TIC STREAMINGS

7/7/20

Milton Middle School publicity

Milton Middle School’s program was featured in a nice article in the Milton Independent. Meagan Beley-Finnemore share a link with me. Thanks, Meagan! Click the image below to see the story.

Maureen Rowe Interview

After first-year TIC teacher Maureen Rowe, of Stockbridge Central School, released her trout in Chittenden Reservoir, she was interviewed about the Trout in the Classroom program. Click on the image below to watch the interview. Thanks for sharing, Maureen! 

TIC Heroes!!

This year many TIC schools relied heavily on the unplanned services of lots of their colleagues. With the abrupt cancellation of school in mid-March, teachers had to scramble to come up with a plan for how to end the 2019-2020 program.

Some decided to release their trout right then. Others were allowed access to their classrooms and continued to care for the fry. Quite a few took their fish home with them and either moved the classroom tank or found a smaller tank to use. But a large number of teachers recruited school-based helpers–custodians, secretaries, food service personnel, even principals–to maintain the tank in their absence.

Those volunteers made a major positive contribution to this year’s TIC programs. Because of their generosity, numerous schools were able to keep their tanks going and keep their kids involved in TIC for as much as three additional months. And, in a number of cases, the custodian actually released the fish and documented it.

THANK YOU PEOPLE. THANK YOU HEROES!!

(Move your cursor over the images below to see the name(s) and school where those individuals work.)

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Good-bye for now

This will be my last blog post for the 2019-2020 TIC year. I am so grateful to all of you for putting so much time, energy, heart, and creativity into Vermont’s Trout in the Classroom program. I’m convinced there’s a special place in Heaven for TIC teachers and volunteers.

This became such a strange year because of the novel corona virus, but you still made it work.

Thank you, thank you!

Have a good summer and stay in touch.

6/10/20

Hope Yeager’s release

Here’s what Hope Yeager, at South Royalton Elementary School, wrote on June 1:

I brought our classroom trout and tank home when our school closed on March 16. Last week I released the remaining trout into the stream near my home. Here is the video I made for my students:

Maple Street School’s release

Here’s what Suzanne Alfano, of Maple Street School, wrote the next day:

Hi Joe-

5/31/20

Amy Clapp’s “Naturally Literate” presentation on painted turtles

Several years ago Salisbury Community School’s Amy Clapp created a wonderful little booklet called Naturally Literate, which inventoried the most common flora and fauna that her students are likely to find in Vermont. (The booklet’s title is a link to its Web page.) She uses it to motivate her students to try to find as many species as they can and encourages them to record they discoveries.

During this time of COVID-19, Amy also produces short videos about entries in the booklet. Here’s one of her recent videos, this on the topic of painted turtles. Click on the image below to watch the video.

This link will tell you about how Amy created the booklet, how it’s designed to be used, and how you can obtain copies for your students for a mere $2 a piece.

Castleton Village School Nature News

Here’s Guy Merolle‘s latest weekly review of what’s happening in nature for his Castleton Village School students. This week’s Nature News reports on frogs, rat snakes, turtles, geese, birds, fish, and more. 

Ferrisburgh Elementary School release

Bob Wible send me some great media documenting the Ferrisburgh Elementary School release of their healthy brook trout into a nice stretch of Lewis Creek. Congratulations, teacher Judy Elson and community volunteer Tim Davis! (Click on the image below to enjoy 14 short videos of the release event.)

Artifishal, the documentary

5/18/20

Castleton Village School Nature News

Here’s Guy Merolle‘s latest weekly review of what’s happening in nature for his Castleton Village School students. This week’s Nature News reports on many local wildflowers as well as lots of invasive species. There are a couple of garter snakes featured as well as a “blister bug.” Apparently we should avoid those. This video also includes another of Guy’s cooking demonstrations. My favorite part is when his two young sons eat what he’s prepared. Enjoy!

Essex High School release

Kelly Hill, science teacher at Essex High School, sent me this report and video of their release.

Hi Joe,

Williston Central School release

Colleen O’Brien and Aron Merrill, of Williston Central School, release their fry into Lewis Creek on May 14.

Here’s a link to a Google Drive resident slideshow related to the release. I hope you can access it.

