Salmon Watch

Lane County

In 2003, students from Lane County, wearing boots in shallow water and polarized sunglasses to reduce glare from a river stream in the McKenzie Watershed, captured and identified larvae of midges. They "tested river water for purity and learned to identify redds, the gravel beds where salmon spawn." One student said, "This is the first time I've been this close to them... It's cool to see them alive, instead of, like, with butter on it." They also learned the Eugene Water & Electric Board had constructed a spawning channel, a "series of gravel bars in a side channel of the McKenzie, to replace spawning habitat lost when EWEB built the Carmen-Smith hydropower project in the 1960s."

Students from Springfield's Agnes Stewart Middle School in 2013 learned about "the salmon life cycle, how the fish depend on clean water to survive and what insects they eat." In its twentieth year, Salmon Watch continued to recruit volunteer biologists from EWEB, Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and other agencies to help students experience salmon life cycles in Oregon's streams and rivers.

In 2022, Coburg Charter School students visited the Mckenzie River, during the Chinook salmon migration to spawn, "to observe salmon, learn about salmon, and all the different parts of the habitat that work together and line up to create a healthy watershed and space for salmon," according to the youth services coordinator. "They leave the experience with this holistic understanding of how all of these components and all of these elements of healthy watersheds, healthy natural spaces, a healthy environment come together and support one another."

Another program, "Salmon Raising each fall for Eugene 4J," supported by EWEB, works with elementary schools at Triangle Lake.

On average, 800 students participate in Lane County Salmon Watch each year on field trips hosted in the McKenzie and Siuslaw Watersheds. In 2024, students from Agnes Stewart Middle School in Springfield learned about "salmon biology, water quality, vegetation and other life found in the river." Their teacher said, "I refer back to it throughout the year. We do ecology a couple of times in our science curriculum and also human impacts on the environment — how humans are part of their ecosystem and how we depend on the same things that the salmon do." The program coordinator commented,"We're all joining together in this kind of mysterious, magical process of fish spawning, a salmon spawning... If you're not the biggest salmon expert, or if you are the biggest salmon expert, there's a level of intrigue to this process. These fish have had a long life, and they fought really hard to be here, and they're the successful ones."

The McKenzie Watershed Council in 2026 noted, "Through hands-on stream-side participation, the Lane County Salmon Watch program instills deeper understanding of each person's relationship to their local watershed, reconnecting communities to the natural world." The Council also listed Fund Fish Facts, including that Salmon live in both fresh and salt water, and that Oregon's five species are "Chinook, Chum, Coho, Pink, and Sockeye."

Linn-Benton County

Benton Soil and Water Conservation District sponsors Salmon Watch activities in Alsea.

In 2014, Calapooia Middle School students watched Chinook salmon. While the reality is that spawning precedes death for the salmon, a fish biologist on site told the students, "What sense does it make for parents to die after having children? These fish feed the whole system. They bring back enough nutrients from the ocean to feed the entire ecosystem. They're known as a keystone species."

South Santiam Watershed Council serves the Lebanon Community School District and the Sweet Home School District. In 2016, Westland Middle School sixth graders at the South Santiam River stood 15 feet from a salmon nest (redd) for an close-up look at the spawning grounds. The watched male salmon competing to fertilize eggs, and saw fins and tails of dozens of fish.

Grant County

In 2001, Monument School students traveled to the John Day River, where the students viewed spawning salmon. Station instructors included a fish biologist from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a representative of the Monument Soil and Water Conservation Department on water quality, and an OSU extension agent who spoke on riparian issues. Students learned from a representative of Oregon Trout about macroinvertebrates.

Students from Long Creek School in 2006 worked with an Oregon Trout volunteer, two John Day Water Council staffers and an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist, to better understand the ecosystem of the life of salmon. They learned, "...the John Day River is the second longest undammed river in the United States. It is 280 miles and supports four different species of naturally reproducing, native salmonids. The John Day River is unique because it doesn't have any salmon or steelhead hatcheries, yet the salmon and steelhead are the healthiest in the Columbia Basin."

Jefferson County

In a 2004 visit to the Metolius River in the Upper Deschutes Watershed, thirty students from Sisters Middle School learned how to measure water quality. During the Salmon Watch field trip, they identified where salmon had laid their eggs, collected macroinvertebrate data using nets, watched spawning salmon, and studied the river's ecosystem. The students were able to "...wade into the river's crystal clear water to watch science lessons come to life."

Students from the Rimrock Expeditionary Alternative Learning Middle School journeyed to the Metolius River following the third week of the school year in September, 2006. They took part in measuring water quality by counting the number of macroinvertebrates (that are intolerant of poor water quality), identifying riparian vegetation, and measuring water quality by determining oxygen levels of water samples. Students were fully engaged and involved in first-hand learning that could then be reinforced in the classroom.

In a 2008 visit to the Metolius River, students found yellow stoneflies and dissected a long-dead steelhead trout, "extracting the lens, plunging in and separating out the liver and the heart, and mucking around the fish's thoracic cavity with rubber gloves and courageous curiosity." Another student shook a vial of river water and chemicals "...to measure dissolved oxygen in the Metolius River." Students also learned to take "instream temperature readings, test the clarity and pH." Students drew "renderings of dimcosmoecus (October caddis) and impressionistic sketches of autumn alders."

Lincoln County

Sponsored by Oregon Trout in 2002, sixth-grade students from Leslie Middle School in Salem at the North Santiam wore polarized sunglasses to watch wild spawning salmon, while learning about watershed conservation and environmental stewardship. Their teacher observed, "The kids come away being jazzed about salmon, but they are equally excited to see that scientists can have cool jobs."

At the North Fork of the Alsea River in 2004, the students' Salmon Watch guide said he hoped that hours spent at the river would inspire the teens from Corvallis High School "to study biology or, at the very least, to become informed about issues related to protecting native salmon." Roberts High School students at the North Santiam in 2008 expressed their enthusiasm for the activities at the river. One student said the best part of his experience was using an under-water camera to shoot video of spawning fish. Another student mentioned the significance of the traumatic life cycle of salmon, that only 5 out of 5,000 salmon would survive the journey to spawn.

Marion County

The Soil and Water Conservation District of Marion County coordinates field trips for students to witness spawning salmon in action. Students access four learning stations: salmon biology (the life cycle of Pacific Salmon, spawning salmon, and salmon anatomy); aquatic macroinvertebrates and how macros can be used as an indicator of stream health; taking scientific measurements of the stream's water quality, including dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and turbidity; and riparian ecology, the living and non-living elements of the stream side habitat, and how the riparian area interconnects with the waterway.

Tillamook County

The Tillamook Salmon watch program is a joint effort between the Tillamook Junior High School and Tillamook High School science departments. On the Salmon Watch trip in 2016 to the Trask River, students experienced seven 30-minute learning stations: water quality and pH levels, flora in the riparian area, oxygenation in the river water, sediment in the river water, dissecting salmon, invertebrates under a microscope, and how to cast a fishing pole.

Yamhill County

Outdoor Education Adventures in Yamhill "...provides classroom curriculum, a field trip to a local stream, and options for service learning projects. Teachers are provided ideas, lessons, and resources to help teach about nature, salmon, water quality, and human choices, before and after their field trip."