As the school year drew to a close, graduates from a number of Bitterroot valley classrooms literally headed for the water! These piscine pupils are the little trout from Bitterroot Trout Unlimited’s (BRTU) Trout in the Classroom program and they told their bipedal colleagues and instructor farewell as they dove into the pond at Hieronymus Park.
This was the fourth year that BRTU has sponsored the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program in the valley. The teachers and schools that participated are Rose Nyimba at the West Fork Job Corps, Andrew Shulstad at Darby High School, Vanessa Haflich at Hamilton High School, Joe Ruffatto at Hamilton High School, Jeff Kaiser at Corvallis High School, Sarah Daman at Stevensville Middle School, and Marlene Wolstad at Florence High School.
In the fall, BRTU provides each participating school with a 55-gallon aquarium, a chiller to keep the water at 53 degrees, plus all the pumps, chemicals and other items necessary to raise trout, as well as additional support as needed. Once the aquaria are up and running, BRTU delivers approximately 100 fertilized rainbow eggs from the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) hatchery in Arlee.
The class then monitors the eggs daily to ensure they are kept in optimum growing conditions and watch over the course of the school year as their aquatic classmates hatch and develop into fry and fingerlings. The students also must monitor the water chemistry and temperature daily, learning how critical water temperature and water quality are to trout survival. The amount of food the fish receive is optimized to avoid excess food that would decay in the tank and cause potentially lethal problems. By the end of the school year, the trout are large enough to “graduate” into the pond.
This year all the classrooms successfully raised trout and released them in the pond. Jason Lindstrom, local MFWP Fisheries Biologist, monitors the program and assists with the licenses for the eggs which are required by MFWP.
BRTU would like to congratulate all 2024 Bitterroot Valley graduates, but particularly the ones – both the ones that will walk and the ones that will swim- that have made TIC such a successful and educational program.
For more information about BRTU or TIC, contact BRTU chapter president Dave Ward (dward0451@gmail.com) or check out www.bitterroottu.org