 Voyager ⅚ Trout Release 2020

5/6/20

Castleton Village School Nature News

Guy Merolle continues to crank out his weekly video reports on what’s happening in nature for his Castleton Village School students. Here’s his Nature News for last week. Make sure you watch the cooking demonstration Guy puts on at the end of the video.

Here’s Guy’s latest. It includes a theme song written by one of his students.

Orwell Village School lone survivor

Liz Volpe, of Orwell Village School, sent me this report. 

I am thrilled to report that after an emotionally turbulent first time through the TIC program, thanks solely to the tireless efforts of Eoin Noonan, there is one remaining trout. I am including a picture.  I went to school to clean out lockers today and there it was, alone but thriving, a quarantine champion!!!  

When do we release, and where is the best water near the Orwell Village School?

Our BFA Fairfax brook trout continue to do well under the care of a dedicated and caring custodian. 

One of my students got out and did some water and healthy ecosystem testing at the release site today and sent along some pictures. The temperature seems a bit high but it was great to have a student being involved. We hope to release next week when the overnight temps are a bit warmer. The tank temp has been lowered to its current 45 degrees over the last 4 weeks. Thanks for all of your support!

4/21/20

Cambridge Elementary and Founders Memorial joint release

Colleen and Paul Legris, she of Founders Memorial School and he of Cambridge Elementary, combined their fry in a tank at Paul’s school. On April 11, they released their fry–perhaps as many as 250 of them!–into the Brewster River.

Celebrate Earth Day!

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and an unusual one it will be. Nonetheless, I think in our own ways, we should all get out there and find a way to commemorate this important community event. Trout Unlimited is encouraging us to make the most fit. If you click on the image below, it will take you to a page with a number of suggestions. These include a Kids Earth Day Art Contest and ideas for a TU Family Field Trip. There’s a longer list of activities here

Riverside Middle School TIC Release Essays

Joseph Frigo, science teacher at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, sent me these essays his students wrote. I thought the students did a nice job.

Student Essay 1

My class and I have had trout in our classroom. We had kept them in a tank, and had been studying them. We’ve lined up the different stages of trout, and I learned why culverts are bad for them. They are bad because they prevent the fish from going to a safe passage sometimes. After learning some things about them, unfortunately we had to let them go early, because my teacher wouldn’t be able to take care of them due to this sickness canceling school. So, when he let them go, our class took a vote on whether or not they would survive after being let go so early. Here’s my opinion.

I voted that they would not survive, because they are small, and could easily be bait, and the surface temperature of the water could get too warm.  Also, the water might not be clean enough, and there may not be enough things to eat. They were very small when we let them go, so they might not even be ready to go by themselves. They have some reasons why they would live, but I feel like there are a lot more reasons why they won’t. 

In the end, I always thought of fish to be natural in the water, but I now realize that a lot of fish aren’t ready to be on their own that quickly. They need more time to grow, and learn. This project also made me realize that one reason they might not survive is because the water isn’t clean enough, and that means that the water really isn’t that clean at all if fish can’t live in it. I always knew about how some water could be bad, but I didn’t realize that ours could be too. I think that in the future, we should try and take care of our water for the fish, and if we get anymore of them, we definitely should try to keep them longer so they have a better chance at surviving. 

Student Essay 2

Will the trout survive? Before we left school we had a tank full of trout in science class. We were going to raise the trout then set them free in the black river behind school. Due to our current situation the trout had to be set free early. I want to be optimistic and say that they are going to survive but after some research I found that it is likely they won’t.

According to my research most stocked trout don’t survive past one week in streams. To test this Biologists released 492 trout with radio transmitters and over 60% of the trout didn’t survive in the streams. With this information I’m going to assume due to the facts and how small the trout were when they had been released that they did not survive either. Another example I have is that stocked trout will remain in the area they were stocked at for a number of days. We were raising brook trout. Brook trout have been known to stay in that area for up to 10 days. This makes the fish we released at high risk for predators like racoons, fish eating birds, river otters, and larger fish.  

I think that it is crazy to think about all of the things people do to raise trout and it’s likely most won’t even survive. I had hope for the trout but sometimes I guess things don’t always work out the way you’d hope they would. I would want to try this experiment again another time to see how far we can get.

