“People should care about steelhead trout because they are threatened species!”
Huddled in groups, fifth and sixth grade students at Pacific Elementary School discussed the various threats to steelhead trout survival based upon their investigation of their local San Vicente Creek. Examining data collected from two field trips focused on understanding the physical habitat requirements and limiting factors of the local steelhead trout, students found that the creek had low dissolved oxygen levels, lower than ideal stream flow and evidence of human impact. Armed with this new knowledge, students set out to share this information with others and to share ways our community can help improve habitat for steelhead trout.
Franklin, Owen, Noah and Zephyr suggests “using reusable containers lowers the amount of disposable or plastic pollutants, doing organized group clean-ups is a helpful and sometimes fun activity, and consider that chopping down trees near streams disrupts the roots which holds together the soil. All of these are ways of lowering levels of pollution in nearby watersheds.”
Musa, Ryder, Bella and Rosa, suggest you “fix leaks in houses, only use as much water as necessary, and only take showers when you need to. This is important so that the fish have a larger space to reproduce and so that they have more water to swim in.”
Ondine, Rohnan and Nallan recommend that you “conserve water, knock down, or stop building dams” in order to increase stream flow.
Amelie, Conner, Andy and Dominique suggest you “plant trees in water so it produces oxygen and ups the dissolved oxygen levels. Steelhead trout need dissolved oxygen so that they can survive.”
Thalia, Jade, Rumi, Luke and Ethan recommend that you “pick up trash, leave the creek better than you found it, put gates so only people who have permission can come to the creek. This is important to the Steelhead Trout because if people keep polluting water the fish will either it or the water will get affected.”
These newly sworn in Watershed Rangers and their classmates demonstrate that we all can make a difference. Learn about more of Pacific Elementary School’s Watershed Rangers recommendations here and what you can do to help our your local watersheds.