U.S. Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, found herself in Lewis County again this week and spent Tuesday afternoon poking around Onalaska.
Before making her way to a nearby lumber mill (see an article on that visit here), she made her first ever visit to Onalaska High School to explore the district’s career and technical education (CTE) program.
Gluesenkamp Perez and three staff members arrived at Onalaska High School Tuesday afternoon where they were greeted by Kevin Hoffman, who runs the school’s shop and aquaculture programs.
Hoffman served as tour guide and educator to the congresswoman and her team, piling them in a school van with four students for a short field trip to the school’s on-campus hatchery facilities before finishing up in its shop classroom.
Gluesenkamp Perez said later in the day she was excited to get to see the unique program that takes advantage of local skills and resources.
“The trades are so diverse,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “There are worlds within worlds within each thing that you do, and it's really cool to see the importance they place on a local focus … That's different and is a good strategic advantage in broadening the skillset in our country broadly. We have not seen aquaculture like this before. It's really unique and fun to see.”
During the tour, Hoffman led the group around the school's aquaculture facilities on campus and at nearby Carlisle Lake, often pointing out the work that students do.
He also took the chance to discuss a problematic culvert in the lake near the school's equipment that will likely take state or federal funding to be replaced.
The group first paid a visit to the two on-campus hatchery facilities that were built in large part by students and served as their own educational opportunity. According to Hoffman, the facility was recently rebuilt to make more efficient use of water and support more fish.
“The students did a good job on this hatchery,” Hoffman said. “You get a couple students that take ownership, and it turns out. It works.”
Between the two hatchery buildings on the high school campus, Hoffman showed off five massive fish tanks. Three were home to more than 10,000 young salmon that will soon be taken out of the tank and transported to the net pens on Carlisle Lake.
Two other large fish tanks held large amounts of more mature rainbow trout that will be used to stock Carlisle Lake and help maintain its reputation as a fishing attraction. The program will keep the trout in the tanks until the spring, letting them grow to around 8 pounds before release.
“We’ve got people from Wenatchee and Seattle (and) Oregon that come up to fish this little pond,” Hoffman said. “It’s good quality meat.”
Last spring, Onalaska High School released 75,000 coho salmon and 35,000 steelhead into Gheer Creek below Carlisle Lake.
After seeing the hatchery facilities, the group climbed back in the van to drive to the nearby lake. Once there, Hoffman showed Gluesenkamp Perez and her team the equipment they had been talking about.
The group first stopped off near the school's salmon trap that is set up on Gheer Creek. Hoffman got to show off around 10 coho salmon placed on the shore of the creek that are some of the first salmon to make it so far up the creek this fall. As the rainy season comes, water is expected to rise, and more fish will come along with it.
Hoffman and a student added that a single class period has pulled as many as 180 salmon from the trap.
Afterward, he took the group out onto the dam to talk about the net pens and also touch on the deteriorating culvert that has drawn attention from the Washington state Department of Ecology. At a recent legislative priorities meeting with the Lewis County commissioners, Hoffman testified to the commissioners and local legislators, looking for county and state support to replace the culvert.
“We’re working with the Department of Ecology,” Hoffman said. “The culvert underneath is in poor condition and needs replaced. We’ve met with (Commissioner) Scott Brummer and the board of county commissioners.”
According to Hoffman, the replacement of the culvert will come at a steep price, with the cost of engineering and design estimated at $800,000 to $1.5 million. Construction would cost around an additional $3 million.
After visiting the dam, the group took a brief look at the Onalaska High School wood and metal fabrication shops while discussing the need for more CTE opportunities in the state's education programs.
