CRAYFISH CAPTURE

In September, Arizona Game and Fish Department led Roots & Shoots members and other homeschool students on a field trip to capture crayfish in the creeks of Tonto National Forest. Participants learned how to set traps with bait and capture the crayfish in nets to transfer into buckets. We also learned how to release any native fish that might unintentionally find their way into the nets. Following the trapping, we learned how to measure the crayfish and identify their gender, recording that information to be used by the Game and Fish Department for monitoring purposes. As if wading in the cool creeks and capturing crayfish wasn’t enough fun, we then got to sample boiled crayfish, cooked up with corn on the cob and potatoes by Game and Fish staff. Roots & Shoots members borrowed the crayfish trapping kits for a second field trip to capture crayfish later in the season. Although we picnicked in the forest, we did not eat crayfish on this second trip, but instead donated them to the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center to be fed to rescued animals in their care. Overall, our group members removed approximately 2,000 crayfish from the creeks during the two field trips that will be repeated annually.