Youth Salmon Surveys

If you ask a middle school student from Orleans or Happy Camp about salmon spawning, you will likely learn a thing or two. They might tell you about the way a female Chinook salmon turns on her side and uses her tail to dig nest-like redds in the gravel beds of streams near their homes. The students know that the tails of spawning female salmon appear white because the digging action has rubbed off the scales and skin as they give their very flesh to the effort of depositing eggs into the submerged gravel mounds. They will likely tell you that you can spot a redd by looking for patches in the creek where the gravel appears cleaner than the surrounding area and that you should take care not to disturb these areas in  anadromous creeks during the fall and winter. They may have stories to tell about giant hook-nosed male Chinook sparing for position in the spawning grounds. Chances are that the students know these things because they have experienced them first hand during student salmon survey field trips coordinated by the Mid Klamath Watershed Council.

For more than 10 years, MKWC youth programs and partners have involved local youth in the ongoing multi-organizational effort to monitor Fall Chinook spawning in the greater Klamath River Basin. Students are integral to the effort as they count, measure, sample, and record data just like any fisheries professional conducting a survey. They must learn how to identify and mark a redd, accurately measure redds and fish lengths, read a stream map, use a GPS, collect tissue, scale, and otolith samples from carcasses, and correctly fill out a datasheet. Student participants develop regionally relevant career skills, and enjoy the adventure of navigating creeks equipped in waders and stream boots. When you ask them about it, don’t be surprised if some of these students reflect on the surveys as a highlight of their middle school experience.

We are excited to share a video we made to be used as part of the training that occurs in classrooms prior to the survey season. The video features students from Happy Camp Elementary School during the 2023 spawner survey field trips. The students took leadership roles in the making of the video explaining key elements of the survey protocol and even recording much of the footage themselves. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed creating it!