Middle school students in Dave Burnsworth’s advisor class have been raising brook and brown trout with the goal of releasing them into local waters later this spring.
The Trout in the Classroom project has been re-established with the help of a generous grant fro the O’Connor Foundation.
The program originally was created as a way to connect students in New York City to their watersheds upstate. Trout need near-pristine water conditions to thrive.
In the fall, the class set up the tank and received 300 brown and brook trout eggs from the DEC’s Catskill hatchery in Livingston Manor. After about two weeks, eggs began hatching into baby trout, which are called alevins. They have been growing and thriving ever since.
Students have learned the cycle of life of the trout, and how to test for important water parameters, like PH, ammonia, and nitrate. The goal of the program at Walton CSD is to educate students about the importance of protecting our local waters, and to become lifelong stewards of our environment.
For more information, you can visit the Trout in the Classroom website at: https://sites.google.com/waltoncsd.org/walton-trout-in-the-classroom/home.
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