From the Classroom to a Career
Emi Ikeda had opportunities from an early age to get outdoors with her family and explore the Pacific Northwest. Her first experience though of witnessing our region’s iconic spawning salmon took place in the fall of 2003 on a Salmon Watch field trip.
Emi’s class at Winterhaven K-8 in Portland had been studying science using salmon as a focal point. Her teacher, Wendy Archibald, was a long-time Salmon Watch participant (and current field trip Volunteer Educator).
As part of the Salmon Watch program, her class traveled to the Salmon River in Mt. Hood National Forest for a day in the field to monitor water quality, determine the health of the river by what aquatic insects they collected, learn about salmon biology, observe their surroundings, and through writing and art tell the story of what was happening in that specific place.
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She still vividly remembers seeing dozens of salmon carcasses alongside the river with their tails cut off and wondering why that was happening. Later she found out that fish biologists who were doing salmon counts would cut off the tails so the fish wouldn’t be counted more than once.
Emi could have no idea that day that years later she would be working on that very same river, performing salmon carcass counts as a fisheries technician with the US Forest Service’s ZigZag Ranger District.
Looking back to when she was in middle school, Emi says that “Salmon Watch and Outdoor School were my favorite and most memorable experiences as a student. Those programs helped shape my journey as a biologist.”
Having always been interested in science, Emi decided to pursue a degree in Fisheries Biology at Oregon State University. After college, she landed her first job as an intern with Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife in Newport, quickly realizing that she loved getting to be out in the water for much of her workday. In time, Emi attained her current position with the US Forest Service.
Showing how life can be interconnected, Emi’s current supervisor, fisheries biologist Kat Arendt, believes that she may have taught an instructional station during Emi’s school field trip!
In addition to her job duties as a fisheries biologist, Emi is passionate to give back as a Salmon Watch Volunteer Educator through the World Salmon Council. She loves getting to see the same enthusiasm that she once experienced as a Salmon Watch student, and is excited to get to be part of such a memorable program again.
Emi hopes she might even get to volunteer this season alongside her former science teacher, Wendy, as well as her colleagues at the Forest Service. The fisheries community, she says, “is a special group of people who are passionate about their work and continually find opportunities to share their knowledge with others”.
Thank you Emi and to all of our Salmon Watch teachers and Volunteer Educators who dedicate their time and efforts to this special program!
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