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On the First Day of #Fishmas, Cheri Anderson Gave to Us: ONE Wonder-ful Award!

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Blogger’s note: The Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Recognition Program recognizes a Service employee who has designed, implemented, or shown visionary leadership in an interpretive or environmental education program that fosters a sense of wonder and enhances public stewardship of our wildlife heritage. Early this month, our very own Cheri Anderson, information and education specialist at the Columbia River Gorge National Fish Hatchery Complex received this national award. We could not be more proud of Cheri and, while it is impossible to list her impact on the people, places, and partnerships in the Pacific Region, here are a few of the ways she has inspired a giant, and lasting, Sense of Wonder in her 20 years with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Congrats Cheri!

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Photo: Education and outreach are always on the bucket list for Cheri and Jennifer and here they help students who have raised eggs in their classrooms release them in the Columbia River Gorge. Credit: USFWS

For decades, Cheri Anderson has been inspiring and educating people of all age to get outside and connect with nature. From the Grand Tetons to the Natchez Trace to the Columbia River Gorge, Cheri has exemplified federal employee professionalism, commitment, and a passion for educating and engaging children and adults. Here are just some of the ways she has sparked a sense of wonder during her career:

  • Cheri created one of the country’s most dynamic and impactful Information and Education Programs – Salmon in the Classroom - benefitting thousands of students throughout Washington and Oregon each year.
  • Thanks to Cheri, anglers of all ages and abilities have been catching the joy of fishing for many years through events she has had a hand in including Carson National Fish Hatchery Kids Free Fishing Day and Disabled Fishing Day.
  • Two decades of leading dozens of group tours each fall and winter at Spring Creek and Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, reaching thousands of youth and adults.
  • Cheri was the lead Outreach Specialist for the regional FAC Program Hatchery Review, which was conducted from 2006-2011. Cheri developed printed outreach material and maintained the Project website.
  • Was one of the lead outreach specialists on a cross-agency team that communicated with the public and media about the removal of Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.
  • Two decades of supporting annual partners like the Underwood Conservation District, Yakama Nation, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to host annual community events such as WaterJam and WDFW outdoor camps and fishing days.
  • Working with partners such as Skamania County Forest Youth Success to create opportunities for youth volunteers to learn fish culture through spawning days and fulfill service commitments by building trails or restoring habitat on hatchery grounds.
  • Establishing—and helping maintain– the award-winning Whitson Elementary Schoolyard Habitat and Pollinator Garden, built through a strong partnership coalition.
  • Enhancing and expanding existing, successful programming by adopting and incorporating Archery in the Classroom, SalmonWatch and Junior Ranger Angler programs into an already dynamic lineup of year-round programming.
  • Created targeted, hands-on programming such as fishing days and cross-country skiing trips towards disabled youth and adults. Cheri also played an important support role in the establishment in 2012 of a year-round, ADA-compliant disabled fishing platform at Drano Lake near Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery.
  • And most recently, helping the Region’s FAC program establish a new salmon lifecycle and live salmon exhibit at the Oregon Zoo, which receives and estimated 1.5 million visitors a year. Cheri has also begun incorporating multiple annual visits to the Oregon Zoo—75 miles one way from her duty station to represent the FAC program at featured Zoo events like World Fish Migration Day and Zoo Lights.
  • Cheri has partnered with dozens of other entities throughout the years to build and sustain educational, interpretive, and outreach programs in the Columbia River Gorge and beyond. They range from non-profits like the Blueprint Foundation, which creates opportunities for African American male teenagers to engage in science, to PacificCorp, a hydroelectric power company that donates resources to community events.  Margaret Neuman Executive Director Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group captures Cheri’s sense of creative collaboration, perfectly:

“Cheri makes the content fun and engaging, as she finds ways to support teachers in getting their students involved in rearing salmon in their classroom, salmon releases, and activities to understand salmon life cycle, habitat, the role of hatcheries and humans, and so much more.”  

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Photo: Cheri engages visitors of all ages as they check out the life cycle of salmon in a newly installed exhibit at the Oregon Zoo. Credit: USFWS

Under Cheri’s leadership, the National Fish Hatcheries in the Columbia River Gorge are not only places that raise more than 22 million salmon a year, they are community spaces where people connect to nature, whether it’s through catching a fish, seeing—or helping with—salmon spawning—or learning about the value of clean water and healthy habitats for fish and people. People—especially children—see Cheri’s passion and professionalism at work for a greater good, conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitat for the continuing benefit of the American people. And they are inspired, just as we, Cheri’s colleagues are inspired by her hard work and dedication. When you work with Cheri, or engage with Cheri, or learn from Cheri, you become better aware of and connected to the natural world around you. In 1965 Rachel Carson wrote these words:

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he need the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering in him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.”

For many people living in the Pacific Northwest—particularly schoolchildren who live in or around the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area–or visitors to a Columbia River Gorge National Fish Hatchery, Cheri Anderson just might, at some point, have been that person. Thank you Cheri!

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