Education Page 1  2        While propagation of salmon and restoration of salmon habitat have always been the main elements of the Salmon Stamp Program, the Stamp Committee has strongly supported investment in the future of salmon resources and the fishery through educational projects.      PRODUCTION OF EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS      In 1987, the Committee funded production of two twenty-minute videos. One, Like Our Fathers Before, documents the accomplishments of the Stamp Program; the other, Return of the King, describes salmon restoration programs in California more generally. Though old, these videos are wellmade and contain useful information. Copies of these high-quality videos by Lone Eagle Productions are available from the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, P.O. Box 29370, San Francisco, CA 94129-0370. Salmon Stamp assisted in funding development of an educational and interpretive program at Nimbus Hatchery. This hatchery, located near Sacramento, is visited by thousands of people, often on family outings. This project developed a brochure and added docents to aid the public’s understanding of the importance of the hatchery program. The Salmon Stamp Program has provided up to $40,000 to maintain and upgrade the interpretive project. Starting with the Eel River Project, Salmon Stamp has provided $30,000 for classroom incubators for salmon and steelhead trout to schools in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Tehama, and Santa Cruz Counties. These incubators are aquaria which simulate the gravel and aquatic habitat of a natural stream. Students can observe the incubation, hatching, and growth of salmon right in their own classrooms. When the young salmon or steelhead are ready, students release them into a stream at a site approved by DFG. Students often want to know if the fish will survive, and this concern has led to their involvement in habitat protection in the selected streams. SALMONIDS IN THE CLASSROOM, SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY      The Salmon Stamp Committee recognized early on that educating San Joaquin Valley students about salmon is extremely important because they will be future consumers, farmers and voters there. The Salmonids in the Classroom Program was ideally suited for implementation there, because it gives students hands-on experience with early phases of salmonid natural history. The program involves hatching salmonid eggs in classrooms for subsequent releases into local rivers as well as a classroom and field curriculum to educate students about local riparian and instream biology, ecology, history, and problems, with primary focus on local salmonid populations. Stamp Committee support of the San Joaquin Valley Salmonids in the Classroom Program was essential to survival of the program in its formative years. Though unable to contribute vast sums to the newly hatched effort, the committee recommended funding for various elements of the program, allowing the program to continue, more than once, when other funds were unavailable. Funding amounts varied year to year from $2,500 to as high as $20,000. The San Joaquin Valley Salmonids in the Classroom program has grown since its humble beginnings in 1988. Now there are almost 100 teachers involved and over 50 incubators units in operation. The program is supported by a large docent volunteer effort. Over 2000 students in grades K-12 are given an opportunity each year to develop a sense of responsibility for their natural resources. A Fish and Wildlife Interpreter provides workshops in six Valley population centers to instruct teachers on the curriculum and the use of the incubators and resource kits. The media has often covered the story when the students are ready to release fish into their local streams. The program serves the following counties: Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern. Page 1  2