In the News

Danika and her classmates at Madison Elementary School spent a day in the classroom last week learning about eagles.

“We went from having 100,000 breeding pairs to 480,” said U.S. Forest Service Fire Prevention Captain Koreena Haynes.

The students learned about the lives of eagles: what they eat, where they live and how they hunt.

This week, the students will take a field trip to Rockport State Park where they will get the chance to spot eagles in the wild.

The field trip is sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the “Every Kid in a Park” initiative, which gives fourth-graders annual parks passes in order to encourage them to explore the outdoors.

“(It’s) to make sure kids in our district get the opportunity to see the beautiful spaces we have right here in our neighborhoods and backyards,” said U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who earlier in the day had gone eagle watching with students from the Darrington School District.

While in Rockport, the Darrington students used binoculars to view the eagles, and played games to learn about salmon and the food chain.

“They learned a ton,” DelBene said. “But also I think they had a lot of fun.”

The approximately 90 fourth-graders from Madison are the only students in Skagit County who get to participate in the program this year, Haynes said.

“It seems like this age is sort of monumental,” she said. “Our intent is to get them motivated in science and learn what around them.”

The goal is to expand the program to all fourth-graders, said Jamie Kingsbury, supervisor for the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

“It’s an emphasis for us to have kids connect with nature,” she said.