Children In Nature

April 7th, 2010 kicked off the Children In Nature Project for Pendills Creek NFH. The 6th grade class at
Brimley Elementary School was selected to take part in the project. A lesson plan was designed by Fish
Biologist Jaime Masterson to take 35 students outside and teach them about six different subjects in nature
including geology, ichthyology, entomology, dendrology, botany and meteorology. Guest experts from
Lake Superior State University (LSSU), US Forest Service and an independent Geologist are volunteering
their time to come and help out with the various subjects within their disciplines.

Geology was the first class, held at the Iroquois Lighthouse, where local Geologist Julia Shubel
educated the kids about types of rocks and how to identify rocks and minerals. Students were given
identification tables, three observation sheets and pocket magnifying glasses. The children were then
let loose on the rocky shoreline to search out and discover different types of rocks. Mrs. Shubel also
brought along a rock hammer and an acid kit to help identify different rocks and minerals. After the
groups had identified three rocks, the class congregated back together so that they could go over
with the entire class what they had found.
 Photo by: Shar Myers, Bay Mills News

April 13th the students learned about Ichthyology at Pendills Creek NFH. Roger Greil of Lake Superior
State University's Aquatic Research Lab in Sault Ste. Marie, MI came out to volunteer his time to take
the children electrofishing in Pendills Creek. After collecting samples the fish were anesthetized and
identified. Specimens collected included brook trout, slimy sculpin and steelhead trout. One group
even managed to land a 12 inch steelhead................great catch!!! The children were then given a tour
and overview of why we grow lake trout at Pendills Creek NFH by hatchery manager Curt Friez. Lastly
the children were taught how to do feed calculations, asked to calculate actual feed rates for
different raceways and were then allowed to feed those raceways. At the end of the day the children
were given Pocket Freshwater Fish Ident-I-Cards™ to help them continue to identify any fish species
they come across.

Photo by: Shar Myers, Bay Mills News

Stay tuned for the next three classes on Entomology, Dendrology, Botany & Meteorology
that will take place in May and June.
FISH PRODUCTION
Fish Health
La Crosse Fish Health Center came to
Pendills and Sullivan Creek NFH’s on
March 3rd and 4th to perform their semi-
annual fish heath inspections.
Distribution Starts
Stocking season got off to an early start on
April 7th for Jordan River NFH, Pendills
Creek NFH and Iron River NFH. Almost
2.4 million fish will have been stocked into
Lake Huron and Lake Michigan by the end
of April, with another 1.6 million to be
stocked in May.
Fish being loaded onto the Spencer F. Baird
Goede
La Crosse Fish Health Center came back to
Pendills Creek NFH on April 14th to
perform their pre-stocking goede
inspection, which a quality assessment
to ensure that the fish can survive in the
wild.
MEETINGS & TRAINING
Hatchery Manager Curt Friez and Assistant
Manager Crystal LeGault-Anderson
traveled to Jordan River NFH to attend the
Fish Team Meeting on March 23rd.
Hatchery manager Curt Friez traveled to
Washington D.C. to attend the annual
National Friends Group Meeting from April
19th to April 23rd.
OUTREACH
New Blog
Recently the Fish and Wildlife Service has
started allowing the use of social media
such as Blogspot, Facebook and YouTube
Pendills new blog home page
as a way of getting our message out to the
mass populous. Pendills/Sullivan Creek
National Fish Hatcheries Fish Biologist
Jaime Masterson created a blog that can be
accessed at
http://pendillscreeknfh.blogspot.com/.
As the hatchery does not yet have an
official website, the new blog (unofficial
website) will help better inform the public
of what we do here. It will also keep people
up to date on what's new at the hatchery,
which will be important as they have
several major construction projects in the caught and relocated. Yet perhaps the most
near future. These projects include a new weird is the muskrats?? Though they may not
raceway building and early rearing station
have been searching for food, two unfortunate
that will be constructed over the next few
muskrats have met there end at the hand of
years. Blogging will also allow Pendills to
our water intake. First one was found stuck
post up and coming events such as the
to the intake screen and then about a week
Annual Children's Fishing Event and
later another poor soul was found hanging
Children In Nature Projects. Not only can
out of the water valve in the head box of one
the blog be used to keep people current on
of the raceways. How he got there remains a
what Pendills is up to, links will be added to
the Fish and Wildlife Service and to the mystery!!

Friends of Pendills page.

OTHER NEWS
Predators Take A Hit
Since the snow melted in early March the
predators have been swarming to Pendills
Creek NFH and to our uncovered and
unprotected raceways. Live traps were set
and so far three raccoons have been