After experiencing an unfortunate setback, the fifth grade class will soon be adding to their knowledge about biology and salmon life cycles while using equipment designed in Wrangell.

Fifth grade teacher Holly Padilla said she knew well before this school year that she wanted to use the education program “Salmon in the Classroom,” which is a popular hands-on environmental education program where students raise salmon from eggs to fry (juvenile fish) in their own classrooms.

The program is widely used across Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California and the Great Lakes region.

The program typically follows the academic calendar and the natural life cycle of salmon: set-up in the fall, arrival of locally/regionally sourced eggs in the winter, growth stages through early spring, and release of the juvenile fish in late spring.

“We got started in October and things were going really well, and then we got all the snow,” Padilla said. “It was right before the holiday break and we missed some school because of the snow. I really thought the eggs would be OK. But they didn’t make it.”

Padilla said the eggs had matured to the point of being “eyed” (where the developing fish had visibly grown eyes) and had been separated from eggs that didn’t survive.

“The pH levels (the acidity or alkaline levels of the water) were fine and everything seemed to be in order but, what we think happened was parts of the egg sacks that separated blocked the filter,” she said. “And the natural waste produced by the eggs accumulating in the water led to all of them suffocating.”

Although it was discouraging, Padilla said she was not ready to give up.

“We had gotten everything started in the beginning by coordinating with the Forest Service,” she said. “I worked closely with Claire Froelich and Anna Belback from the Forest Service. Anna had experience with the program when she was a student (in Ketchikan) ... and she also has (salmon) hatchery experience." Her father was assistant manager at the Whitman Lake Hatchery.

After the loss of the eggs, Padilla was able to secure additional coho eggs from Ketchikan with an Alaska Department of Fish and Game permit. Those eggs should be arriving soon.

Padilla also reached out to Wrangell’s Brian Ashton, who has developed his own salmon incubator, and he agreed to bring the experimental equipment into her classroom and get it ready for use when the eggs arrive.

“Not only will the kids get to be a part of this program, they’ll be using cutting-edge science with a literally new, original piece of equipment,” Padilla said. “It was sad to lose the eggs we had, but that little speedbump has helped turn this into something more exciting.”

According to Ashton, his salmon incubation technology builds on an atomized moist-air system, incubating the eggs in a portable, full-recirculation environment, allowing the eggs to develop to the emergent fry stage.

Padilla said that she is most encouraged by watching how her students are so invested in the process.

“They have notebooks that are specifically used for the program,” she said. “They do everything and record it. They check the water temperature and the pH levels. They record information through the different developmental stages of the eggs.”

She said the process of watching the children learn is a whole other level of excitement for her.

“They literally have been able to witness, with their own eyes, the cellular division as it occurs in the eggs,” she said. “How many opportunities are there for a child to learn about that and then to actually watch it happen with their own eyes.”

Padilla said she is ready to get the program going again, but she is currently trying to figure out what to do with the juvenile fish the class will have at the end of the school year.

“Typically, the dish would be returned to the spot they were sourced,” she said. “But since these are coming from Ketchikan, I don’t know how that’s going to work. It’s not like we can just release them locally. There are ecosystem issues to consider.”

Regardless of the final disposition of the fish, Padilla said she is just happy to watch the curiosity of her students grow along with the salmon.