FARMS – Central Valley CENTRAL: Fresno and South Fresno County

Trout and Salmon, Oh My!

FARMS Leadership | Central Valley Central & South | Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Location of Field Day:
California Department of Fish & WildLife – San Joaquin Hatchery – 17372 Brook Trout Drive, Friant, CA 93626

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
William Branch
Cheryl Moxley
Brian Erlandsen

Theme:
Aquaculture and Natural Resources

Summary of the Day:
Students from Patino High School, Sunnyside High School, Kerman High School, Reedley High School and Hanford West High School met on Wednesday, January 29th at The San Joaquin Hatchery of California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Students met and practiced an introduction and thank you practice for use in the day for introducing our hosts. We were joined by Cheryl Moxley who runs the FINS Program. The FINS Program is an interpretive nature trail designed to teach children the life cycle of trout. Given the slightly older nature of our group, she covered other more age-appropriate information such as native plants, grant funding information, and interpretive design. Next, students rotated between two programs with lunch provided by FARMS to split up these two rotations. The first was SCARF: A salmon restoration project for the San Joaquin River. This covered topics such as conservation, endangered species, and the science behind genetic matrixing and testing. Students fed these fish and also checked for the success rate of the tagged fish by using the scanner provided. Finally the SJH: The hatchery itself, where we discussed what it takes to raise fish, plant it out, and deal with such things as water quality, biosecurity, and fish health. At the end of the day, students presented thank you’s to all of our hosts. We had a really enjoyable hands-on day. We were very impressed with what the state of California does for our natural resources. Thank you again, William, Cherly, Brian and your entire team.

Dam Good Water

FARMS Leadership | Central Valley Central | Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Location of Field Day:
Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District – 2975 Farmersville Rd, Farmersville, CA 93223

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
Shane Smith – Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District, Project-Administrative Manager

Theme:
California’s Water & Natural Resources

Summary of the Day:
On Wednesday, September 13, 2019, the Central Valley Central FARMS Leadership students from Patino High School, Sunnyside High School, Kerman High School and Reedley High School met at the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. Students participated in a few Leadership activities in interviewing and introducing each other in practice and preparation of introducing our field day hosts. Shane Smith, Project-Administrative Manager with the KDWCD met with the students at the home office and shared a short powerpoint presentation with the students on why the dam was built. Mr. Smith also presented the Kaweah Delta Water Operations, What the district does, Groundwater Recharge, Stormwater Layoff and storage facilities. The group caravaned to the US Army Corps of Engineer office at the Dam. While here Mr. Smith also explained the importance of irrigation and Fuse Gates known as Tipping Buckets and Flood Control Activities. Students were able to walk down and see the 6 – 1 million pound tipping buckets up close. After lunch students spent time asking final questions about the day. We all enjoyed our visit to the Dam!

There are Kiwi and there are MEGA Kiwi

FARMS Leadership | Central Valley Central | Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Location of Field Day:
Citri Care – 43294 Road 120, Orosi CA 93647
Kliewer Packing – 41389 B Road 44, Reedley CA 93654

Field Day Host(s) and Mentors:
Katy Miller – Citri Care
Jerin Kliewer – Kliewer Packing

Theme:
Leadership, Kiwi Genetics, Kiwi Harvesting & Kiwi Packing

Summary of the Day:
On Tuesday, October 15th, students from the Central Valley Central FARMS Leadership Program stepped out of the classroom in their first field day of the year. Students started off the day with leadership activities in introducing each other that would, in turn, give students experience when presenting the field day hosts and speakers. Katy Miller then spoke to the students about Citra Care and how they started growing the “Mega Kiwi”. We learned that Kliewer Packing has a genetic patent and has hired Citri Care to grow this amazing fruit. After this short talk, Mrs. Miller took us to the canopy field where the kiwi was being grown. Students were able to see the Mega Kiwi being grown and had the opportunity to pick one Mega fruit and compare it to a regular size kiwi fruit. Students were then treated to a lovely lunch at Martha’s in Orosi CA. After lunch, we met with Jerin Kliewer of Kliewer Packing. Mr. Kliewer showed the students the packing process from the trucks to the packaging.