Monterey Bay Salmon & Trout Project

By Hugh Miller

It's now April, and we are well into the school year. Yes, time passes by very quickly. In our last article of October, we wrote that we had few STEP (Salmon and Trout Education Program) activities happening at that time. Then, it was the beginning of the school year. Now, at this time, in contrast, STEP activities are extremely busy (some say "fever-pitch") as we find ourselves in the egg distribution and incubation phase of our program.

A month ago, a team of six STEP support, adult members met with Jennifer Nelson of California State Fish and Game for the processing of 121 STEP egg application permits. Yes, despite the limitations of the recent 4-D ruling of NMFS...saying that releases must be limited to either the San Lorenzo and/or Scott Creek Watersheds...a total of 121 area classes still asked (by way of permit submittal) to be included in the STEP incubation activities...despite the logistics problems of releases. A number of schools, with the 4-D ruling in effect, need to travel further distances now for their release of fry. This response shows "a lot" in regard to the teacher and student enthusiasm for STEP.

By Hugh Miller

School days are here again and our STEP (Salmon Trout Education Program) is already off and running. As you can imagine, it is a challenging task to coordinate over 120 STEP classes in eight different counties. The program's success however, provides ample reward to the Project Coordinators. More teachers are asking to join this popular program each year.

Our STEP K-12 Teacher Workshop is scheduled for January 15th & 16th, 2000. We will be doing a curriculum upgrade and adding a STEP web page during this school year. As in past years, releases of steelhead fry by certified STEP classes will most likely occur during May or June, 2000.