Updated with link to presentation video.

RIVERS -- The Reardan High  School Ag Leadership class staged a debate on Columbia River salmon and dams to win a state competition Saturday at the Washington Future Farmers of America Convention in Pullman.

The Reardan team outperformed the 32-team field at the state FFA Agricultural Issues Forum competition at Washington State University.

Reardan's presentation highlights arguments on both sides of the current regional hot topic, "Should salmon be reintroduced to the upper Columbia River watershed?"

The entire class has been researching the question since September to support a six-student team that advanced through months of preliminary competitions. 

The presenters were Josey Anderson, Nathan Kieffer, Lizzie Williams, Kaylene Kuykendall, Justis Anderson, Ruger Lillengreen. Their coach is Rick Perleberg, the school’s agriculture instructor and FFA adviser.

The class and topic was profiled in my March column, "Reardan students debate salmon, dams, other natural resource issues."

Reardan captured the lone national qualifying spot to represent Washington at the national FFA convention in Indianapolis in October.

The students have presented the program to numerous groups including the Spokane City Council, school boards, the Bureau of Reclamation and Lincoln County commissioners, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists,  the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, as well as to the Bonneville Power Administration – the agency that would be asked to tap its power customers and fund the bulk of an upstream salmon revival, should it ever be attempted.

Reardan's team will be presenting at Whitworth University on May 26 at the U.S. National Parks Service student science symposium where they will be the student keynote speakers.

Here's a 32-minute vide of the group's presentation to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland in March: