Imagine living along the lower San Lorenzo River all your life, but never getting to see what lives in the river. That recently changed for students who live in the Lower Ocean and Beach Flats neighborhoods who attend the after-school program at Nueva Vista Community Resources.
Nueva Vista, the Coastal Watershed Council and two UC Santa Cruz graduate students, Dave Fryxell and Travis Apgar, on behalf of the Fly Fisherman’s Club of Santa Cruz, brought students in 3rd through 6th grades to discover – what lives in the San Lorenzo River? Using a seining net, Dave and Travis, pulled in fish for the youth to view. With direction, the students carefully picked the fish and insects up and rushed them to their respective tanks, taking the time to name each one along the way. Once in tanks for observation, students got to closely observe the fish and insects that live in the river, including threespine stickleback, sculpin and more. At the end of the day, all fish were delivered back to the areas they were caught and the students were excited for next month’s trips to the river.
