Looking for a local hands-on field trip. Look no further than the Abernathy Fish Technology Center located at 1440 Abernathy Creek Road in Longview. The 2nd graders at Robert Gray went on June 1st and absolutely loved it. The students got to learn about what the staff at the hatchery does, as well as break into small groups and rotate through six hands-on learning stations. Their mission is different from a hatchery in that we are an applied science facility that supports hatchery operations and innovation as well as provides the best available science in support of conservation actions more broadly.

• Students got to see the hatchery building where the fish are in tanks from small to large and learn about how they feed them and the age at which they move them from tank to tank.
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• Students had the opportunity to visit the Longview public library mobile library and hear a story related to fish as well as get tattoos and do sidewalk chalk.
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• Students got to learn about the life cycle of a salmon and see how they change and learn about how and when they travel through streams. They got to see pictures of six different salmon types and color pictures of them as well.
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• A highlight for many students was seeing the raceway. They got to net small coho and put them in the large raceway for the sturgeon to eat. As well as see mussels and lamprey and learned more about them as well.
• Another station was called Smell Our Way Home. Each student got a canister with a unique smell. Then students had to match their smell to another canister at a stream poster with the same smell. Doing this activity, students learned about how salmon find their way back to the same waterway each year. The students loved it.
• Finally, students learned about safety when casting and even got to practice casting with real poles, but no hooks.

Overall, it was a great local experience. We had about 2 hours of learning time, then a lunch break before heading back to school. If you would like to learn more about what they have to offer, contact Alison Deary at alison_deary@fws.gov. You won’t regret it.