Salmon & Steelhead

Classroom Aquarium Education Program

Salmon Egg Delivery CANCELLED

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Steelhead Egg Delivery

Thursday, February 14, 2008

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/caep/index.html

Update 2008: We have a tentative Steelhead Egg delivery date of Thursday, February 14, 2008. Check back here for confirmation of the date. You can also check the GBF Message Board just prior to the date for confirmation, and/or email or call Frank Stolten at 916-725-6894 for more information. We will meet at the Nimbus Hatchery back parking lot at 8:00AM as usual (see below).

Normally it would've been on the 2nd Wednesday but the staff is spawning steelhead that day - they do it every Wednesday during steelhead season - and asked that the egg pickup day be moved. It's related to the mortality problems they had a few years ago and they're extremely cautious about having outside people around the spawning and incubation area. Maybe they're being overly careful, but fish diseases are a huge concern

Update 2007: As of November 3rd we have learned that due to an extremely low count of salmon returning up river, there will not be any salmon eggs available for distribution on November 14, 2007, and perhaps not at all this year.  We will have further updates at the GBF general meeting.  Following is more information from Meg Grow at the Nimbus Hatchery:

November, 2007 - Dear CAEP partners:

I am sorry to report that the Feather River Hatchery is unable to provide salmon eggs for the California Aquarium Education Program this fall. As you may have seen in the newspapers, the fall run in the Central Valley of California is very light this year.  Feather River is unable to meet their production goals this year and does not have the surplus eggs that are used by the program.

I hope that the teachers who wish to participate will be able to make this a teaching point.

Mokelumne River Hatchery has also had minimal returning salmon, but hope to have eggs available for the schools that usually receive eggs from Mokelumne.

Nimbus Hatchery has not yet started taking salmon eggs this year.  We anticipate opening the ladder on November 8 and starting to work the fish on the 13th.  At this time we only see at most a few hundred salmon in the river.  If Nimbus is able to meet its production goals, it may have salmon eggs available at the first of the year.  Of course, that will mean that teachers who take salmon in January would not be able to raise steelhead in February.

Last year we had an "average" salmon run of around 37,000 salmon up the American River.  It was a good year for steelhead. 

I'll miss seeing everyone this fall!

Meg Grow
Interpreter II
State of California
Department of Fish and Game, Region II
1701 Nimbus Road
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
(916) 358-2884
(916) 358-2912 FAX

It's that time of the year again and we're planning to make our annual delivery of salmon eggs to over 20 classrooms on Wednesday, November 14, 2007. As always, the program’s success depends totally on GBF members being available to deliver the eggs. This is a very simple process and entails picking up eggs at the Nimbus Hatchery and taking them to the various classrooms. It only takes a few hours at most and is a very rewarding program to participate in as anyone who has ever delivered eggs and faced an interested group of students will attest.

To keep this program at a high level we need your help. No experience is necessary and we always match up a new volunteer with someone who's done it before. A signup sheet will be at the November monthly meeting  If you have any interest at all in participating or have any questions about this great program, contact Frank Stolten at 725-6894.

Salmon & Steelhead Trout Classroom Education Program

In-Service Training Session at Nimbus Hatchery - Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/caep/index.html

There will be a sign up for GBF volunteers for this program at the August general meeting. On Saturday Sept. 8th there will be an in-service training given to new Teachers for this program at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery Visitor Center from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (may end earlier).

While we don’t require our volunteers attend this in-service training session, it is highly recommended. We deliver eggs to classrooms twice a year: once in November for Salmon and again in February for Steelhead. This program is open to all GBF members and we invite your participation.  If this interests you or if you have any questions about the program call Frank Stolten 725-6894 or Rick Radoff 624-2107 for more information.

GBF Classroom Egg Program

California Classroom Aquarium Education Program (CAEP) (click link)

GBF Volunteer Participation Invited

Recognizing that the future protection of our fisheries and water resources ultimately lies in the hands of today’s youth, Granite Bay Flycasters has helped organized an educational program which involves raising salmon and steelhead eggs in school classrooms. Granite Bay Flycasters donates fully-equipped aquariums and a 250 page curriculum to classrooms that vary from third grade through high school, and in conjunction with the California Dept. of Fish and Game, supplies them with fertilized salmon eggs in the fall, and steelhead eggs in the winter. Teachers are required to attend a 1-day in-service training session, usually held in October and/or January at the Nimbus Hatchery prior to participating in the program.

It's a simple but very effective program. Students observe and study first-hand the fish's development from the egg stage until they become fry, usually within 4 - 6 weeks. Once the fry reach plantable size, the class takes a field trip to the Sacramento River where they are released.  Students learn about the lifecycle of anadromous fish and the multitude of threats to their survival. Many of these factors such as erosion control, pollution, water quality and availability, and protection of the resource also affect human quality of life. We hope the lessons learned in studying fish will become lasting impressions that some day, when the students become adults, will result in wise decisions being made regarding the future use of our natural resources. That’s why this special program is important and what it’s really all about.

GBF founders Rick Radoff and Frank Stolten co-chair this historic GBF conservation program, coordinating the club's inventory of 75+ aquariums, helping teachers get set up, and scheduling GBF volunteers to deliver steelhead and salmon eggs.  GBF provides aquariums, chillers and eggs to  more than 75 teachers who currently participate in CAEP at local and regional schools in Sacramento, Placer, Nevada and Eldorado counties.  Since its inception in 1989 by GBF, more than 25,000 students have participated in this remarkable program.   Each year Steelhead Trout eggs are delivered on the second Wednesday in February, and Chinook Salmon (King Salmon) eggs are delivered on the second Wednesday of November.

Meg Grow of the California Dept. of Fish & Game (916) 358-2884 coordinates the program for our region, assisted by John Durand of the Cosumnes River Preserve and member of the California Fly Fishers Unlimited (CFFU).  Meg and John both teach the in-service training for teachers and volunteers.  The in-service training sessions are taught once or twice a year in October and January before egg deliveries the following month.  This allows new teachers time to get the aquariums set up and stabilized in their classrooms. This process is straight forward, requiring the teacher to provide spring water and clean, sterile gravel and cobble for the eggs and newly hatched fish to mature in a clear, cold water habitat like the ideal natural environment.

The program’s success depends totally on GBF members volunteering to deliver salmon and steelhead eggs to the classrooms. This is a very simple process and entails picking up eggs at the Nimbus hatchery and taking them to the various classrooms. It only takes a few hours at most and is a very rewarding program to participate in, as anyone who has ever taken eggs to a classroom and answered questions from an interested group of students will attest.

To keep this program at a high level we need your help.  In-service training sessions are usually held at the Nimbus Hatchery on a Saturday in September and another in January from 9:00AM to 3:00PM. (Bring a sack lunch).  Egg deliveries are usually the 2nd Wednesdays of November and February depending on the timing of the run.  Egg pick-up will be at 08:00AM at the Nimbus Hatchery (enter through the rear driveway to parking behind the hatchery).  GBF's program leaders will then assign volunteers to teams and provide maps to the schools for their deliveries, which are usually completed by noon. 

Interested GBF Volunteers:

If any GBF Member would like to  participate, or if you have any questions about this great program, contact Frank Stolten at 916-725-6894.

Interested Teachers:

Click this link to the DFG site for more information:  http://www.dfg.ca.gov/oceo/caep/  

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