Trout in the classroom program connects learning with nature

SANBORNTON — Fourth graders from Sanbornton Central School had a chance to experience learning in action Thursday when they released Eastern Brook Trout, raised for six months in a classroom tank, into Salmon Brook.

Students from Andrew Veilleux's classes took the field trip to release the fish. The kids had mixed emotions as they watched their small friends swim away.

“I feel sad they are away from us now, but happy that they have a real home,” 10-year-old Liam Huckins said.

The 200 fish came through the Trout in the Classroom program of Trout Unlimited and New Hampshire Fish and Game, which has been running nationwide for more than 30 years and in the Granite State for about 20. There are 80 classrooms around the state that participate, from Hudson to Erroll. Winnisquam Watershed Network and Sanbornton Conservation Commission were involved in the local program at Sanbornton Central. Everyone involved, including Veilleux, was certified by NH Fish and Game as a classroom educator for the program. Veillux said that as a science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics teacher, this program was perfect for his students. The curriculum focused on the development, habitat and anatomy of the fish.

“The science is the biology of the fish, we are engineering a fake habitat for them, we drew the brook trout, and the observational component,” he said. “We incorporated each one of those into the lessons.”

NH Fish and Game Watershed Education Specialist Kayla Marshwood said during the release, children were engaged, asked great questions, and answered many of her quiz questions. Veilleux created a scavenger hunt for students to learn more about the natural habitat.

“They obviously learned throughout the winter, and now they're connected to this place, and this stream, and so they have that community piece that's really important,” Marshwood said.

The program previously used salmon, but changed to brook trout, as it's the state's freshwater game fish.

“We want to put the emphasis on our state species and their struggles, because climate change and other environmental factors are impacting the wild populations, and so this connects students to those issues,” Marshwood said.

Fish are also easy to raise in a classroom, and are simple to transport. But Marshwood said fish are also something that can go unnoticed.

“They're also things that students don't often get to see up close and personal, unless they fish,” she said.

While the concept is exciting, raising the fish could see ordinary. The school received the eggs from a NH Fish and Game hatchery in November. The fish hatched in January. And by release time on Thursday, the fish were only as large as a knuckle. Winnisquam Watershed Network board member Brian LaRoche described what it was like to watch their growth.

“There wasn’t a whole lot for the kids to see for the first couple of months, because they were basically eggs,” he said. “It’s like watching paint dry.”

In the wild, the fish may have grown bigger, but temperature controls around 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the tank water slowed development and growth, otherwise they would have been released in uninhabitable, icy water.

“We’re going to keep them at such and such a temperature, feed them X amount of food so they develop in a rate so that’s going to coincide with our release objective,” LaRoche said.

When it came time to release the fish, 40 fourth graders and their teachers hopped on a bus to property owned by the McFadden and Carpenter families. The property, named “Damsite”, has a dam in the brook. It was purchased in 1941 by Russell and Elsie Carpenter, and is now owned by six of their descendants. Cathy McFadden spent many summers on the property growing up, catching frogs and salamanders near the brook. She is now a marine biologist and science educator.

“It was really influential to me. It really started my passion for biology and led me to the career that I'm currently in,” McFadden said. “I'm really supportive of getting kids involved in science and the environment, natural history early, so this seemed like a really great initiative to help support.”

Fourth grader Becca Moody, 9, lives nearby where the fish were released.

“The river connects to the river in my backyard, so maybe I’ll be able to get some fish,” she said.

LaRoche said he intends to grow the program to all five municipalities bordering Lake Winnisquam: Meredith, Belmont, Tilton, Laconia and Sanbornton.

“This was the pilot for us on the watershed side,” he said. “We’re hoping to have this program in place in at least three schools next year.”

Ultimately, LaRoche said the program aims to educate children about conservation.

“Maybe out of that, the next generation of conservationists will come out.”