A class of SFU graduate students initiated a pro-active move this summer to improve the Fraser River’s habitat for salmon. They worked with First Nations, school students, and community groups to plant 1,000 trees and indigenous plants along local creeks.
Their goal? To shade and cool the water that runs into the Fraser River, which is in danger of becoming too warm for salmon to survive. Already, this summer’s commercial fishing season has proven to be the worst in five decades, and the salmon fishery never did open.
The SFU students initiated their river-cooling project in response to what they learned from First Nations elders and environmental experts during a unique, two-year master of education program in curriculum and instruction.
It is the first SFU MEd program focusing on place-conscious and nature-based teaching practices, in which students learn with, on and from the land. The students took all of their classes off-campus in natural settings that included learning from First Nations elders on q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie) and q̓ʷa:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen) lands.
Continue reading at Simon Fraser University.
Image via Simon Fraser University.