Fish Can’t Fly...

By Karen Schedle "AGFD Heritage Education Coordinator"

Fish Can’t Fly...so how could they get from Deer Valley High School in the Deer Valley School District to Sonoran Sky School Elementary in the Paradise Valley School District?  Why, with a little help from their student friends, of course! On Oct. 26, Deer Valley High School science students assisted Arizona Game and Fish Department native fish specialists Rebecca Davidson and Jeremy Voeltz capture approximately 300 (250 Gila topminnow and 50 desert pupfish) fish from their school pond. These fish were put into coolers with portable oxygenation systems and transported across town to the new pond, a Game and Fish Department Heritage Schoolyard Grant project at Sonoran Sky. There, two students from each grade level were on hand to help check water temperature, ensuring that it was very close to that from which these fish had come.  They were in luck: the water temperatures were very close - which meant that the big fish stocking could get underway (“big” may be a misnomer: neither Gila topminnow nor desert pupfish reach a length of even three inches fully grown). Enthusiastic students were given small dip nets and took their duties seriously, each managing to carefully stock a handful of fish into the pond.  One fourth-grade student seemed stunned by the small fish as the coolers were opened and their contents revealed. “I thought we were going to put REAL fish into this pond!” she said to a parent assistant. Within few moments, however, that same student was observed pointing out to the far reaches of the pond, excitedly exclaiming, “Here they are - way over here!” It seems even small fish can work wonders to a child. Fish truly can’t fly. Yet, the cross-town relocation of these small denizens of the desert provided students with hands-on educational opportunities that truly make a difference. Students better comprehend the interrelatedness of the living and non-living components of the natural world, and how their actions can make a difference. Native fish get a new lease on life: there is now one more safe haven for them to inhabit - a refuge where their progress (and their future) is carefully monitored at every step by children.