Teaching kids about marine environment

A group of Orcas Island youngsters spent the afternoon March 31 planting trees. But this wasn’t some reforestation project, nor was its purpose to beautify the landscape.

The youngsters, all home-schooled and members of the OASIS (Orcas Association of Student Initiated Study) program, were creating a thicket of 150 trees and shrubs that, in time, will provide both shade and food for forage fish and salmon.

It’s being carried out because forage fish such as surf smelt lay their eggs on the beach. The eggs are then eaten by insects that reside on the branches of trees such as willows and alders, which hang over the water. When the insects fall from the branches into the water, they are eaten by the fish.

The program also “helps prevent erosion on the beach,” says Joan Huffman, an OASIS student.

But the primary purpose of the program is to educate kids, explains Tina Whitman, environmental program manager and coordinator of the marine riparian enhancement project which is sponsored by the Friends of the San Juans. Whitman is now conducting similar-type projects on several other islands in the San Juans.

The Friends have been studying forage fish spawning sites for the past three years. But it was only recently that Catherine Laflin, coordinator of OASIS, was able to get her kids into the Friends’ program. “I felt it was right up OASIS’ alley,” Laflin said, “because of its real strong emphasis on environmental studies.”

She then called the Friends and, shortly thereafter, Whitman began her work with the 17 members of OASIS. They range in age from kindergarten through grade eight.

The Orkila site was selected because it qualifies as a surf smelt spawning site, and therefore fits in with the Friends’ goal to “foster habitat for fisheries reproduction,” camp Director Paul Kamin said. Orkila’s new Marine Salmon Science Center has also been a plus, because of its extensive facilities for learning about the marine environment. In fact, the OASIS students have been collecting samples on the beach, then checking for eggs by looking through the camp’s dozen microscopes.

And on those occasions when two or more eggs are found in a sample, the area becomes designated a forage fish spawning site, and anyone seeking a permit to undertake development in these places must undergo a review by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Whitman said.

Upon conclusion of the project, the Friends will erect a large, multi-colored panel near the planting site which will explain the role of forests in providing for forage fish.

Laflin feels the kids are learning a great deal about the subject matter, and she credits Whitman for the program’s success. “Tina has all the background, and she is great with the kids,” Laflin said.

Many of the students are expanding their knowledge of the subject matter by by keeping journals and doing independent study. But because they are home-schooled, each kid’s curriculum varies. “It depends on what the parents do,” Laflin said.

FRIENDS EDUCATE KIDS ALL OVER THE COUNTY

The Friends’ work with OASIS is just one of several educational forage fish projects in San Juan County.

Overall, about 350 students from Lopez, San Juan, Orcas, Shaw, Stuart and Waldron islands have participated in the program which includes classroom, field and lab sessions. Some have been ongoing for over a year.

Over 100 community volunteers have also been trained in forage fish field protocol, and have helped the kids.

The project is scheduled to evolve from science to stewardship, with students helping to apply the results of what they have learned. Upcoming events include a shoreline processes/alternatives to seawalls workshop for landowners and interested members of the public in September, a nearshore education workshop for teachers this October, upland impacts workshops for shoreline landowners and communities during the winter of 2004/05, and shoreline/low impact development training for Realtors.

The marine refuse project, to take place later this month, will include beach surveys and cleanups. Scheduled to take part are students from the Friday Harbor Middle School, Orcas Christian School, and home-schooled students on San Juan and Lopez, the 4-H on Shaw, private landowners, families, and the San Juan Island Lions Club.

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