Student Essay 3

In science class we got brook trout as eggs so that we could raise them from eggs to full grown trout. Our goal was to release them into the Black River. Our plans got changed because of the COVID-19 so Mr. Frigo had to release the trout early. We could not leave the trout alone in the building because we still needed to take care of them by feeding them and checking the water.

In my opinion, I think that some of our trout will survive for a few different reasons. One reason I think they will survive is because trout can get really big and do not have many predators in the Black River. The environment in the Black River has a lot of places where trout can hide and be safe. Rocks, grass, and other things in the river give the trout a place to hide. This will also help them to avoid getting eaten. Another reason I think the trout will survive is because of their color. The green color helps them avoid being seen by birds like hawks and eagles. These are some of the reasons why I think our trout will survive.

In conclusion, this made me want to learn more about trout. At first I was not that interested in trout but as I saw them grow in our tank I became more interested. I now look in the rivers I walk by to see if I can find a really big trout. This also made me think about the Black River since I’ve grown up near it for most of my life. I hope that the river will stay clean enough so that I might be able to see one of our trout get big in the future!

Student Essay 4

In class we were learning about the different stages that trout go through. We would check on them and see how big they would get each week. They were in a big tank that was always at the right temperature or they would have died. The tank had rock on the bottom, and there were foam walls so it was nice and dark. We ended up bringing them to the Black River early because we aren’t going to school for a while. They would’ve died if we left them at the school, because we wouldn’t be there to feed them, check on them or even check the temperature of the water.

In my opinion, I think they have a 50/50 chance of surviving in the Black River.  Trout need food, water, air and a place to live/hover in. I think they have a good chance of surviving because the color of them can blend in so nothing can take it.  This camouflage will also help them find food. Also, they are small in size, but that is both good and bad. On the good side they are small so they can hide better. On the bad side, they are small and look like bait and birds or other fish may think they are food.  I don’t think they were big enough to let go because they were still in the fry stage so they were still young and too small.  They were not fully developed yet. Another problem is the pollution can kill them if it’s that bad.  I have seen tires, bike pieces and even garbage in the river.  I am surprised that you can see in the water!  

This assignment has got me thinking about trout and their habitat.  My biggest worry for the trout is dying from so much pollution.  We could be more conscious of trash and objects in/near rivers considering wildlife like trout. We should stop littering and try to throw it away.  Also, keep trash and unwanted objects away from rivers and wildlife. We should sustain their habitat to keep them (and all water life) alive and healthy because they are a part of this environment and our world.

Custodians are our heroes!

Danielle Ligouri, of West Rutland School, send me this selfie of Carl Serrani, whom she describes as “the awesome custodian who is looking after our fish.” (You can tell it’s a selfie because the logos on Carl’s clothing are reversed.) If your program got or has been getting support from a custodian, maintenance worker, school secretary, principal, food service worker, or other colleague, I would love it if you could sent me a photo of that individual or those individuals.

4/8/20

Guy Merolle‘s weekly science videos

Three of us had a small Zoom meeting on Monday. Maureen Rowe, of Stockbridge Central School, and Guy Merolle, of Castleton Village School. Maureen is one of those teachers who had brought her tank home, and it sat in the background during our videoconference. Guy had released his fish, and I included the videos he shared with me in the 3/30/20 blog I wrote. 

After talking about the TIC season and, for most, its abrupt end, we switched to the general topic of COVID-19 teaching, that is, distance learning. One of the interesting things that Guy’s been doing is putting together each week and sending to his students a recording that Guy calls his “phenology report.” I had to look up “phenology.” Here’s how Wikipedia defines it: “The study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life.”

Here’s his report for 3/23/20.

Here’s the 3/30 Phenology Report.

Finally, here’s the video Guy sent his students this past Monday. Among other things, you’ll notice that he includes a lot of student work in his videos and occasionally speaks of a “contest” that he’s running. I wonder what that’s about.

Maureen Rowe’s blog

In some e-mail correspondence we had, I learned that Maureen Rowe was maintaining a blog. She uses this to keep her students updated on the trout tank she’s brought home. If you click on the image below, it should take you to Maureen’s live site. Check it out.

