Feather River Floating Classroom participants listen as the Department of Water Resources’ scientists provide information about the Chinook salmon lifecycle and ongoing conservation and research efforts. Photo courtesy of the Department of Water Resources

OROVILLE, CA (MPG) - During autumn, the Feather River in Oroville is home to adult Chinook salmon that have returned to their natural spawning grounds to complete their lifecycle and start the next generation. This infusion of thousands of salmon offers a prime opportunity for public education, with classes held on the river instead of within the four walls of a school. Through the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Feather River Floating Classroom Program, people of all ages are learning about the salmon lifecycle and critical ongoing conservation efforts and research in the Feather River. 

Developed by environmental scientists within the Department of Water Resources’ Division of Integrated Science and Engineering (DISE), the Feather River Floating Classroom Program has held various forms over the last decade. For many years, public tours were offered solely during the City of Oroville’s Salmon Festival, celebrating the return of Chinook salmon. With the program’s growing popularity, DWR is now supporting dozens of free tours for local schools and public members during the fall spawning season.

“The floating classroom program is so important because it gives people an opportunity to have a connection to their local environment,” said Michelle Pepping, environmental scientist with the Division of Integrated Science and Engineering. “We’re building that bridge from the environment directly to the community and sharing information about the salmon’s life history and the work DWR does on the river to benefit salmon.”

Floating classroom tours on the Feather River give students and public members an up-close and personal view of Chinook salmon, as rafts guided by scientists’ drift through their natural spawning habitat. Guides highlight redds, the nests of bright red fertilized eggs female Chinook salmon build in gravel beds, which then hatch into alevin, the first lifecycle stage of a new salmon.

“I touched two salmon twice,” noted Plumas Avenue Elementary School fourth-grader Jeremy Gendreau. “It was slimy but pretty cool.”

“The Floating Classroom offered experiences that we can’t give in the classroom,” said Angela McLean, fourth grade teacher at Plumas Avenue Elementary School in Oroville. “The students were right on the river and they got to see, touch, and smell. They had a scientist explaining everything that was happening around them and it’s all right here in their backyard.”

Throughout the floating classroom tour, scientists also provide education about how the Department of Water Resources’ State Water Project system operates and the work occurring in the Feather River to support and monitor Chinook salmon populations. This includes discussions about gravel improvement projects to enhance spawning habitat and the many scientific monitoring and data collection projects underway that track Chinook salmon throughout their lifecycle.

“We’re collecting data through snorkel surveys, screw trapping, beach seining, water quality monitoring, environmental DNA analysis, drone surveys and more,” Pepping said. “All that information is relayed to the public during floating classroom tours.”

For local students participating in the floating classroom program, it also opens their eyes to potential career paths available in their hometown. 

“I really want to have a job like this when I grow up,” Gendreau added.

This unique experience educates students and community members of all ages who are eager to learn about salmon and the Feather River.

“This year, DWR has reached over 800 students and more than 600 community members with our floating classrooms tours, which we’re really excited about,” Pepping said. “Being able to provide this experience to students and the public is an amazing thing that we can do to continue to build these connections to people, their environment, and their water.”

The 2024 fall-run spawning season marked the first year in which the Department of Water Resources sponsored dozens of free tours to local schools and members of the public, with support from the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the Thermalito Union Elementary School District. While the Feather River Floating Classroom program has concluded for the season, the Department of Water Resources’ efforts continue year-round to study salmon and enhance the Feather River habitat and help Chinook Salmon populations thrive. The Feather River Floating Classroom program will resume in the fall with the return of fall-run Chinook salmon.

Visit the Department of Water Resources’ Protecting California’s Salmon StoryMap to see more of the work being done to help salmon in California.