By Thomas R Pero With Photography by James A Yuskavitch

An exciting Trout Unlimited-backed education program is teaching young people in California to care about their natural environment

-r he enrapt faces of 19 fourthshygraders are pressed against the cold clear glass of a gurshygling aquarium incubator

The children have watched each emshybryo develop day by day Now this bright spring morning dozens of tiny pinkish balls of flesh are beginning to move about the gravel Suddenly an elfin sliver a miniature steelhead trout with tiny black eyes pops out of its translucent shell The childrens eyes bulge

Wow they exclaim in unison Aweshysome

New life is emerging as they watch as they learn

tlefore this school year is finished these fourth-grade students will know more about fish than most fishermen They will understand how a steelheads olfactory and optic lobes functionshyhow it smells and sees They will peer at a scale from an adult steelhead under a microscope be shown the varying comshypression of its growth rings and learn the difference is the time itspends growshying rapidly to maturity in saltwater

The children will take a class trip to the nearby Feather River They will feel the rush of clean water on their ankles and feel thewetstoneswith their hands They will touch caddisfly cases and mayshyfly nymphs aquatic insects upon which

the young steelhead depend for nourshyishment They will be intrigued by the fact that newly emerged fry drift downshystream to the tail ofariffle because that is where there is food and oxygen but that natural predators--other adult fish and diving birds- will be waiting They will become resigned to the predators devouring many of the tiny steel head They rill hear for the first time the words food chain They will undershystand how really fragile it all is And what a miracle it is that any of these distant ocean travellers make it back to spawn-the adult female sensing the quality and size of gravel with her anal fin finding just the right place in the

out of 1- ~ ~e ~oJS~I4s 0 t fsh I

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AUTUMN 1992

streambed for her springtime nest Aweshysome

These and many other wonders of the arduous life of a wild Pacific steelshyhead the children will learn with glee And these basic lessons will be with them intellectually emotionally for the rest of their lives

The Guy Who Makes School Fun Thank you for coming Thank you

says David Armocido to his fourth grade class and Miss Tarkeys fifth grade class dozensoflO-and ll-year-old California kids decked out in hot-pink-edged sunshyglasses and pricey running shoes They are crowded around They are listenshying They adore Mr A the Fish Man the guy who is their teacher bu t is more the guy who makes school fun the guy who tells them Would you please come up and get your steelheaamp Come on kidsjust look at him Spend some quality time with your fish Hold him right up to yourface Remember to focus on his fins Okay lets start returning our fish to their habitat

Armocido is knee-deep in the willowshylined Feather River a tributary of the Sacramento Its April and its sunny and he is leaping this way and that like the cheerleader he is for youth and for fish

Okay he signals his young streamshyside audience This is a riffle Can you see how the flow of the river is Armoshycido is pointing Right out in the midshydle theres a sand or gravel bar Itdiverts the water either to the right or the left And that one going up against the bank on your right is cutting underneath the bank and taking away some of the dirt Right here we have the beginnings of an undercut bank Right here fish will be lying because the shrubs are gonna provide what

All Shade Not a pair of eyes is distracted

Teacher Also what All Shelter Teacher Shelter and All Food Teacher Thank you very much

When the river is Listen up please Joe when the river goes off in this direction we have the same effect We have the undercut bank we have a lot of vegetation we have some structures in the river such as this log thats sub-

AUTUMN 1992

merged The log can mean protection But the log can also mean what

All Danger Teacher Danger Because what

could stand on it to eat the fish Some Water dippers Teacher Water dippers Yes And

snakes A lone voice Water scorpions Teacher not water scorpions

they hang off underwater branches reshymember

Some Bears Teacher Ah bears usually go right

into the water How about a great blue heron

All Wading birds Teacher Now you see how the washy

ter has slowed in the pool down here Can you see

~~VK t s t1VYt 2v)lj t S c ffevtV1tI

ts Yot k YtS Y15 9D~fS~ tYV1JvvA C te -ze~

TROUT EJ

All Yeah Teacher Try to give me the name of

one insect that would live in this pool area Somebody raise your hand What insects would live in the pool

A lone voice Mayflies Teacher Mayflies Some but there

are more in the riHles What else A lone voice Caddis Teacher Right A portable caseshy

making caddisfly Okay good Thank you Now if you were a coho salmon and we released you here where would you go to be raised

All Pool Teacher Pool And if you were a

steelhead where would you stay All Rime

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) ~S Nt0(e

) o0T

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Chr-~ RtAVVse1 J 1

~ TROUT

Teacher How long do young steelshyhead live here before they go to the Pacific Ocean

All One to three years Teacher One to three years And

how long will they stay out in the ocean All Two to three years Teacher Thank you If you were a

Chinook salmon and I released you today what would you do

A lone voice Just go Teacher Youd head straight out to

the ocean GDod job Ronnie How about a coho

All Hang around Teacher Hang around for how

long All One year Teacher About one year Good

Okay nowweregonna try to pickaspot to plant two of our Colorado spruce trees that we brought with us And what are these trees gonna provide for our fish