Devin Schrock‘s students’ projects

Devin Schrock, 5th and 6th grade teacher at Lincoln Community School, sent me this report on an interesting student project. Here’s how he described it.

Hi Joe,

• I can explain how photosynthesis impacts the flow of energy into and out of organisms.
• I can develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
• I can use a model to describe how energy in animals’ food was once energy from the sun.

Here are a few of the videos.

Devin also sent me instructions for the assignment. Here they are. (Click on the image to access the instructions.)

Thanks so much, Devin!

Rutland Town School release

Colby Hescock, 5th grade math and science teacher at Rutland Town School, This first video was shot in the classroom, where Colby talks to his students about what he’s going to be doing.

Colby and his colleague explain the site on East Creek where they’ll release the trout.

Finally they let them go.

4/3/20

Vernal pools

On a walk with my friend, neighbor, and former Rutland HS science teacher Tim Gilbert two days ago, we encountered the cacophonous sound of a marsh full of spring peepers, but it could also have been a pond or a vernal pool. Here’s a recording I made with my iPhone. What do you hear?

I’m not an expert, but I think I can detect at least three different species. What are they? Can you use this activity with your students? They’d have to be under the supervision of a responsible adult, but this is the perfect time of year for them to be looking for the signs and sounds of early-spring life. Perhaps the kids could make their own recordings and share them with you and the other students, asking them to identify the species by sound. Worst case, you could find sound of nature in the Internet and challenge your students to make the identification.

I know many schools investigate vernal pools at this time of year, and, while I hope you never find a brook trout in a body of water so ephemeral, the study of vernal pools is a great way to keep students engaged in nature at a time when “social distancing” has become necessary. Below is an activity page (designed for young learners) that focuses on peepers. The image is a link to the Web site.

If you’re interested in getting your students into the topic of vernal pools, you’ll find numerous resources available online. Her’e just one example of what’s out there. It’s provided by the University of Maine cooperative extension center. (Click on the image below to go to the Website.)

Trout out of the Classroom

At least 15 Vermont TIC teachers invited their trout to come home with them during prolonged school closure necessitated by the novel Coronavirus. Here’s a video shot by Suzanne Alfano, of Maple Street School. In transmitting this to me, Suzanne acknowledged that the filter intake was unprotected by mesh. She immediately addressed that.

Sabrina McDonough, of Shrewsbury Mountain School, also sent me a video of her relocated trout. They look pretty good, don’t they?

Like Joseph Frigo, Karli Love, of the Dorset School, recorded three videos of the stages of the process of releasing her class’s trout into the Mettawee River. Here they are.

3/30/2020

We live in interesting times!

Have you been wondering why I haven’t been bugging you? There’s an explanation for that. My Weebly.com account hit a wall. The last time I attempted to write a new blog post, I found weird things happening with my inserted photos and slideshows. Using the free version of the platform, I was never able to get an answer to my question “What’s going on?!” My best guess is that I had reached Weebly’s limit of 500 mb of uploaded files, which applies to those using the free version.

In any event, thanks to the extraordinary volunteer efforts of Mad Dog Trout Unlimited member Ian Sweet, I am back at it. (That’s Ian to the left, with a beautiful Clyde River landlocked salmon he caught.) Ian offered to transfer much of our old Weebly web site to the Vermont Trout Unlimited State Council Web site.

He and I are working together on doing that, but it’s going to take a while. At this point, the old Weebly VTTIC site is perfectly functional. You just won’t find any new blog posts there or for that matter any other additions/changes to the site. Gradually, the VTUSC site will begin to hold all or almost all the content of the Weebly site. At that point, we will keep both sites going for a couple of months. Once we’re confident we’ve migrated just about everything and everybody to the new VTUSC site, we’ll take down the Weebly site. For now, the quickest way to access the TIC blog is at this URL https://www.vttucouncil.org/?page_id=335

So, how are schools coping with the pandemic? Some have up until now been gaining access to their trout at school and caring for them. But given Governor Scott’s announcement on 3/25, I believe that option is off the table except possibly if a TIC school that’s educating/providing childcare for the children of “essential workers” and if either the TIC teacher is involved in that programming or someone else at that school who is (the principal?) is willing to tend the tank and its fish.

