Out of the classroom and into the wild

POULSBO — Underneath the State Route 305 bridge at Bond Road, North Kitsap High School students scoured the banks of Dogfish Creek last Thursday, braving a downpour while examining the life of one of Liberty Bay’s tributaries.

Their mission was simple — put to work the skills they’ve been learning this semester to use in the most practical sense. Go out and actually witness the salmon runs in their beginnings, as eggs and as fry, and apply the knowledge they’ve learned.

“We’ve been doing tests in the classroom but it’s not the same thing,” said NKHS instructor Holly Foley. “Here, they get to see where the salmon actually live.”

The hands-on program, a partnership between the Marine Science Center and the North Kitsap School District, allows students to use their stream flow, pH, temperature and oxygen-level analysis methods in the field.

And re-emerging salmon runs on the creek, thanks in part to the Lindvig Bridge reconstruction last summer, are providing a new opportunity to see an abundance of marine life flowing into the waters of Liberty Bay.

The experience, commented Foley, is altogether a new one for many of her first period class of 25 students.

“I would expect that most of these kids have never stood out in the rain for an hour,” she said.

Foley, who has been teaching in the district for 22 years, said she’s witnessed the partnership between North Kitsap School District and the MSC become significantly larger over that span.

“Neither of us could be doing this without the other,” Foley said of the MSC and NKSD partnership. “It’s kind of a marriage.”

Twelve years ago, the school district took over the MSC’s teaching programs and has been running them ever since.

Another unique partnership in the project was formed with the Suquamish Tribe. Paul Dorn, Salmon Recovery Coordinator for the Tribe, was also on hand Thursday to help the students use the testing techniques and determine what the results mean.

“This (project) has real world applications,” Dorn said. “It beats seeing the water sample in a lab — and it applies to real life.”

The two days leading up to the trip saw the students learning the techniques for testing pH, oxygen and temperature levels in the creek. Students were divided up into four different stations to study the different environmental aspects of the creek Thursday.

A discovery of two small salmon freys early on brought much excitement to the students. Teams of two headed off to take notes on vegetation, search for life among the creek’s underwater grass, and perform pH, oxygen level and stream flow testing.

Many of the students said they enjoyed the opportunity to work in the rain than the alternative — sitting in a traditional classroom environment.

Tenth grader Emily Wildung has lived on Hood Canal her whole life and said she loves to be on the water — so the project was a natural fit for her.

“I definitely like the river,” Wildung said. “And you get much more hands-on experience doing this.”

NKHS Senior Archie Kincade and sophomore Trischa Brown, who paired together to conduct testing, were searching for microinvertibrates in the stream. Both said they enjoy getting out into nature to study their subjects in its element.

“You actually get a feel for what’s going on out here,” Brown said. “It’s definitely better than sitting in the classroom.”

After collecting and testing the samples the students collect, they’ll have to write a “convincing essay” on how the stream is performing environmentally. The essay is to be modeled after what a professional environmentalist would have to write to the Washington Department of Fisheries.

Dorn added that the different assets the MSC, school district and tribe provide can represent tremendous opportunities for learning and sharing.

“If you look around the county, there are tremendous partnerships,” Dorn said. “We all share minimum resources and get a maximum benefit.”

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.