Its Watershed Its Birds Its Man David and Susie Armocido are sitting

in the family living room of their wellshykept home in Colusa California Col usa is an hour-and-a-half-drive north ofSacshyramento Its a small town (population 5000) with older neighborhoods neat lawns and rows of green trees Colusa has the feel of a midwestern town quishyeter slower more well established than most of California Colusa County has one of the highest per-capita incomes in America Its prosperity gushes from the south-flowingSacramento River one ofthe two great freshwater streams makshying up the enormous Central Valley The Armocidos town is an oasis amidst flatlands-as far as the proverbial eye can see are rows ofbeans melons tomashytoes as well as seemingly endless dwarfed forests of trees bearing almonds walshynuts and pistachios And there are the rice fields Vast quantities of dammed diverted channeled flooded and sprayed river water make it all grow The snowmelt-origin water once made salmon grow sending hordes of silvery juvenile migrants each spring downshystream to the delta and through the GDlden Gate to the blue Pacific A century of intensive agriculture has utshyterly transformed Natures system Now few wild salmon return Miraculously some still come back to spawn

+hDUjht it yVtJ $

fVettj net be~vS~ V ~ J before vJtJS

Ct1 ch em tA J t bulltshyKrow At1+h i Y~ Ab outshy-the eviV or +he fy Ov +he 7yYOts DV VJM+eveV AY~ d~V+ wJ now r~ef 3 0 1shyt-o -vIe DCttV J )Vt e l amp yen--rI0NJ +vey wCVt +0 -t~e Dt e qV

LhV Sgt tJ GYe~V

I love to fish declares David Ive dedicated a lot of my life to fishing and working with kids I really believe edushycation is much better than restoration I think its cheaper Once a river is destroyed I dont think man can ever get it back to the way it was in the first place to the way it was created

Armocido recalls reading a story in Outdoor California the magazine of the California Department of Fish and Game about an experimental salmashynid education program aimed at young people Salmon had been raised from eggs in aquaria in scattered classrooms throughout coastal Humboldt County But thats where the novelty ended The children werent really learning much about the natural lives of salmon in the wild Educator Diane Higgins married to fisheries biologist and Trout Unlimited enthusiast Pat Higgins was hired to develop a special curriculum

With a grant of $10000 from the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout Higgins came up with aces She wrote a compreshyhensive plan for educating children in grades kindergarten through six The cUITiculum was filled with creativityshyfish anatomy crossword puzzles salmon survival board games salmon poetry easy-to-grasp concepts ofwatersheds and ecosystems Diane elevated it from a

AUTUMN 1992

simple exercise in classroom fish-rearshying to a full-blown learning program encompassing wild fish their habitats and complete life cycle

I want this in myclassroom-Armoshycido seldom bashful had read the piece picked up the telephone and called Diane Higgins

At Davids urging the youth effortshynow formally the California Trout Salmon and Steelhead Education Proshygram-wasswiftly adopted by the Colusa County Chapter of Trout Unlimited which he had organized in 1986 One thousand copies of the 228-page spiralshybound curriculum guide were printed with funding from Trout Unlimited of California the Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Marin Rod and Gun Club

We started small says Armocido with just 10 teachers raising 50 steelshyhead in each classroom

Then Channel 13 the Sacramentoshybased ABC affiliate came up to Armashycidos science class Cameras rolled Editors were impressed The television station ran a full three-minute segment Armocidos telephone began ringing off the hook

Today 300 teachers are involved each personally trained by David Armocido fireball who has spent countless Saturshydays during the last several years orgashy

nizing all-day teacher workshops He has donated all of his time since day oneArmocido stresses the importance of teaching the teachers They are the key to the programs success

We hold workshops on a Saturday for one reason Armocido explains If a teacher is willing to spend a whole day of his free time to learn about a particushylar program to use it in the classroom he will probably use it Instead of the information ending up in a filing cabishynet somewhere we want the teachers to make a personal commitment to the program

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TROUT a

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j ($ lt D U T-

It has spread like wildfire says Susie Armocido herselfa teacher Teachers from other school districts call us beshycause theyve heard from other teachshyers how well the program works and how excited the kids are

Twenty-five thousand students have shared in the excitement Not all have cookies and milk and a Sony Walkman waiting at home Not all are rich farmshyers kids Some are sons and daughters of migrant workers living in an old station wagon on a canal bank In 1992 They too are intrigued Says Susie Here these very very poor children are trying to survive themselves and yet they are interested in the survival of some other animal Its such an amazshying story

We start out by explaining to our classes that just because we have 50 fertilized eggs that doesnt mean well end up with 50 baby fish to release We explain that the aquarium is a comshypletely controlled environment-no predators no silt nothing except bacshyteria that might harm them So were simulating Nature almostat its best But what about logging we ask the kids and

m TROUT

what about a bad storm and what about all the other fish that would eat the eggs in the wild

Every day when the kids come to school they cant wait to see how many of theirjishare still alive Theyre thrilled to see them alive It really means someshything It begins to dawn on them how fragile life is and if they dontdo someshything the fish arent going to be there in the future They realize that its not just fish-its everything Its the watershyshed its birds its man

