Salmon Watch is a place-based, experiential field trip that introduces students to local watersheds and the salmon that inhabit them. The field trips are about 4 hours long and are scheduled for mid-September to mid-October. We offer these trips to elementary through high school aged students.

Volunteers are essential to Salmon Watch! Each volunteer leads one of these field stations:

• Salmon Biology: Help students understand what they are seeing as the salmon build redds and fight for position, discuss the salmon life cycle, perform a fish dissection, and help students understand salmon’s cultural importance.
• Macroinvertebrates: Students wade into the river to explore and collect these marvelous indicators of water quality.
• Water Quality: Share the wonder of science with these tests – use tools and chemistry to test dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and turbidity.
• Riparian Ecology: This station has a lot of room for you to make it your own as you introduce students to the connections between healthy riparian areas and healthy in-stream habitats.

Attend this half-day training to help you prepare for your Salmon Watch. Whether you are a brand-new or returning Salmon Watch volunteer, this training will have something for you!

If you have any questions, please contact Heath Keirstead at heath.keirstead@marionswcd.net.

Can’t attend on 8/28 but still interested? Our friends at Linn Benton Salmon Watch have volunteer trainings (dates TBD). Learn more here.

RSVP to reserve your spot for Marion SWCD’s volunteer training on August 28.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND CHECK

All field trip volunteers must complete a background check, it should only take a few minutes.

Click here to initiate background check.

The background check is free (either choose to have Marion SWCD pay or you can choose to donate the fee.)

If you need special accommodations, including translation services, in order to participate, please call the event coordinator at 503-949-4709 or email heath.keirstead@marionswcd.net as far in advance as possible.