This is a first in a short series of blog posts from Vashon Nature Center that highlights work we are doing this spring and shares related at home activities you can do. Enjoy!

Shortly after the schools closed due to COVID-19, Vashon Nature Center was called by fifth-grade science teachers who had been raising salmon in tanks as part of their Salmon Unit—a program started many years ago by retired teacher Doug Swan. Vashon Nature Center (VNC) has stepped in for the first time this year to help teach this unit. This year, we changed salmon release locations to minimize impact on local salmon populations, added a series of in-class sessions, created teacher materials for Next Gen Science Standards (NGSS) aligned lessons on salmon, food webs, and biodiversity, and designed field trips. We have many plans for future years!

Since the school building was imminently closing and the field trip to release the salmon canceled, VNC staff collected the juvenile fish from the classrooms and created a video about their release so that the students could still share in the experience virtually. Maria Metler, VNC education programs manager, also worked quickly to transfer classroom teaching materials and NGSS-aligned class lessons into a homeschool unit for teachers to use with kids.

Watch the salmon release video!

Learn more:

• Take a deep dive into the immense impact that stormwater has on salmon populations in Puget Sound and what scientists are doing about it.
• Play an on-line real-time game called “Survive the Sound” with other groups across Puget Sound to learn about steelhead migration.
• Peruse the homeschool version of Vashon Nature Center’s salmon unit used by fifth-grade teachers at Chautauqua Elementary School. Access Code: cafydps

Local community science projects that benefit salmon. All field opportunities are currently suspended but you can still sign up to be on the mailing list so you know when they start up again:

• Join our Salmonwatch Program in the fall to help us count returning salmon!
• Join our BeachNET Program to conduct beach surveys on forage fish and nearshore restoration projects designed to benefit juvenile salmon populations (all year).
• Help us monitor the health of our streams with aquatic invertebrate surveys (fall) and stormwater testing (winter).

Projects you can do now at home:

• Design and plant a rain garden to help cleanse rainwater before it drains into Puget Sound.
• Do an at-home audit of where your water goes. What is the watershed your property feeds? Is there anything you could do to slow the rainwater to let it more effectively soak into your property?
• Do you live in Vashon’s Community Sewer District—near downtown Vashon or at Bunker Trail? Then you are eligible for a free Zoom conference with our partners at Garden Green to brainstorm ways you can slow run-off, and green your gardening practices for enhanced wildlife and pollinator habitat and cleaner water!  Contact Garden Green. This free educational opportunity is provided through Vashon Nature Center’s King County WaterWorks Grant.