I think kids should have a working knowledge of whats going on when they walk by a stream adds David I wan t them to see what a stream really is that there is life that theres a lot going on below the surface

Bywatching the fish hatch and strugshygle through the first stages oflife says Armocido the kids build an emotional bond That bond will be there forever And when they look at a salmon or steelhead river theyre going to look at that river differen tly than they ever have Theyre going to look at it differently than their fathers orgrandfathers looked at a river ~

hS S ~vY -+OJY Yr1~t~ f~eYV +b the WAt eC VV ~ vAt ~fry tA Ki~~ StA M

iYA~ h~fpY oecOvse Jrneuroy tje- +0 ~0 ck +0 +hey OWY roC( tlM do 1-hi (~$ -he(e SVffDse4 -to ao tnd M Kytl St)~ oeCAvSe it w(s 1vn

h Y~ ~h-(M r --e css

AMoey- wost 0 J

Aftenvord Readers interested in learning more about the California Trmtt Salmon and SteelheadEducation program may write Mr David Armocido 232 Cynthia Drive Colusa California 95932 or telephone him at 916-458-5848

AUTUMN 1992

streambed for her springtime nest Aweshysome

These and many other wonders of the arduous life of a wild Pacific steelshyhead the children will learn with glee And these basic lessons will be with them intellectually emotionally for the rest of their lives

The Guy Who Makes School Fun Thank you for coming Thank you

says David Armocido to his fourth grade class and Miss Tarkeys fifth grade class dozensoflO-and ll-year-old California kids decked out in hot-pink-edged sunshyglasses and pricey running shoes They are crowded around They are listenshying They adore Mr A the Fish Man the guy who is their teacher bu t is more the guy who makes school fun the guy who tells them Would you please come up and get your steelheaamp Come on kidsjust look at him Spend some quality time with your fish Hold him right up to yourface Remember to focus on his fins Okay lets start returning our fish to their habitat

Armocido is knee-deep in the willowshylined Feather River a tributary of the Sacramento Its April and its sunny and he is leaping this way and that like the cheerleader he is for youth and for fish

Okay he signals his young streamshyside audience This is a riffle Can you see how the flow of the river is Armoshycido is pointing Right out in the midshydle theres a sand or gravel bar Itdiverts the water either to the right or the left And that one going up against the bank on your right is cutting underneath the bank and taking away some of the dirt Right here we have the beginnings of an undercut bank Right here fish will be lying because the shrubs are gonna provide what

All Shade Not a pair of eyes is distracted

Teacher Also what All Shelter Teacher Shelter and All Food Teacher Thank you very much

When the river is Listen up please Joe when the river goes off in this direction we have the same effect We have the undercut bank we have a lot of vegetation we have some structures in the river such as this log thats sub-

AUTUMN 1992

merged The log can mean protection But the log can also mean what

All Danger Teacher Danger Because what

could stand on it to eat the fish Some Water dippers Teacher Water dippers Yes And

snakes A lone voice Water scorpions Teacher not water scorpions

they hang off underwater branches reshymember

Some Bears Teacher Ah bears usually go right

into the water How about a great blue heron

All Wading birds Teacher Now you see how the washy

ter has slowed in the pool down here Can you see

~~VK t s t1VYt 2v)lj t S c ffevtV1tI

ts Yot k YtS Y15 9D~fS~ tYV1JvvA C te -ze~

TROUT EJ

All Yeah Teacher Try to give me the name of

one insect that would live in this pool area Somebody raise your hand What insects would live in the pool

A lone voice Mayflies Teacher Mayflies Some but there

are more in the riHles What else A lone voice Caddis Teacher Right A portable caseshy

making caddisfly Okay good Thank you Now if you were a coho salmon and we released you here where would you go to be raised

All Pool Teacher Pool And if you were a

steelhead where would you stay All Rime

They n~Ve +0 tJO -t~(OUJh 0 o- O~ 00StoCeS we

) ~S Nt0(e

) o0T

5 0 Yoe ot tS pou+ioY 0 y~ --hY~s -the oJcs

D~ -t~e -1S-) 3e-- i~ bcK -to 5fAw-n 1 i ~S

(eAY yDtJ KYGwvevy SYlA

Chr-~ RtAVVse1 J 1

~ TROUT

Teacher How long do young steelshyhead live here before they go to the Pacific Ocean

All One to three years Teacher One to three years And

how long will they stay out in the ocean All Two to three years Teacher Thank you If you were a

Chinook salmon and I released you today what would you do

A lone voice Just go Teacher Youd head straight out to

the ocean GDod job Ronnie How about a coho

All Hang around Teacher Hang around for how

long All One year Teacher About one year Good

Okay nowweregonna try to pickaspot to plant two of our Colorado spruce trees that we brought with us And what are these trees gonna provide for our fish

