Artist Joseph Rossano and Educator Nathan Zabel share a love of the outdoors, wildlife, and perhaps the most iconic fish worldwide, salmon.
Joseph Rossano is a visionary artist who has worked with the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Meyer at the Smithsonian Institution, Google, Dale Chihuly, Pilchuck Glass School, and Waterford Crystal, to name just a few. He grew up surrounded by wild places, understanding them and everything that lives there. This keen interest informs the work he does with The Salmon School, an innovative installation and project that engages art, science, and community. The goal is to encourage youth to be able to understand and be able to talk about the plight of salmon and their ecosystems, all to ensure an inspired and educated next generation.
Nathan Zabel is the Education Program Manager at the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA), which is one of 14 regional fisheries enhancement groups around Washington. Through education, stewardship, and restoration, NSEA focuses on salmon recovery. Zabel, whose degrees are in environmental education and biology, brings lifelong zeal for learning and teaching to his work.
The Programs
An outstanding feature of these programs is the involvement of students, generally in the fourth grade, who not only get to experience our fertile outdoors but also learn to use scientific equipment and techniques to understand the status of the ecosystem.
“Salmon are the perfect species for this study of our world,” says Zabel. “They are freshwater and saltwater fish, exist in rivers and oceans, and they are an ‘indicator’ species. Their particular endangerment reflects the status of the ecosystem overall.”
The big change in our environment has been humans. Not only has there been habitat degradation and pollution, but there have been two 100-year floods in just the past four years. This makes the work of Rossano and Zabel, The Salmon School, and the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association even more vital and urgent.
NSEA, with a strong emphasis on DEI, works in schools, with community volunteers, and with private landowners, and has a strong commitment and partnership with indigenous tribes. The school program for fourth graders reaches almost every classroom in Whatcom County. All public elementary schools in the county have aquariums, as do libraries. People can watch the progress of baby salmon online. (Note: these are from 2024.) Plus, there is a nature preschool and a summer day camp for three- to five-year-olds.
Since salmon are both river and freshwater fish, the program focuses on making habitats healthier, making the passages better by removing blockages caused by overgrowth, repairing culverts or replacing them with bridges, and removing dams.
Where the NSEA project concentrates on salmon preservation, the Salmon School curriculum broadens that by teaching the youth stewards how to read the environment overall, with what they are finding as they draw samples from the water.
Collaboration is a Big Part of Success
Kate Bertko is Project Manager for the University of Washington eDNA Collaborative. eDNA is environmental DNA, and the Collaborative makes it possible for community groups to see how the technology involved in collecting data about salmon eDNA can lead to understanding the places where salmon live, as it is helping people of all ages to become more comfortable with being part of a science experiment.
“We have a very exciting collaboration with Joe Rossano and The Salmon School,” says Bertko. “All plants and animals are shedding DNA into the water, soil, and air all the time. This technology allows us to identify species that are passing through the waters, species that may not have been visible to the naked eye before, through the analysis of the DNA.”
The collected and analyzed data is used in presentations by The Salmon School to educate and advocate for the salmon. The project is illuminated through Rossano’s art creation of hundreds of blown glass life-size clear salmon sculptures, hung in front of charts illustrating their eDNA. The glorious art draws people in. The science and stewardship come from partnerships with scientists, tribal elders, educators, and conservation organizations around the world. The future lies in the exceptional opportunities for students to experience this merger of art and science. These young people, our future, don’t just learn about what scientists do; they become scientists.
The Salmon School project has travelled as far as Glasgow, Scotland, at the UN Climate Change Conference, where it was suspended above the delegates. Then, it became the only contemporary sculpture ever to be exhibited at a royal residence when it was hung at Balmoral Castle by invitation of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The plan is for it to travel across the Puget Sound, Canada, to the U.K., and Europe.
“Art is a catalyst,” says Rossano. “When it is combined with science and technology, it cultivates a deeper understanding of how human and ecological well-being are intertwined.”
We have brought our planet to where it is today. We have the power to ensure its health.
