Small fry lessons

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is hoping squeamish third graders are the key to keeping salmon runs healthy and the ecology of fish intact in the future.

More than a thousand Mat-Su students are participating in the STREAM program -- Salmon Trout Restoration Education and Aquatic Management -- developed by ADF&G that is a yearlong study of the life cycle of salmon, in which students get hands-on lessons throughout the year, from this week's egg take at Spring Creek to fly tying in the middle of winter and then the release of classroom-grown salmon fry in the spring.

"It's a terrific teaching tool for us," said Butte teacher Dwight Homstad. "The kids love being a part of it. It really becomes their project because they are involved with every part of the process."

The process began Monday and Tuesday at Spring Creek, off Old Matanuska Road on the Glenn Highway. There, ADF&G biologists Fritz Kraus and Craig Baer hosted classroom after classroom. Spawning salmon from the creek were contained in a large net, and students got to see the incubation process up close and personal.

During each session, a female coho salmon was killed and her eggs taken. A male coho was then killed and his sperm was added to the eggs. Kraus hurried the incubation along by adding water and circulating it, simulating fertilization as it happens in nature.

During each step, students would squirm and shriek as the "oooh, that's gross" process continued.

Each class participating in the program then took the fertilized eggs to their rooms with them, and throughout the year, will watch as fry go from egg stage, to eyed egg stage, to sac fry and then to actual salmon fry.

"The kids really get into it and want to learn more about a salmon's life cycle," Kraus said. "They are the future biologists."

According to the ADF&G Web site, the "STREAM program, through these classroom salmon egg incubation projects, promotes an understanding of the life cycle and biology of salmon, habitat requirements, responsible angling, and how we can protect Alaska's abundant wild salmon stocks well into the future."

For teachers, the program is an invaluable tool. Every day, students come to class eager to see what physical changes have taken place in their aquarium, which makes even more eager to learn.

"There are so many things that we can do in relation to the project too," Homstad said. "We do water quality monitoring at Bodenburg Creek which is about a half-mile away from school as a part of the ecology program."

Monday, while a steady rain pounded the students, Kraus and Baer not only did the egg take, but also gave students lessons in habitat and biology. They were amazed at how much students already knew about the physical features of salmon.

During the hour presentation -- which Baer and Kraus treat like an educational comedy routine to the delight of the students -- Baer joked with the students that while the program was in Anchorage, Kraus told the students he would buy them burgers if they knew the name of every fin on a salmon.

"He didn't have to buy any burgers for the kids in Anchorage," Baer joked. "But he better not offer that deal to you guys. You guys are smart," he said as the students gave him an ovation.