Its Watershed Its Birds Its Man David and Susie Armocido are sitting

in the family living room of their wellshykept home in Colusa California Col usa is an hour-and-a-half-drive north ofSacshyramento Its a small town (population 5000) with older neighborhoods neat lawns and rows of green trees Colusa has the feel of a midwestern town quishyeter slower more well established than most of California Colusa County has one of the highest per-capita incomes in America Its prosperity gushes from the south-flowingSacramento River one ofthe two great freshwater streams makshying up the enormous Central Valley The Armocidos town is an oasis amidst flatlands-as far as the proverbial eye can see are rows ofbeans melons tomashytoes as well as seemingly endless dwarfed forests of trees bearing almonds walshynuts and pistachios And there are the rice fields Vast quantities of dammed diverted channeled flooded and sprayed river water make it all grow The snowmelt-origin water once made salmon grow sending hordes of silvery juvenile migrants each spring downshystream to the delta and through the GDlden Gate to the blue Pacific A century of intensive agriculture has utshyterly transformed Natures system Now few wild salmon return Miraculously some still come back to spawn

+hDUjht it yVtJ $

fVettj net be~vS~ V ~ J before vJtJS

Ct1 ch em tA J t bulltshyKrow At1+h i Y~ Ab outshy-the eviV or +he fy Ov +he 7yYOts DV VJM+eveV AY~ d~V+ wJ now r~ef 3 0 1shyt-o -vIe DCttV J )Vt e l amp yen--rI0NJ +vey wCVt +0 -t~e Dt e qV

LhV Sgt tJ GYe~V

I love to fish declares David Ive dedicated a lot of my life to fishing and working with kids I really believe edushycation is much better than restoration I think its cheaper Once a river is destroyed I dont think man can ever get it back to the way it was in the first place to the way it was created

Armocido recalls reading a story in Outdoor California the magazine of the California Department of Fish and Game about an experimental salmashynid education program aimed at young people Salmon had been raised from eggs in aquaria in scattered classrooms throughout coastal Humboldt County But thats where the novelty ended The children werent really learning much about the natural lives of salmon in the wild Educator Diane Higgins married to fisheries biologist and Trout Unlimited enthusiast Pat Higgins was hired to develop a special curriculum

With a grant of $10000 from the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout Higgins came up with aces She wrote a compreshyhensive plan for educating children in grades kindergarten through six The cUITiculum was filled with creativityshyfish anatomy crossword puzzles salmon survival board games salmon poetry easy-to-grasp concepts ofwatersheds and ecosystems Diane elevated it from a

AUTUMN 1992

simple exercise in classroom fish-rearshying to a full-blown learning program encompassing wild fish their habitats and complete life cycle

I want this in myclassroom-Armoshycido seldom bashful had read the piece picked up the telephone and called Diane Higgins

At Davids urging the youth effortshynow formally the California Trout Salmon and Steelhead Education Proshygram-wasswiftly adopted by the Colusa County Chapter of Trout Unlimited which he had organized in 1986 One thousand copies of the 228-page spiralshybound curriculum guide were printed with funding from Trout Unlimited of California the Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Marin Rod and Gun Club

We started small says Armocido with just 10 teachers raising 50 steelshyhead in each classroom

Then Channel 13 the Sacramentoshybased ABC affiliate came up to Armashycidos science class Cameras rolled Editors were impressed The television station ran a full three-minute segment Armocidos telephone began ringing off the hook

Today 300 teachers are involved each personally trained by David Armocido fireball who has spent countless Saturshydays during the last several years orgashy

nizing all-day teacher workshops He has donated all of his time since day oneArmocido stresses the importance of teaching the teachers They are the key to the programs success

We hold workshops on a Saturday for one reason Armocido explains If a teacher is willing to spend a whole day of his free time to learn about a particushylar program to use it in the classroom he will probably use it Instead of the information ending up in a filing cabishynet somewhere we want the teachers to make a personal commitment to the program

VV DYz- tl~etmiddot It be i~ ~UjlJSt- tN ~e -rhiY~ K~ vJ~S W~ 3DT ro et(~ --hiY~S we neey k 61 0eurotoH~ VtA wgt fe~ny fMmiddot --~VK jt)J Mveo Jrvl -1-0 StV e -t~ ~YBs instoJ Of rYKn~ ~eVV ex~YCt

J cdy StGK 0 1~

TROUT a

I t i dl - ~ (lt 1-~t i -f iS~ LOVJ be e)(--l~cr out Jthey ~V Cuz ot A -the MMS t)Vb -thlYjS ~~ -the VVel oss ~VJ t v-ef c (Vmiddot t SfgtPowv SJccesltf~y So J(r-ey c

(JVJ -teY A ~ey e~1lt tlt e ~e~J Jkc o gt0 yov ose t DJ 1G~ Dt fs~ +~e(e

)

tAVJ -~en a ---e ~ Sh CY

~f o-~y S~f ot t~e 4tV w -eV s oui T we +~el htt c1- +~eurof CtJf +~er tD -i-e oheV siJe ot- +ile Jom SD $OoYey OI o--evshy-the- Je AAA it5 o ~~ o ~ -ti s~

j ($ lt D U T-

It has spread like wildfire says Susie Armocido herselfa teacher Teachers from other school districts call us beshycause theyve heard from other teachshyers how well the program works and how excited the kids are

