Fry program. The ODFW provides not only salmon eggs but also educational materials about the life cycles of salmon for students and their teachers at schools across the state. The primary intent of the program is to educate students about the life cycles of salmon and trout, according to Marty Olson of The Dalles, the program coordinator of the ODFW’s Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program.

Isabelle Schmidt, also a Union seventh grader, said she too was thrilled by the sight of the young salmon.

“This is so cool, raising these fish is exciting,” she said.

The 200 salmon are now about a half-inch long and are growing fast. They will soon have to be moved to a new 30-gallon tank in about a week as a result of the growth. The tank was donated to Poor’s class by a community member.

Poor is impressed with the work his students are doing.

“They are doing a wonderful job,” said Poor, who teaches science and life skills at the high school and is its head baseball coach and a junior high football coach.

Getting ready for Catherine Creek

Many others at the high school, which serves students in grades 7-12, also come in frequently to check in on the progress of the salmon.

“All kinds of students are excited about it,” Poor said.

The water the salmon are being raised in is from Catherine Creek. This is being done to get the fish accustomed to the water they will be released into this spring.

“We want to get them acclimated,” Poor said.

Carli Satterfield is among the seventh graders who walk to Catherine Creek to fill buckets with water for the aquarium. She said she enjoys getting the water and seeing first hand how the salmon are developing.

“It is a wonderful experience,” Satterfield said.

Seventh-grader Danik Sealey said he is anxious to see if any of the coho make it back to Catherine Creek as adults. He said he would like to be waiting for them if any return.

The water the salmon are being raised in is about 40 degrees, a temperature maintained by an electrically powered cooler. The water is cooled to also get the salmon acclimated to Catherine Creek.

Poor said that as the release date nears, the temperature of the water will be adjusted slightly to get it precisely at what it will be in Catherine Creek in April.

Union School District Superintendent Carter Wells is a big fan of the work Poor’s students are doing with the salmon.

“It is a great project for our students,” he said. “It provides an opportunity for them to learn about the environment in the Catherine Creek basin.”

Wells said the salmon program is a big credit to Poor.

“He does a phenomenal job of bringing in different ways for students to learn about and connect with science in our environment,” he said.