Project teaches about salmon through art and fun
Apr. 8—An environmental awareness initiative, The Salmon Journey Project, came to the Sutter County Museum in Yuba City last week and blended art with environmental education through a workshop about the Yuba River system and the connection between people and salmon.
Artist Monica Farbiarz and wildlife biologist Kristen Hein Strohm facilitated this workshop with enthusiastic and kid-friendly energy. They led the group through the song "The Salmon Journey," and participants sang from a salmon's point of view.
"I was born in the river under the surface of the redds. I was first a little larva, then became a little fish," the song goes. "And I grew bigger and stronger to set out on a big journey, far beyond valleys and mountains, waterfalls and rocky streams."
Setting out on a big journey, little salmon from the Yuba River travel to the Pacific Ocean every year to find good ocean nutrients, and then the salmon return to the river to spawn. However, local salmon face obstacles that impede their passage, such as shallow water and difficulty getting past the Daguerre Point Dam.
Strohm said it is important to help the salmon with their struggles because they are important to us and the ecosystem. After all, Strohm said, salmon feed the entire forest.
"So when that eagle took this salmon out of the river, that eagle carried that salmon far out into the woods, far up to the mountains, farther than any salmon could travel on its own," Strohm said. "And the bears tend to do a very silly thing: not flying, but they can walk a really far distance away from the river."
That is critical because salmon fertilize the trees with their bodies at the end of their lives. Salmon, specifically, can also be beneficial for our own heart and bone health.
"They nourish our bodies, and they can nourish our spirits," Strohm said.
To show our relationships with each other, the workshop asked participants to work together to create a sea of movements. There was jumping up and down, and there was pretend swimming galore.
"Ecosystems are about those relationships too, all of the relationships between every living thing and everything that's here," Strohm said.
Speaking to kids at the museum event, Strohm said that there are many things that people are trying to do to aid salmon, but future generations also need to try to continue to help.
Helping salmon takes a village. For example, Debbie Reid, a board member of the Sutter County Museum, enjoyed taking her grandkids to the event and said that the workshop nicely reinforced what the kids hopefully remember learning about salmon previously.
"My mom was on the board (of the museum), and she was really proud of the museum," Reid said. "We're from an old farming family, and so whenever I can share our history it makes me really proud. I can feel my mom over my shoulder happy that her grandkids are here."
Her grandchildren and other community members at the workshop made salmon-themed art with construction paper at the end of the event. They were left with a list of how families could help the salmon.
According to the list, individuals can donate or volunteer with local conservation groups, such as the South Yuba River Citizens League, Sierra Streams Institute, Wolf Creek Community Alliance and Save Auburn Ravine Salmon and Steelhead. The public also can use energy-efficient appliances, reuse and recycle, fight climate change and vote for candidates who prioritize climate action and protections for free-flowing rivers.
