Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program
SALMON, Idaho (KIFI) - The Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program is a competitive, nationwide program that provides a paid, eight week summer internship and mentoring opportunity for high school students.
The program is intended to stimulate interest in careers in fisheries science and management and inspire the next generation of fisheries professionals.
Anika Tolman, a junior at Salmon High School, recently received this prestigious national fisheries scholarship from the American Fisheries Society’s Hutton Junior Fisheries Biology Program. Anika is the first Hutton Scholar ever selected from Salmon.
This summer, Anika was paired with professional fishery biologist mentors at both the Salmon-Challis National Forest and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. She is rotating weeks working the agencies to learn the gamut of fisheries monitoring methods. Anika has snorkeled streams to identify which fish are present in Lemhi Valley tributaries and has donned a backpack electrofisher to sample fish using electricity. She has worked three different rotary screw traps in the Lemhi Drainage to monitor juvenile salmon as they move out of the Salmon basin toward the ocean. Anika has learned how to collect fish DNA samples from stream water to map bull trout distributions, how measure streamflow, helped with a fencing project to protect the city of Salmon water supply, and gill netted trout from Meadow Lake.
More information about the Hutton Scholarship can be found HERE.