Some teachers have released their trout, and I anticipate that others will be doing so shortly. There’s a high probability that our still-young and weak fry won’t have much chance of surviving, especially if there was a sizable difference–five degrees or more–between the tank water temperature and the temperature of the release stream.

Several teachers took their trout home, either setting up the classroom’s tank or moving the fish to a second tank that the teacher procured. In a small number of cases, TIC teachers in the same area collaborated, allowing two or more teachers to have their respective fry bunk together. In some instances, colleagues or friends offered to host the tank. All around, a lot of piscine generosity and willingness to put in extra effort was displayed.

ONE DAY REPORT!

The chair of Vermont Trout Unlimited’s State Council called a meeting for the evening of March 26, with “TIC update” on the agenda. That morning I sent an e-mail to the teachers at our 99 TIC schools, asking for a status report. Amazingly, by 5:30 that day, I had heard back from 67 schools. Fantastic response, huh?! The summary:

• 14 teachers had brought their trout home, with a number of others contemplating doing the same;
• 19 schools had released their trout; and
• 34 schools still had their fry in the classroom. Many of this last group were getting terrific support from generous and dedicated colleagues: custodians, school maintenance staff, and principals.

Here’s a link to a PDF document that provides the details. (Black text represents schools that had already released on 3/26/20; green text signifies schools that still have their trout in the classroom; blue text is for those teachers who have brought the tank and fish home with them.)

Colleen Legris, of Founders Memorial School, gave her fry to husband Paul Legris, of Cambridge Elementary School, and Paul put Colleen’s fish into his CES tank.

Joseph Frigo, of Riverside Middle School, sent me these three videos in which he talks to his students as he ends their TIC program early by releasing their fry into the Black River.

Guy Merolle, STEM teacher at Castleton Village School, shared two videos of him releasing CVS’s trout.

Hanna Galinat, of the Riverside School (a different one), was one of those teachers who brought her trout home and sent me this nice report.

I brought my trout home where my own kids are loving them. I have slacked off with recording the water chemistry data, though I’m still checking it. They are all swimming around free. When we still were in school, we were having a great time doing some of the lessons on trout anatomy, doing some stream monitoring, playing a life cycle game, drawing fish tessalations, learning about the water cycle, sketching Trout in the Classroom quilt squares, and doing math problems related to the area and perimeter of the quilt.  I still plan to mail my students the fabric and their sketches so they can make their quilt square final drafts. If school remains closed for the rest of the year, I’ll live stream a release of the trout into our neighbor’s pond (flows into  a brook that flows through our farm, into the Stevens River and then Connecticut). Then in the fall, I’ll invite my old students (along with my new students) out to that pond for a fishing field trip/ tour of our farm as a kick off for a new year of TIC. 

Rivers and wood

Have you ever read the book Trout Are Made of Trees? It’s delightful; and even though it’s been written for young readers, the science behind it is quite sound.

Well, I had the theme of that book in mind when I went down to the nearby Castleton River this weekend. It is blessed with lots of “woody debris,” and that’s good for the trout. It was also a modest 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Here are some pictures of the Castleton.

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On the “wood is good” theme, I also found this great article, which focuses on the importance of wood in Vermont brook trout streams: Wood is good for Vermont brook trout.

Here’s the photo they hooked me with.

TU Family Field Trip: Streamside scavenger hunt

Trout Unlimited’s national office often sends me interesting ideas and information. Here’s another one of those communiques. It’s suggestions for a stream side scavenger hunt.

You might do one of these with members of your own family or you might suggest that, with proper adult supervision, your students conduct a scavenger hunt and report back to you. (Click the photo or the underlined link above to read the story.)

EPSCOR offers options

Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez, Coordinator at VT EPSCoR, asked me to pass on two ideas you could explore with your students, especially during this prolonged period when you’ll be trying to facilitate their learning from afar. Here’s the first:

I’m excited to announce the launch of the website, www.cleanwaterwork.com, featuring all eleven videos and three educational animations highlighting local success stories and meaningful efforts to improve local water quality!  There is hopefully a story for everyone to connect with and learn from!  

 

We hope people will incorporate these videos into email updates, social media posts, newsletters, websites and however they reach their specific networks, colleagues, and friends.  Given the broad school closures and higher demand for online content, I’m hoping to get these  out to as many teachers as possible. 