Twenty-five thousand students have shared in the excitement Not all have cookies and milk and a Sony Walkman waiting at home Not all are rich farmshyers kids Some are sons and daughters of migrant workers living in an old station wagon on a canal bank In 1992 They too are intrigued Says Susie Here these very very poor children are trying to survive themselves and yet they are interested in the survival of some other animal Its such an amazshying story

We start out by explaining to our classes that just because we have 50 fertilized eggs that doesnt mean well end up with 50 baby fish to release We explain that the aquarium is a comshypletely controlled environment-no predators no silt nothing except bacshyteria that might harm them So were simulating Nature almostat its best But what about logging we ask the kids and

m TROUT

what about a bad storm and what about all the other fish that would eat the eggs in the wild

Every day when the kids come to school they cant wait to see how many of theirjishare still alive Theyre thrilled to see them alive It really means someshything It begins to dawn on them how fragile life is and if they dontdo someshything the fish arent going to be there in the future They realize that its not just fish-its everything Its the watershyshed its birds its man

I think kids should have a working knowledge of whats going on when they walk by a stream adds David I wan t them to see what a stream really is that there is life that theres a lot going on below the surface

Bywatching the fish hatch and strugshygle through the first stages oflife says Armocido the kids build an emotional bond That bond will be there forever And when they look at a salmon or steelhead river theyre going to look at that river differen tly than they ever have Theyre going to look at it differently than their fathers orgrandfathers looked at a river ~

hS S ~vY -+OJY Yr1~t~ f~eYV +b the WAt eC VV ~ vAt ~fry tA Ki~~ StA M

iYA~ h~fpY oecOvse Jrneuroy tje- +0 ~0 ck +0 +hey OWY roC( tlM do 1-hi (~$ -he(e SVffDse4 -to ao tnd M Kytl St)~ oeCAvSe it w(s 1vn

h Y~ ~h-(M r --e css

AMoey- wost 0 J

Aftenvord Readers interested in learning more about the California Trmtt Salmon and SteelheadEducation program may write Mr David Armocido 232 Cynthia Drive Colusa California 95932 or telephone him at 916-458-5848

AUTUMN 1992

All Yeah Teacher Try to give me the name of

one insect that would live in this pool area Somebody raise your hand What insects would live in the pool

A lone voice Mayflies Teacher Mayflies Some but there

are more in the riHles What else A lone voice Caddis Teacher Right A portable caseshy

making caddisfly Okay good Thank you Now if you were a coho salmon and we released you here where would you go to be raised

All Pool Teacher Pool And if you were a

steelhead where would you stay All Rime

They n~Ve +0 tJO -t~(OUJh 0 o- O~ 00StoCeS we

) ~S Nt0(e

) o0T

5 0 Yoe ot tS pou+ioY 0 y~ --hY~s -the oJcs

D~ -t~e -1S-) 3e-- i~ bcK -to 5fAw-n 1 i ~S

(eAY yDtJ KYGwvevy SYlA

Chr-~ RtAVVse1 J 1

~ TROUT

Teacher How long do young steelshyhead live here before they go to the Pacific Ocean

All One to three years Teacher One to three years And

how long will they stay out in the ocean All Two to three years Teacher Thank you If you were a

Chinook salmon and I released you today what would you do

A lone voice Just go Teacher Youd head straight out to

the ocean GDod job Ronnie How about a coho

All Hang around Teacher Hang around for how

long All One year Teacher About one year Good

Okay nowweregonna try to pickaspot to plant two of our Colorado spruce trees that we brought with us And what are these trees gonna provide for our fish

Its Watershed Its Birds Its Man David and Susie Armocido are sitting

in the family living room of their wellshykept home in Colusa California Col usa is an hour-and-a-half-drive north ofSacshyramento Its a small town (population 5000) with older neighborhoods neat lawns and rows of green trees Colusa has the feel of a midwestern town quishyeter slower more well established than most of California Colusa County has one of the highest per-capita incomes in America Its prosperity gushes from the south-flowingSacramento River one ofthe two great freshwater streams makshying up the enormous Central Valley The Armocidos town is an oasis amidst flatlands-as far as the proverbial eye can see are rows ofbeans melons tomashytoes as well as seemingly endless dwarfed forests of trees bearing almonds walshynuts and pistachios And there are the rice fields Vast quantities of dammed diverted channeled flooded and sprayed river water make it all grow The snowmelt-origin water once made salmon grow sending hordes of silvery juvenile migrants each spring downshystream to the delta and through the GDlden Gate to the blue Pacific A century of intensive agriculture has utshyterly transformed Natures system Now few wild salmon return Miraculously some still come back to spawn

+hDUjht it yVtJ $

fVettj net be~vS~ V ~ J before vJtJS

Ct1 ch em tA J t bulltshyKrow At1+h i Y~ Ab outshy-the eviV or +he fy Ov +he 7yYOts DV VJM+eveV AY~ d~V+ wJ now r~ef 3 0 1shyt-o -vIe DCttV J )Vt e l amp yen--rI0NJ +vey wCVt +0 -t~e Dt e qV

