Sawyer Wilson, 3, and his sister Emily Wilson, 5, were just two of the many children who learned about the lifecycle of the salmon while making paint prints at the Stanislaus County Fair on Friday. Patrick Cuthbert of Fishbio helped the siblings with their craft project as part of a booth featuring the Salmonids in the Classroom program,  a kindergarten through 12th grade program run through the Turlock Irrigation District and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Cuthbert said any classroom in the TID service area can get an aquarium filled with fertilized salmon eggs. Students can then witness the eggs hatch and develop over the months, learning not only about the life cycle of salmon but also about migration, their diet and predators. Once old enough, the salmon are then released into the Tuolumne River.