A group of Hoover Elementary students have the opportunity to do just that Thursday with Save The Bay's Canoes In Sloughs program. Save The Bay is a membership organization working toward celebrating, protecting and restoring the Bay. Canoes In Sloughs uses canoe trips to introduce and connect students with the San Francisco Bay estuary.

The program is normally coupled with an in-class pre-trip visit to prepare students. Since its inception in 1997, the program has hosted 30,000 middle and high school students. This week 23 seventh and eighth graders from Hoover have their turn.

Save The Bay Field Educator Melanie Lopes met with the children Monday to prep them for their field trip scheduled for Nov. 10.

Lopes used maps and slides to illustrate how the Bay gets fresh water and what animals call the Bay home.

The Bay has a mixture of salt and fresh water called brackish water, Lopes said. The fresh water comes from Central Valley rivers.

Lopes turned the state of California on its side to show how this works.

“Think of the Central Valley as a bathtub and the Bay as the drain. All the water goes into the Bay. It brings fresh water and fresh water life as well as any trash or pollution with it,” said Lopes.

She showed students a plant they could eat called pickleweed and some of the endangered animals they might see such as the California Clapper Rail and the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse.

The students attending Thursday's trip earned the right to be there, said eighth grade teacher Jane Lapaglia.

“We've had a problem here with students expecting things, so we wanted to reward the students who are doing well,” she said.

All of the students have a C or better in each of their classes and were approved by their teachers as having a positive attitude.

The canoe trips can launch from nine different Bay Area locations including Redwood City, where Hoover will be participating. The students will explore the marsh land on Bair Island.

For more information about Save The Bay or Canoes In Sloughs visit www.savesfbay.org.

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=50773&eddate=11/08/2005