LhV Sgt tJ GYe~V

I love to fish declares David Ive dedicated a lot of my life to fishing and working with kids I really believe edushycation is much better than restoration I think its cheaper Once a river is destroyed I dont think man can ever get it back to the way it was in the first place to the way it was created

Armocido recalls reading a story in Outdoor California the magazine of the California Department of Fish and Game about an experimental salmashynid education program aimed at young people Salmon had been raised from eggs in aquaria in scattered classrooms throughout coastal Humboldt County But thats where the novelty ended The children werent really learning much about the natural lives of salmon in the wild Educator Diane Higgins married to fisheries biologist and Trout Unlimited enthusiast Pat Higgins was hired to develop a special curriculum

With a grant of $10000 from the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout Higgins came up with aces She wrote a compreshyhensive plan for educating children in grades kindergarten through six The cUITiculum was filled with creativityshyfish anatomy crossword puzzles salmon survival board games salmon poetry easy-to-grasp concepts ofwatersheds and ecosystems Diane elevated it from a

AUTUMN 1992

simple exercise in classroom fish-rearshying to a full-blown learning program encompassing wild fish their habitats and complete life cycle

I want this in myclassroom-Armoshycido seldom bashful had read the piece picked up the telephone and called Diane Higgins

At Davids urging the youth effortshynow formally the California Trout Salmon and Steelhead Education Proshygram-wasswiftly adopted by the Colusa County Chapter of Trout Unlimited which he had organized in 1986 One thousand copies of the 228-page spiralshybound curriculum guide were printed with funding from Trout Unlimited of California the Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Marin Rod and Gun Club

We started small says Armocido with just 10 teachers raising 50 steelshyhead in each classroom

Then Channel 13 the Sacramentoshybased ABC affiliate came up to Armashycidos science class Cameras rolled Editors were impressed The television station ran a full three-minute segment Armocidos telephone began ringing off the hook

Today 300 teachers are involved each personally trained by David Armocido fireball who has spent countless Saturshydays during the last several years orgashy

nizing all-day teacher workshops He has donated all of his time since day oneArmocido stresses the importance of teaching the teachers They are the key to the programs success

We hold workshops on a Saturday for one reason Armocido explains If a teacher is willing to spend a whole day of his free time to learn about a particushylar program to use it in the classroom he will probably use it Instead of the information ending up in a filing cabishynet somewhere we want the teachers to make a personal commitment to the program

VV DYz- tl~etmiddot It be i~ ~UjlJSt- tN ~e -rhiY~ K~ vJ~S W~ 3DT ro et(~ --hiY~S we neey k 61 0eurotoH~ VtA wgt fe~ny fMmiddot --~VK jt)J Mveo Jrvl -1-0 StV e -t~ ~YBs instoJ Of rYKn~ ~eVV ex~YCt

J cdy StGK 0 1~

TROUT a

I t i dl - ~ (lt 1-~t i -f iS~ LOVJ be e)(--l~cr out Jthey ~V Cuz ot A -the MMS t)Vb -thlYjS ~~ -the VVel oss ~VJ t v-ef c (Vmiddot t SfgtPowv SJccesltf~y So J(r-ey c

(JVJ -teY A ~ey e~1lt tlt e ~e~J Jkc o gt0 yov ose t DJ 1G~ Dt fs~ +~e(e

)

tAVJ -~en a ---e ~ Sh CY

~f o-~y S~f ot t~e 4tV w -eV s oui T we +~el htt c1- +~eurof CtJf +~er tD -i-e oheV siJe ot- +ile Jom SD $OoYey OI o--evshy-the- Je AAA it5 o ~~ o ~ -ti s~

j ($ lt D U T-

It has spread like wildfire says Susie Armocido herselfa teacher Teachers from other school districts call us beshycause theyve heard from other teachshyers how well the program works and how excited the kids are

Twenty-five thousand students have shared in the excitement Not all have cookies and milk and a Sony Walkman waiting at home Not all are rich farmshyers kids Some are sons and daughters of migrant workers living in an old station wagon on a canal bank In 1992 They too are intrigued Says Susie Here these very very poor children are trying to survive themselves and yet they are interested in the survival of some other animal Its such an amazshying story

We start out by explaining to our classes that just because we have 50 fertilized eggs that doesnt mean well end up with 50 baby fish to release We explain that the aquarium is a comshypletely controlled environment-no predators no silt nothing except bacshyteria that might harm them So were simulating Nature almostat its best But what about logging we ask the kids and

m TROUT

what about a bad storm and what about all the other fish that would eat the eggs in the wild

Every day when the kids come to school they cant wait to see how many of theirjishare still alive Theyre thrilled to see them alive It really means someshything It begins to dawn on them how fragile life is and if they dontdo someshything the fish arent going to be there in the future They realize that its not just fish-its everything Its the watershyshed its birds its man

