Another Successful School Year for Real Learning Real Work
Over the course of the school year, 396 students participated in Real Learning Real Work! The restoration engineering curriculum takes middle school students out to local waterways and challenges them to work together to assess, develop, implement, and maintain their own riparian restoration project.

This school year, we worked with middle school students and their teachers from Clallam Bay, Sequim, Chimacum, and Port Townsend.

Last fall, the students evaluated the health of salmon habitat at Salmon Creek, the Dungeness River, and the Pysht River. Over the course of the winter, students designed riparian restoration plans in consultation with NOSC. Come spring, students put over 500 native plants into the ground, removed invasive species, and carried out other maintenance tasks.

This was the first full program year since the pandemic disrupted field trips for students -- and they were excited to get out in the field!
Clallam Bay students planting a riparian buffer for the Pysht River. Photo by NOSC Staff.
Chimacum students work to plant native species at the Salmon Creek floodplain. Photo courtesy of Chimacum Student.
Blue Heron students created art sculptures from the invasive Himalayan blackberry canes and root balls that they removed from the floodplain of Salmon Creek. Photo by NOSC Staff.
The Real Learning Real Work program is available to middle school students across the North Olympic Peninsula. The program is offered at no-cost to schools or students. The program is supported through contributions from donors, foundations, and grants. To find out more about the program and how to get involved, click below!
Meet the Newest Member of our Team: Emma!
We’re excited to introduce our new summer intern, Emma Weaver, who will be overseeing our summer project to trap and relocate juvenile salmonids from a project site on Snow Creek.

Emma spent much of her childhood living in Mexico and Bolivia prior to moving back to the Olympic Peninsula, where her parents had purchased a farm along the banks of the Elwha River. While on the farm, Emma devoted countless hours towards helping her family raise sustainable food and promoting regenerative agriculture at local farmers markets. It was through her efforts to help reestablish a riparian buffer on the farm, as well as seeing firsthand the resilience of the river and its salmon following the recent removal of dams on the Elwha that motivated Emma to study environmental science at Seattle University. In her free time, Emma can be found reading, backpacking, or playing ultimate frisbee. Welcome to the team, Emma!
School's Out! (Unless You're a Fish)
By Cheryl Lowe
Have you ever stood on a dock watching schools of fish weaving about in the water below you? Their synchronized dance, turning and circling, flowing as one entity, is beautiful. How do they do that?

Fish have a special system of sensory organs, called lateral lines, that detect movement, vibration and pressure changes in the surrounding water. A faint line of pores running lengthwise down the sides of the fish indicates where much of this sensory system is located.

Can you spot the lateral line on the juvenile coho below?
Image courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
For schooling fish, lateral lines are used to match the direction and speed of their nearest neighbors. Fish in a school are roughly equidistant from each other, and although visual clues also play a role in schooling, the lateral lines are the primary guidance system.

The sensory system is built around an arrangement of hair cells that detect changes in the flow of water around the fish. In a fish, the hair cells (similar to the hair cells or cilia in our inner ears that detect sound waves) are clustered together in a structure called a neuromast; in the neuromast, the clusters of hairs are covered by a gelatinous, dome-like structure called a cupula. As flowing water bends the cupula, the hairs inside it also bend, which triggers the hair cell to send signals to the fish’s brain.
Graphic by: Thomas.haslwanter - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21451808
There are two types of neuromasts: those found in special subdermal, fluid-filled canals along the lateral lines and those found on the body’s surface. The surface neuromasts are better designed to detect coarse, but wide-ranging changes. The canal neuromasts are arranged in such a way that they can pick up more subtle changes, such as a slight difference in water pressure. Many surface-feeding fish have neuromasts that can detect the source of vibrations of insects landing on the water surface.

As fish swim, there is a flow field around their bodies. Anything that changes the pattern of flow, whether it be an obstacle, predator or the behavior of other fish near them, is detected by the lateral line.

Schooling fish watch one another and also feel the waves their neighbors make as they swim. One source I read reported that each fish has its preferred spot in the school. Some are natural leaders and tend to hang at the front and guide the whole school, while others choose to follow.

When a fish detects a change in the flow, whether from a predator lunging at them or an obstacle, the individuals closest to the change dart away first and the adjacent fish follow suit so quickly that it is seems instantaneous and seamless.

What is the advantage of schooling, which occurs in over 50% of fish species at some point in their lives? Predator detection and avoidance is one advantage, since the school as a whole has a greater field of view and broader sensory detection.

Studies have also shown that there is protection in numbers. When a predator attacks, it can get confused by the large number of fish and be unable to focus on one target. If it is a predatory fish, the lateral line comes into play again. A single prey fish creates a rather simple particle velocity pattern, but the pressure gradients of many closely swimming (schooling) fish overlap, creating a complex pattern. This makes it difficult for predatory fish to use their own lateral line perceptions to identify an individual prey. (Wikipedia)

For more details, see: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_line (which also has excellent illustrations)

Community Spotlight: Lazy J Tree Farm
An enormous thanks to Steve and Ann Johnson from the Lazy J Tree Farm in Sequim! A supporter of restoration efforts for many years now, Lazy J was kind enough to donate several yards of mulch for plants planted by Sequim Middle School 7th graders participating in our Real Learning Real Work STEM program late last spring. The mulch will undoubtedly aid in plant establishment and help the plantings survive the warm dry months of summer! For over 50 years, Lazy J has been trusted source for Christmas trees and décor, fruit trees, vegetables, and several varieties of soil, compost, and mulch. They also accept yard waste for a minimal fee. You may want to schedule a visit in the coming weeks, as their U-pick blueberries will be plump and ripe!
Come See Us This Summer: Upcoming Events
Photo courtesy NOSC staff.
Stop by to see Fin the Giant Migrating Salmon at:

Sekiu/Clallam Bay Fun Days
July 8th

Joyce Daze
August 5th
Come see us at the Farmer's Market!

July 16th - Chimacum Farmer's Market
July 19th - Port Angeles Wednesday Market
July 22nd - Port Townsend Farmer's Market
August 16th - Port Angeles Wednesday Market
August 19th - Port Townsend Farmer's Market
August 20th - Chimacum Farmer's Market
September 9th - Fall Market Peninsula College
Interested in volunteering at our booths or with Fin this summer? Please email Education & Outreach Coordinator, Lindsay McCord, at lmccord@nosc.org for more information or to sign up.
May Recap
Folks made salmon hats in advance of salmon trivia hosted by NOSC, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, and Finnriver. Photo by NOSC staff.
Solstice Salmon Days Kicked Off Summer with a SPLASH!
Over the course of three days, the Salmon Coalition, Port Townsend Marine Science Center, and Finnriver Farm & Cidery hosted Solstice Salmon Days in celebration of the Summer Solstice and Orca Action Month. With Fin the Giant Migrating Salmon, crafts, trivia, a children's author, salmon recovery film screenings, and music, we had a blast connecting with the community and celebrating salmon.
Header photo: John Gussman
Base funding for the RFEG program comes from a grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, a portion of state commercial and recreational fishing license fees, and excess egg and carcass sales administered by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

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outreach@nosc.org
360.379.8051
www.nosc.org