Sixty-five smolt salmon are going to have a new home this spring.
After a $1,000 grant from Clinton Valley Trout Unlimited last fall, Brandon Middle School science teacher Dave Green, with the help of students, received salmon eggs on Nov.13 from Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, Van Buren County. The project is part of the Salmon in the Classroom program supervised by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Green followed strict guidelines outlined by the DNR, which include keeping the eggs in a 50-gallon tank with 49-degree treated water. The water is continually agitated to simulate a moving waterway. Green said that during the winter vacation about 170 eggs hatched and have now matured into smolts about 3-1/2 inches long.
Green said the fish will be poured into the Clinton River near 23 Mile and Dequindre roads at Yates Cider Mill.
The learning experience provides students the opportunity to raise, care for and maintain the salmon in their classroom from fall until spring. The program concludes after the young fish are released in a local watershed that feeds into one of the Great Lakes.
The Salmon in the Classroom program incorporated more than 80 Michigan schools last year.