I think kids should have a working knowledge of whats going on when they walk by a stream adds David I wan t them to see what a stream really is that there is life that theres a lot going on below the surface

Bywatching the fish hatch and strugshygle through the first stages oflife says Armocido the kids build an emotional bond That bond will be there forever And when they look at a salmon or steelhead river theyre going to look at that river differen tly than they ever have Theyre going to look at it differently than their fathers orgrandfathers looked at a river ~

hS S ~vY -+OJY Yr1~t~ f~eYV +b the WAt eC VV ~ vAt ~fry tA Ki~~ StA M

iYA~ h~fpY oecOvse Jrneuroy tje- +0 ~0 ck +0 +hey OWY roC( tlM do 1-hi (~$ -he(e SVffDse4 -to ao tnd M Kytl St)~ oeCAvSe it w(s 1vn

h Y~ ~h-(M r --e css

AMoey- wost 0 J

Aftenvord Readers interested in learning more about the California Trmtt Salmon and SteelheadEducation program may write Mr David Armocido 232 Cynthia Drive Colusa California 95932 or telephone him at 916-458-5848

AUTUMN 1992

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I love to fish declares David Ive dedicated a lot of my life to fishing and working with kids I really believe edushycation is much better than restoration I think its cheaper Once a river is destroyed I dont think man can ever get it back to the way it was in the first place to the way it was created

Armocido recalls reading a story in Outdoor California the magazine of the California Department of Fish and Game about an experimental salmashynid education program aimed at young people Salmon had been raised from eggs in aquaria in scattered classrooms throughout coastal Humboldt County But thats where the novelty ended The children werent really learning much about the natural lives of salmon in the wild Educator Diane Higgins married to fisheries biologist and Trout Unlimited enthusiast Pat Higgins was hired to develop a special curriculum

With a grant of $10000 from the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout Higgins came up with aces She wrote a compreshyhensive plan for educating children in grades kindergarten through six The cUITiculum was filled with creativityshyfish anatomy crossword puzzles salmon survival board games salmon poetry easy-to-grasp concepts ofwatersheds and ecosystems Diane elevated it from a

AUTUMN 1992

simple exercise in classroom fish-rearshying to a full-blown learning program encompassing wild fish their habitats and complete life cycle

I want this in myclassroom-Armoshycido seldom bashful had read the piece picked up the telephone and called Diane Higgins

At Davids urging the youth effortshynow formally the California Trout Salmon and Steelhead Education Proshygram-wasswiftly adopted by the Colusa County Chapter of Trout Unlimited which he had organized in 1986 One thousand copies of the 228-page spiralshybound curriculum guide were printed with funding from Trout Unlimited of California the Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and the Marin Rod and Gun Club

We started small says Armocido with just 10 teachers raising 50 steelshyhead in each classroom

Then Channel 13 the Sacramentoshybased ABC affiliate came up to Armashycidos science class Cameras rolled Editors were impressed The television station ran a full three-minute segment Armocidos telephone began ringing off the hook

Today 300 teachers are involved each personally trained by David Armocido fireball who has spent countless Saturshydays during the last several years orgashy

nizing all-day teacher workshops He has donated all of his time since day oneArmocido stresses the importance of teaching the teachers They are the key to the programs success

We hold workshops on a Saturday for one reason Armocido explains If a teacher is willing to spend a whole day of his free time to learn about a particushylar program to use it in the classroom he will probably use it Instead of the information ending up in a filing cabishynet somewhere we want the teachers to make a personal commitment to the program

VV DYz- tl~etmiddot It be i~ ~UjlJSt- tN ~e -rhiY~ K~ vJ~S W~ 3DT ro et(~ --hiY~S we neey k 61 0eurotoH~ VtA wgt fe~ny fMmiddot --~VK jt)J Mveo Jrvl -1-0 StV e -t~ ~YBs instoJ Of rYKn~ ~eVV ex~YCt

J cdy StGK 0 1~

TROUT a

I t i dl - ~ (lt 1-~t i -f iS~ LOVJ be e)(--l~cr out Jthey ~V Cuz ot A -the MMS t)Vb -thlYjS ~~ -the VVel oss ~VJ t v-ef c (Vmiddot t SfgtPowv SJccesltf~y So J(r-ey c

(JVJ -teY A ~ey e~1lt tlt e ~e~J Jkc o gt0 yov ose t DJ 1G~ Dt fs~ +~e(e

)

tAVJ -~en a ---e ~ Sh CY

~f o-~y S~f ot t~e 4tV w -eV s oui T we +~el htt c1- +~eurof CtJf +~er tD -i-e oheV siJe ot- +ile Jom SD $OoYey OI o--evshy-the- Je AAA it5 o ~~ o ~ -ti s~

j ($ lt D U T-

It has spread like wildfire says Susie Armocido herselfa teacher Teachers from other school districts call us beshycause theyve heard from other teachshyers how well the program works and how excited the kids are

Twenty-five thousand students have shared in the excitement Not all have cookies and milk and a Sony Walkman waiting at home Not all are rich farmshyers kids Some are sons and daughters of migrant workers living in an old station wagon on a canal bank In 1992 They too are intrigued Says Susie Here these very very poor children are trying to survive themselves and yet they are interested in the survival of some other animal Its such an amazshying story

