Bay Area students helping to restore threatened steelhead

PETALUMA, Calif. (KGO) -- In a quiet stretch of Adobe Creek, a group of budding biologists are about to take stock of a species they're helping to save. The students from Casa Grande High School are part of a unique program that could help bolster the population of steelhead trout in the Petaluma watershed. Hatchery director Dan Hubacker says the team has two goals.

"One is to give them a chance to hopefully boost some of the survival rate of the fish that are out there, but also being able to collect some of the genetics and have it a long-term picture as to what how much genetic diversity is found in this watershed and what long term efforts can be done to recover the species," says Hubacker.

Using a recently granted federal permit from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, students have been rescuing steelhead from surrounding creeks. Transporting them to their state-of-the-art fish hatchery, located on campus. The only student run of its kind in the country.

That's where the steelhead will nurture and grow before they're eventually reintroduced back into the stream. Student researchers gently take tiny tissue samples individual fish. And while they're in captivity, they're also being fitted with tiny tracking devices, to generate data about their health.

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"We take the fish that we have in our hatchery and we're putting a little microchip into their bellies, so that we can track where they're moving up and down the creeks. We have little antennas out there in the creeks and we can track if they're migrating up further into the creeks higher up, or if they're out-migrating towards the ocean," says senior Joseph Bendik.

The program known as United Anglers of Casa Grande was founded several decades ago. But the rescue and release permits mark a turning point for the student led restoration efforts -- at a time when they may be more valuable than ever.

"It's really important to keep pursuing this kind of work, especially in our local area. This species is so unique to this creek, and especially with the current federal government cutting back on the funding. Our work is students being student led is really important just in our local area," says fellow student scientist Olivia Solis.

The program is approved for college credit and graduates have gone on to careers in everything from biology to wildlife management, with a passion sparked alongside the bubbling tanks and running streams of Casa Grande.

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"I applied to a lot of conservation or environmental science majors, says Eva Cain. "And I do in the future want to go into conservation."

Fellow senior Phoenix Strasen feels the same sense direction.

"I caught my first fish last year, and that was a life changing moment for me. It's just been an amazing time and I know that I've been making an impact and it's something that I want to do for the rest of my life," says Strasen.

The United Anglers of Casa Grande are planning to begin releasing the steelhead as early as this week, with a goal of reintroducing 25 fish a day.