Ballico students learn stewardship on Merced River

More than 120 Ballico Elementary School students got to touch animal skulls and furs and observe teeny invertebrates on Friday as they explored McConnell State Park while learning about river ecosystems, the food chain and water resource management.

Students in the third, fourth and fifth grades spent the afternoon at the park in part to release salmon fry they raised from eggs into the Merced River. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife provided the eggs from the Merced River hatchery in the first weeks of January, and the students raised them in their classrooms. On Friday, aquatic biologists taught the students about helping the fry acclimate to the river’s temperature before releasing the squirmy young fish from containers labeled “steelhead” and “Chinook.”

“We explain to the kids the life cycle of salmon and their environment needs,” said Pat Maloney, an aquatic biologist for Turlock Irrigation District. “The kids raise and hatch the eggs and feed them when they get big enough. Then they bring them here to put them in the river. Some classes will see them spawn at the river in the fall and see the full life cycle.”

Some salmon fry still had their yolk sac, which Maloney told students helps the young fish eat and grow their necessary body parts.

The field trip was a joint effort among the school district, TID and the East Merced Resource Conservation District’s stewardship project.

Chris Kubo, a Ballico teacher, said the school is thankful for the partnership that made the field trip possible.

“It’s their life science project where they can learn biology and meet the state standards,” Kubo said. “Because the Common Core standards ties subjects together, this project is social studies, science, math and writing all rolled into one. The whole program is designed so the child can learn about their immediate environment and learn how to be good stewards of the land.”

Kubo said Ballico students have raised salmon fry on and off for 20 years. This year, teachers were worried they weren’t going to get enough eggs because of the low water level in the rivers.

Luckily there were enough eggs, she said, and the school got to participate in the field trip for the first time.

“It’s a great experience for the kids,” Kubo said.

Students also practiced identifying macroinvertebrates from water in the Merced River, which are the microscopic insects salmon feed on. The youngsters studied real bones and furs of animals in a river ecosystem, identifying which animals were herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. They took a nature walk where they learned about riparian vegetation and how it contributes to the river’s ecosystem.

Students cheered as they raced to fill buckets of water from sopping sponges in an activity geared toward teaching them about managing water resources.

Jake Fleener, a graduate student at Fresno State, taught the students about California’s water history and how as the state’s population grew, so did its need for water.

“There’s a fixed amount of water every year, and the demand for water increases every year,” said Steve Starcher, the stewardship project manager.

Students also exercised their critical thinking and leadership skills when they led their blindfolded partners through an obstacle course communicating only with their voices.

Starcher said the stewardship project, along with the field trip, was funded by a grant from the California Department of Water Resources.

The stewardship project gets water agencies to work together. Outreach and education also is part of the project, he said.

“It’s exciting to be able to fund a school field trip and invest in students,” Starcher said.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Ballico students learn stewardship on Merced River."