We start out by explaining to our classes that just because we have 50 fertilized eggs that doesnt mean well end up with 50 baby fish to release We explain that the aquarium is a comshypletely controlled environment-no predators no silt nothing except bacshyteria that might harm them So were simulating Nature almostat its best But what about logging we ask the kids and

m TROUT

what about a bad storm and what about all the other fish that would eat the eggs in the wild

Every day when the kids come to school they cant wait to see how many of theirjishare still alive Theyre thrilled to see them alive It really means someshything It begins to dawn on them how fragile life is and if they dontdo someshything the fish arent going to be there in the future They realize that its not just fish-its everything Its the watershyshed its birds its man

I think kids should have a working knowledge of whats going on when they walk by a stream adds David I wan t them to see what a stream really is that there is life that theres a lot going on below the surface

Bywatching the fish hatch and strugshygle through the first stages oflife says Armocido the kids build an emotional bond That bond will be there forever And when they look at a salmon or steelhead river theyre going to look at that river differen tly than they ever have Theyre going to look at it differently than their fathers orgrandfathers looked at a river ~

hS S ~vY -+OJY Yr1~t~ f~eYV +b the WAt eC VV ~ vAt ~fry tA Ki~~ StA M

iYA~ h~fpY oecOvse Jrneuroy tje- +0 ~0 ck +0 +hey OWY roC( tlM do 1-hi (~$ -he(e SVffDse4 -to ao tnd M Kytl St)~ oeCAvSe it w(s 1vn

h Y~ ~h-(M r --e css

AMoey- wost 0 J

Aftenvord Readers interested in learning more about the California Trmtt Salmon and SteelheadEducation program may write Mr David Armocido 232 Cynthia Drive Colusa California 95932 or telephone him at 916-458-5848

AUTUMN 1992

I t i dl - ~ (lt 1-~t i -f iS~ LOVJ be e)(--l~cr out Jthey ~V Cuz ot A -the MMS t)Vb -thlYjS ~~ -the VVel oss ~VJ t v-ef c (Vmiddot t SfgtPowv SJccesltf~y So J(r-ey c

(JVJ -teY A ~ey e~1lt tlt e ~e~J Jkc o gt0 yov ose t DJ 1G~ Dt fs~ +~e(e

)

tAVJ -~en a ---e ~ Sh CY

~f o-~y S~f ot t~e 4tV w -eV s oui T we +~el htt c1- +~eurof CtJf +~er tD -i-e oheV siJe ot- +ile Jom SD $OoYey OI o--evshy-the- Je AAA it5 o ~~ o ~ -ti s~

j ($ lt D U T-

It has spread like wildfire says Susie Armocido herselfa teacher Teachers from other school districts call us beshycause theyve heard from other teachshyers how well the program works and how excited the kids are

Twenty-five thousand students have shared in the excitement Not all have cookies and milk and a Sony Walkman waiting at home Not all are rich farmshyers kids Some are sons and daughters of migrant workers living in an old station wagon on a canal bank In 1992 They too are intrigued Says Susie Here these very very poor children are trying to survive themselves and yet they are interested in the survival of some other animal Its such an amazshying story

We start out by explaining to our classes that just because we have 50 fertilized eggs that doesnt mean well end up with 50 baby fish to release We explain that the aquarium is a comshypletely controlled environment-no predators no silt nothing except bacshyteria that might harm them So were simulating Nature almostat its best But what about logging we ask the kids and

m TROUT

what about a bad storm and what about all the other fish that would eat the eggs in the wild

Every day when the kids come to school they cant wait to see how many of theirjishare still alive Theyre thrilled to see them alive It really means someshything It begins to dawn on them how fragile life is and if they dontdo someshything the fish arent going to be there in the future They realize that its not just fish-its everything Its the watershyshed its birds its man

I think kids should have a working knowledge of whats going on when they walk by a stream adds David I wan t them to see what a stream really is that there is life that theres a lot going on below the surface

Bywatching the fish hatch and strugshygle through the first stages oflife says Armocido the kids build an emotional bond That bond will be there forever And when they look at a salmon or steelhead river theyre going to look at that river differen tly than they ever have Theyre going to look at it differently than their fathers orgrandfathers looked at a river ~

hS S ~vY -+OJY Yr1~t~ f~eYV +b the WAt eC VV ~ vAt ~fry tA Ki~~ StA M

iYA~ h~fpY oecOvse Jrneuroy tje- +0 ~0 ck +0 +hey OWY roC( tlM do 1-hi (~$ -he(e SVffDse4 -to ao tnd M Kytl St)~ oeCAvSe it w(s 1vn

h Y~ ~h-(M r --e css

AMoey- wost 0 J

Aftenvord Readers interested in learning more about the California Trmtt Salmon and SteelheadEducation program may write Mr David Armocido 232 Cynthia Drive Colusa California 95932 or telephone him at 916-458-5848

AUTUMN 1992