Carmel Valley >> A group of fifth-graders from the International School of Monterey crowd around Bowen Jenkins-Warrick as he stands near the bank of the Carmel River. The hydrologist is explaining how a contraption that helps transport endangered steelhead trout to Los Padres Reservoir works.
As the steelhead come up the river in their quest to spawn, they meet the spillway wall of the reservoir and can’t get any further, Jenkins-Warrick says. But if they find the turbulent waters of the “fish ladder” they end up in the so-called fish trap.
“I use metal grates to prod the fish into a corner,” Jenkins-Warrick tells the students. “If you see the truck, there’s a fish tank with a fish trap attached to it. … Then what I do is guide those fish — I ask them very nicely, I cannot touch this endangered steelhead trout” — into the truck.
The hydrologist then drives the truck less than a mile up the road to the reservoir, and again nicely asks them to swim away into the cold waters of the man-made lake.
“I back my truck down very carefully, I enter the water as deep as I can go. I open up a valve and the fish swoosh out into the reservoir,” Jenkins-Warrick says. “They splash in the water, they go, ‘Wow, I’m in Los Padres Reservoir. I’m going to go upstream and I’m going to make some babies.’ ”
As part of their “exhibition project,” fifth-graders at the International School of Monterey will spend the next six weeks exploring different topics related to water: pathogens, storm drain runoff, steelhead migration, desalination and balancing the needs of men and nature. It is the third time that fifth-grade teachers Tod Spedding and Mary Welsh have taken their students on a field trip to Los Padres Dam as part of the project.
“The goal for today is the teams begin to feel like teams,” Spedding said.
The students take a tour of the dam at three places with different perspectives. At the fish trap, students learn about the Carmel River’s steelhead habitat and what is being done to protect the species. Atop the dam, a hydrologist with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District tells the children the impact the reservoir has on the Monterey Peninsula.
“What’s really important to know, guys, is that the majority of the water we drink at our homes comes from the Carmel River,” Thomas Christensen tells them. “The other percent comes from the Seaside water basin.”
In broad strokes, Christensen explains to the students what’s happening with water in the Peninsula; that California American Water has orders to stop overdrafting the Carmel River, that another source of water needs to be found and that desalination is being explored.
“But if you pump seawater then put the salt back in the ocean, that’s going to affect the fish,” Nina Dagey, 10, chimes in.
“That’s true,” Christensen says, explaining that every solution has its drawbacks.
Although his project isn’t related to Thursday’s presentation, James Dodson, 11, said he really enjoyed learning about local water issues.
“Knowing about the situation in the Peninsula is helpful. It’s not like you’re learning about some far-off country, which we do a lot, and that’s interesting and all but sometimes it can seem far off and not quite affecting us,” James said. “It’s fun to learn about us because it affects us. The fact that it affects us makes it useful information.”
Nina found the tour to the reservoir “pretty valuable.”
“The dam is important for us but also (it impacts) endangered animals,” she said. “It’s hard to tell them to keep away.”
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 726-4370.