 

I truly hope this video series helps further the mission of your organization as well as educates and engages the general public in what can be done.  

Best,

Vince Franke, Peregrine Productions

Here’s Veronica’s second suggestion:

We are hoping this is a helpful resource now that schools are shifting to remote learning. Another great resource for remote learning on the same topic is the Saving Our Waters curriculum that VT EPSCoR and VT PBS jointly worked on. Teachers can find classroom materials and resources here: https://www.vermontpbs.org/water/curriculum/

Stay well and keep in touch!

Joe

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3/14/2020

UPDATE: COVID-19 preparedness. Trout Camp. Photos and videos. Reports from the field.

COVID-19. What should you do to be prepared?

ADDITIONAL UPDATED COMMENTS PROVIDED IN ALL CAPS BELOW.

​Do you know anybody who’s not talking about the Novel Corona virus? I don’t. But what does it mean for schools in the TIC program? Two things really: (1) making sure that concern over the infection doesn’t lead to toxic substances getting into your tank and (2) being prepared in the event that your school is closed because of the disease.

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Keeping toxic stuff out
No spraying! Some schools are quite eager to spray disinfectants in classrooms when there’s widespread risk of infection. Spraying would almost certainly be disastrous for your trout. Please proactively speak to anyone who might be involved in such a project, or in authorizing it, and beg them to skip your classroom. Since every school that I know of has an integrated, building-wide air-handling system, even if you succeed in convincing the “powers that be” not to spray in your classroom, your fish could still be fatally impacted by spraying elsewhere in the school. For this reason, you should be prepared to cover your tank with a blanket when and if you anticipate that there will be spraying in the building. The foam insulation alone will probably not protect your trout. The same goes for wiping classroom surfaces. Keep that practice away from your tank too!

Watch those hand sanitizers! Lots of people I know are almost compulsively using hand sanitizers. Most of the time and in most settings that’s a good practice, but not if you have a role in maintaining a brook trout tank. We always advise teachers and students to keep their hands out of the tank water if at all possible. If it’s absolutely necessary to put your hands into the water, wash your hands well and throughly dry them before touching the tank water. The same goes for hand lotion. With all the extra hand washings, some of us are applying hand lotion more often too. Some hand lotions can be toxic for trout too, so follow the same washing and drying procedures.

What about TIC schools closing?
Several Vermont colleges have already announced that they’re closing, perhaps for the rest of the academic year. A few schools have also decided to do that but only for a few days. It’s conceivable that many Vermont schools could close for days or weeks or longer.​

My first suggestion would be:

1. See if you can be given access to your school during the closing.

On the national TIC/SIC e-mail network, Juliette Guarino Berg asked this question
Good afternoon, In the event of a building closure due to the spread of COVID-19, what are your plans for your trout program?

Several helpful responses were offered.
You can always count on Maryland TIC coordinator Chuck Dinkel for a response. In this case:
Juliette, you could move the trout to a 5-gallon bucket with an aerator and frozen bottle of water, drain your tank, and have someone from school help you move it to your home or some other location where it could be set up and run again. Being an ex-New Yorker and your being in Manhattan, that may be easier said than done.  Tanks are not something you’d want to move via the subway.

IF YOU’RE HOPING TO UTILIZE THIS STRATEGY, WHICH IS A GOOD ONE, TRY TO RECRUIT ONE OR TWO BACK-UPS WHO COULD TAKE OVER FOR YOU IN THE EVENT THAT YOU GET STRICKEN. (I thank Shoreham Elementary Principal Michael Lenox for that suggestion.)

2. So, consider taking your trout home with you.

Another respondent, Zachary Houle, of Taconic High School in Pittsfield, told us what his district is going to do:
We have a plan where one of the teachers is going to take them home if we close.  She’s already brought a big tank home and set it up and will bring one of our chillers the day of, if needed.
Working together! Great idea, Zachary.

3. Is there a possibility that you and several other area teachers could collaborate and all take your fish to one off-campus tank?

