How Some Teachers Spent Their Summer Vacation

By Evin Oneale, Southwest Regional Conservation Educator If WILD teachers were asked to write an essay on Ôhow I spent my summer vacation' they would have stories to tell. They teach mathematics, English, social studies and science nine months out of the year. And like their students, when summer comes, they are off on other adventures. Many teachers choose to add to their teaching certifications by taking classes during the summer. One such class on Idaho's wildlife had teachers bursting with excitement. "This is fabulous," said Tom Haener, a teacher from Boise. "I've never got to grab a live salmon in my life. And anyway, 99% of the population hasn't had the opportunity, and it's such an amazing creature." Tom Haener was one of 26 teachers who took part in an advanced WILD workshop in McCall this summer. They learned about bears, bats, elk, salmon, birds of prey, reptiles and wolves. The goal of Project WILD is to help teachers use young people's natural curiosity about wildlife to engage them in the standard school subjects of math, English, social studies and science. The first step is to turn teachers on to Idaho's wildlife. "I'm going to go home and tell them I caught a salmon and released him into the wild, and crawled into a bear den," said Kathy Fields from Ohio. "It's a great opportunity out here to enjoy this part of the country and learn about wildlife." Teachers spent the fourth day of the workshop learning about the life cycle of chinook salmon. The highlight of the day came when teachers stepped into the sorting pit at the South Fork Salmon River salmon trap to sort hatchery and wild salmon. "You think you should handle it, but when you feel how slippery they are and they start squirming around! Really fun," said Kathy Fields. With the help of Idaho Fish and Game biologists, teachers learn to identify wild and hatchery salmon, whether the fish are male or female and to take part in processing the hatchery salmon, which will be used in the hatchery program. If a teacher is lucky enough to grab a wild salmon, he or she takes it back to the South Fork of the Salmon River and lets it go. "They gave me the opportunity to do both. First I had a hatchery one and sent it to the holding pond," said Haener. "Then I had a wild fish and released it in the river, up above the weir." A long-standing tradition in the WILD workshop is to kiss the wild fish and then release it. "It was great," said Erin Johnson from Pocatello. "You could just feel the power in it. It was so happy to be free." It's an experience the instructors hope teachers will remember forever, and the memory will fuel their desire to incorporate wildlife into their classrooms this fall. "I think I'm going to talk to them a lot about salmon and salmon recovery and what the different issues are," said Haener. "I teach math so I'll have to work in data to deal with numbers and proportions and probability, a lot of statistics go on here." Idaho Fish and Game coordinates Project WILD and the advanced WILD workshops. This year, a $10,000 grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation helped to defray workshop costs. Teachers pay $325 for the three credit, weeklong workshop. In Idaho, more than 10,000 teachers have participated in the introductory Project WILD workshop, and more than 800 have gone on to the weeklong workshops held in McCall, Clark Fork and Island Park. Teachers who are interested in adding a unique way to capture their students' attention can contact WILD coordinator Lori Adams at ladams@idfg.state.id.us or (208) 334-2633. Basic one-credit weekend workshops are offered throughout the state at various times of the year. The summer courses are equivalent to three college credits.