Salmon Alternative High School Woodshop Benefits Bluebirds

By Beth Waterbury, Idaho Department of Fish and Game The school bus pulled up to the Salmon regional office of Idaho Department of Fish and Game bearing 10 lively students, one energetic teacher and 80 freshly-built bluebird nest boxes. Without missing a beat, Salmon Alternative High School woodshop teacher Jay Skeen directed the students into fire drill formation and unloaded the bird boxes within minutes. And within a few days, the stack of bird boxes disappeared to good homes during Fish and Game's annual bluebird nest box giveaway. For the past several years, Skeen and Fish and Game have teamed up to develop woodworking projects that challenge the skills of his woodshop students and benefit the area's wildlife. Past projects have included nest boxes for wood ducks, nesting platforms for ospreys, roosting boxes for bats and feeding platforms for songbirds. The nest boxes in particular have been a boon to native birds. The boxes simulate a natural cavity in a tree, and several species of birds in Idaho nest in tree holes, including the mountain bluebird, house wrens, tree and violet-green swallows, chickadees, wood ducks and hooded mergansers. Some of the wood duck nest boxes made by Skeen's woodshop class also provide housing for mammals, such as deer mice and flying squirrels. From Skeen's perspective, the partnership between Salmon Alternative High School and Fish and Game generates goodwill all around. "It's mutual support, and there isn't enough of that in the world," he said. Beth Waterbury is the regional nongame biologist in Fish and Game's Salmon Region. (Note: JPEG available on request)