After almost two months since students welcomed new salmon eggs into the classroom, Ruch students finally transported grown-up fry to the Rogue River for release into the wild.
As part of the Salmon Watch Project, students have been studying the salmon life cycle, habitat requirements, trends in native salmon populations in the southern Oregon, and the cultural significance of salmon to local communities including Native American tribes. Joined by a fish biologist from the US Fish & Wildlife Department and parent volunteers, students gave their farewell haikus to their incredible salmon friends as they began their long jounrey to the Pacific Ocean. Hopefully some will return from the ocean to spawn in the gravel redds just as the middle school students are graduating from high school!
Learn more about the salmon class in the Mail Tribune and on KOBI-TV NBC channel 5.