ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Delta County students are taking what they’ve learned in school out into nature.
As part of the DNR’s Salmon in the Classroom program, Gladstone Middle School and Escanaba High School classes received salmon eggs in November. Since then, students have studied the life cycle of salmon as they raised them.
On Friday, students took a field trip to Pioneer Trail Park to release more than 100 salmon fry into the Escanaba River.
“It’s a really fun and inspiring day,” said John Reinertsen, Education and Outreach Lead for the Fred Waara Chapter of Trout Unlimited. “The most important thing is that they gain a real appreciation for protecting the environment and protecting our habitat and the natural world and that these students now become, hopefully, ambassadors for our environment.”
Students also learned how to identify the bugs that the salmon will eat in the river. Representatives from Trout Unlimited, the Delta Conservation District, and other local organizations also taught them about the birds they might see migrating over the Escanaba River.
Reinertsen encourages the public to attend similar salmon releases in their community.
