01/26/07 WWC ask to fund outreach in schools

Washington Ag January 26, 2007 School children in eastern Washington could be participating in something called Wheat Week and more of them could be involved with Salmon in the Classroom if the Washington Wheat Commission decides to fund a request from the Franklin County Conservation District. Kara Kaelber, an education and outreach specialist with the Franklin County Conservation District, developed the Wheat Week program specifically for the Wheat Commission to reach students in the heart of wheat country. Kaelber: "Where I would go and spend a week in a school teaching a series of five lessons in grades four through seven. We are going to teach them about water, about soil, about farmers using best management practices to protect the water quality in the Palouse and in Lincoln County and those places where wheat is grown, and how that aids in the salmon recovery effort in the state of Washington." Heather Wendt works on the Salmon in the Classroom program. Wendt: "And these students get to raise the fish in their classrooms while they learn about their lifecycle and habitat requirements and really what is necessary to have healthy fish and healthy waters in our state." Kaelber says the Franklin Conservation District supports keeping the Snake River Dams in place. The Wheat Commission has put the request for just under 100-thousand dollars into its budget planning process. Its next budget won't be finalized until May. I'm Bob Hoff.