Text and photos by Keegan Curry, SPP Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Coordinator
Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC) has partnered with Symbiotic Cycles, LLC to expand the aquaponics system in the prison’s horticulture program. Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) conservation technicians will be assisting the horticulture team with aquaponics, and I recently attended a training session in support of this collaboration. Cross-training in aquaponics will allow technicians who primarily work with wildlife to gain further knowledge of sustainable practices and explore an innovative technique for growing food.
CCCC horticulture and conservation technicians listen eagerly as instructors describe the importance of regenerative agriculture.
Daniel Cherniske and Nick Naselli of Symbiotic Cycles began the training with an overview of aquaponics—the marriage of aquaculture and hydroponics—followed by a detailed system orientation. Daniel and Nick dedicated a significant portion of their training to discussing sustainable food systems. We learned about soil chemistry and the decline of vital nutrients in many industrial crops along with the wasteful overuse of freshwater resources. Aquaponics offers a unique solution to these issues by creating a “closed-loop” of recycled water and converting nutrients from fish waste and bacterial respiration into a rich growing environment. The horticulture and conservation techs couldn’t stop asking questions!
The system is now operational, thanks to the hard work of CCCC staff, inmates, and partners. Soon it will be producing fresh leafy greens for the prison kitchen while functioning as an educational laboratory.
Horticulture tech William Witt looks on as Daniel Cherniske confirms that, yes, soon there will be beautiful green plants growing in this plain-looking box!
These filtration barrels will house important bacteria. They are the most sensitive part of the system and technicians must be careful not to let the valves become blocked.
Nick Naselli gestures to the filtration barrels that will take up water from the fish pond below.
A freshly introduced goldfish, whose waste will provide important nutrients for bacteria and plant growth.
Horticulture tech Lorenzo Stewart and Nick Naselli share a hilarious aquaponics joke.
Sprouts like these will soon take root in a substrate of non-toxic styrofoam floating above a pool of nutrient-rich water.