HOOPA -- More than 1,000 students from every grade and school in the Klamath-Trinity Unified School District gathered Friday to learn the lessons that may someday prevent disasters like the 2002 fish kill from happening again.

That event left tens of thousands of salmon dead in the Klamath River after choking in hot and shallow flows. Out of that disaster, two teachers fomented a plan to help students at Hoopa Elementary School deal with the disaster and learn about its impacts, as well as the value of salmon as a natural and cultural resource.

Hence, the Fish Fair was born.

Since that first fair four years ago, the event has grown to include all the schools of the district, as well as from schools from as far away as Klamath.

“These guys are doing a tremendous job at planting seeds in the minds of our children,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Clifford Lyle Marshall.

”I think the Fish Fair is a good way to publicize that there's a lot of trouble with the salmon,” said Michael Huff, an 8th grader from Trinity Valley Elementary School. “And I'd like to preserve the salmon.”

Kindergarten teacher Kim Stephens functioned as the event's coordinator said the goal of the event was to help teach the kids how to be proactive in their own watersheds, she said.

”We want everyone to come away with something they can do,” she said.

Service learning opportunities abounded to equip children and students with just those tools, and they have been used. Recent fruits of the fish fair have yielded big results for the district. Three high school students were recently accepted at Stanford after winning prestigious environmental service awards for a project that originated out of the fish fair, said district Superintendent Laura Lee George.

”The good work that's happening here is getting national attention,” she said.

Marshall said the event is important not only for students but for anyone who is concerned about the health of the Klamath and Trinity basin.

It helps to prepare present and future generations for a struggle that will not soon go away, he said.

”This is a never-ending battle,” he said. “There will always be a push and pull when you're talking about the allocation of water.”

According to most scientists, scarcity of water was the culprit in the 2002 fish kill -- low flows that led to the breeding of bacteria and water that was too hot to support the fish.

Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, spoke to a packed crowd in the Hoopa High School gym. She said there are many lessons from the 2002 fish kill -- one is that it's human nature to react powerfully when tragedy occurs, and it's also human nature to let those memories fade.

The Fish Fair helps make sure that the lessons of the fish kill are not forgotten, so that it does not happen again, she said.

”This sacred ecosystem is on the verge of collapse and our community deserves better,” she said. “We are all connected and we need to tread lightly if we are to protect and preserve our environment for generations to come.”