‘Live! Live! Live’ is the resounding chant at the annual Salmon Summit

Environmental education was in full swing this week as the Bonneville Power Administration, represented by members of its Communications Department and Tri-Cities District Office, participated in this year’s Salmon Summit.

This summit, developed by the Benton Conservation District is the culminating activity for eastern Washington schools that participate in the innovative Salmon in the Classroom program. After raising fish through the winter and spring, the Salmon Summit provides kids with a real-life outdoor learning experience where they release their fish into the water. 

During Salmon Summit, students attend field stations hosted by over fifty groups, including federal, tribal, state, county, municipal, public utilities, and non-profit organizations to learn about water usage, fish tagging, hydroelectric dams, fish transport, native plants, salmon recovery efforts, local wildlife, safety, and other topics.

Over the course of a day and half, BPA staff engaged with nearly 500 students, parents and teachers through the salmon survival “plinko” game and the hydro trivia. An array of interactive activities and events at the Salmon Summit offer new and unique insights into the natural world, while simultaneously giving kids the opportunity to see how their salmon’s survival fits into an array of competing interests. 

“While all the kids enjoyed taking a guess a hydropower trivia questions, the real hit was plinko and seeing whether their fish would survive,” said Heidi Helwig, BPA Salmon Summit participant and communications manager. “As soon as that pink ping pong ball representing the salmon started making its way through the maze, the kids got so excited to see whether their salmon would live or die. The progressively louder chants of ‘Live! Live! Live!’ were immediately followed by hooting and hollering as the ball eventually made its way to the bottom of game board.” 

After more than three decades, the Salmon Summit remains an important environmental education opportunity that offers parents, teachers, and most importantly, students, a personal experience and connection to the river and local environment.  

“Seeing the wheels in their heads turning as they worked to answer hydropower trivia questions and seeing the joyous chants of salmon survival as they played the plinko game was really fun,” said Tom Osborn, mechanical engineer for BPA’s Tri-Cities District Office. “It is a lot of fun working with kids who will inherit our region’s incredible hydropower system and H2O battery!” 

More information about the Benton Conservation District’s Salmon Summit environmental education program is available at: https://www.bentoncd.org/education.