Students get all tied up

CASEY RESSLER Frontiersman Valley Life editor

Alaska Department of Fish and Game program scores big with students

MEADOW LAKES — Students from around the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District are getting hands-on training in fly fishing this week and next week, thanks to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's year-long salmon program.

Throughout the year, students in selected classrooms are raising salmon, from the egg phase all the way to the fry phase, and then releasing them in Matanuska Lake this spring.

The students learn how to tie flies that resemble each stage in the salmon's development through the program.

"I liked the alevin [a stage in a salmon's life] the best because we used shiny stuff on it," said Marcus Ralph, a third-grader in Linda Reger's Meadow Lakes Elementary class. "I liked it because it had eyes, too."

The students tied four patterns — an egg, an eyed egg, alevin and fry. The alevin and fry patterns included a set of eyes, made of two links from a bead chain. Craig Baer and Fritz Kraus from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were on hand to teach and help the students, as were members of the Alaska Fly Fishers, a large organization that offers similar free clinics to children twice a month in Anchorage.

"I think this is a great, wonderful program for the kids," said Larry Willis, a member of the Alaska Fly Fishers who helped during the afternoon. "They really get into learning about tying flies. It's rewarding for them because they do it themselves, and they have something to show for it. I'm amazed because they are turning out a decent product after a few hours of doing it."

Willis said the program is not so much about the future of the sport of fly fishing, but about education.

"You can't go out to a stream and see all four stages of a salmon's life, so this is a good way to teach the students in a fun way for them," Willis said. "I look at it as helping increase interest in a fantastic recreational resource in Alaska."

Reger said her students, along with students from Bettina Williams' class at Meadow Lakes, have been interested in the salmon project since the very beginning. They had to collect the eggs and fertilize them in the fall, and every day they have to monitor things such as the appearance of the eggs and the water temperature.

"The kids are very interested in every phase of this project," Reger said. "They get a thrill out of growing a live fish in our classroom. Right now, our eggs are eyed and are almost ready to start turning into alevin. They kids check it every day to see if they are alevin yet."

The program is being conducted district-wide, as well as in Anchorage. Baer and Kraus have been involved with every aspect of the program, from egg capture to setting up the aquariums.

In the spring, they will host a Coho Carnival, where the students from the participating classrooms will come and release their fry into Matanuska Lake.

"The kids just love it," Kraus said. "I like seeing them get excited about something like this."

The kids aren't the only participants who enjoy the program, either. The teachers are just as enthusiastic.

"They are learning a lot about biology, ecology and the environment through the program, and they are learning their responsibilities as citizens," Reger said. "They are learning they have to take care of the environment, and what role a good citizen can play.

"The whole salmon curriculum has been fun for us," Reger added.

Kraus and Baer have already taught fly-tying classes at Goose Bay, Snowshoe, Finger Lake, Meadow Lakes, Butte, Tanaina and Willow elementary schools this week.

Next week, they are teaching similar classes to Sherrod students, meaning they will have taught eight schools in five days. That doesn't include classes in Anchorage, which Kraus and Baer also cover.

Last year at the Coho Carnival, more than 1,000 students released their fry and learned about other environmental issues at Matanuska Lake.

A similar program took place in Anchorage as well.