Heather Weiss said:
I was just talking to my head of school about this. In the event of a closure, I’m going to release the trout on my own and live stream it.
I don’t know where Heather‘s school is and when they started raising their trout. (Some schools began this process early in the fall, and their trout are undoubtedly much larger than those in Vermont schools.) Given how small our fish are, I’d call this a worst case option for us.

4. Finally, if none of the options offered above will work for you and if your school is going to be shut down for an extended period, you may have to release your trout prematurely.

IF YOU DECIDE TO RELEASE YOUR TROUT, TWO SUGGESTIONS:

• TRY TO SYNCHRONIZE THE WATER TEMPERATURE OF YOUR TANK TO THAT OF A LOCAL STREAM. (You can drop the temperature three degrees in the morning and another three degrees at the end of the day. I assume that your local streams will be in the mid to high 30s. Minutes before posting this update, I checked the temperature of the Castleton River. It was 38 degrees.)
• YOU MAY HAVE TO FIND A SMALLER STREAM OR A STREAM AT HIGHER ALTITUDE THAN THE ONE WHERE YOU HAD INTENDED TO RELEASE YOUR TROUT. Our fish are small and, at this point, still relatively weak swimmers. At this time of year, many valley streams are high and turbulent. This evening, the Castleton River was close to flood stage. Our fry would likely be swept to Lake Champlain or the Connecticut River very quickly. (And die along the way.) Releasing your fish into a small tributary–even one that is just two or three feet wide might do–will give them a fighting chance. 

Trout Camp
On a happier note, I want to bring the 10th annual Trout Camp sponsored by Vermont Trout Unlimited to your attention. Here’s an announcement that TU volunteer Doug Zehner sent me.

Begin a Lifetime of Fly Fishing and Learning at the Vermont Trout Camp — June 21-25

Trout Unlimited presents the 10th annual Vermont Trout Camp for teens at Jackson’s Lodge in Canaan, VT, June 21-25, 2020.  Boys and girls age 13-16 interested in science, the out-of-doors, and learning to fly fish are invited to apply.  The application deadline is April 15th.  Details and an application are available at www.vermonttroutcamp.com

This is a marvelous opportunity for young people to experience the outdoors to the fullest.  The camp program features instruction in basic and intermediate fly fishing skills (casting, knot tying, fly tying, fishing tactics), entomology, fish biology, conservation and cold water fisheries management and of course lots of time on the water fishing with knowledgeable guides.  No experience is necessary, and all equipment is provided.

If you know of any young person who might be interested in attending camp, please encourage them to apply.    Please visit the website for details about camp or email us at vermonttroutcamp@gmail.com with questions.

(The screenshot of the Trout Camp web site below is also a link to the site, so you can click on it.)

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Trout video
Vasanthi Merette, of Shelburne Community School, sent me this video today. I though you might want to see what another school’s fry look like these days.

Thanks, Vasanthi!

 

Photos from Bennington

TU volunteer Barry Mayer sent me these photos that he took while visiting Amy Newbold‘s tank at the Village School of North Bennington. Since Amy set up her tank in the school’s library, she’s taken some precautions to make sure guests don’t accidentally bump into the tank.

Today Barry popped in on Emily Hunter, TIC teacher at Mount Anthony Union Middle School. Barry offered this brief report: Visited Emily’s tank this morning. Fish are all swimming up, and she’s feeding them very little at a time. Says she’s lost maybe five and chemistries have been good.

Riverside Middle School checks in
Joe Frigo, 7th grade science teacher at Riverside Middle School in Springfield, sent this report.

Nearly all of our trout are feeding and a few have escaped from the basket and are in the tank. They’ve proven to be hard to catch in order to put back in the basket! We are looking forward to releasing them from the breeder baskets sometime next week.
And he sent a couple of photos too. Thanks, Joe!

Reports from the field
On Tuesday, Joe Frigo, of Riverside Middle School, sent this update on his school’s tank.Anticipating swim up this week! After a week at 46 degrees I’ve increased the water temperature by a degree and have begun taking the front cover off of the tank during the day. The increase in movement has been noticeable and I think swim up should happen in the next few days. Our current DI is 81.98 and growing! I tried to put in a little bit of food this morning and saw one or two alevine swim up!At right is a photo of Joe’s attractive tank set up.

Below are two pictures of his alevin.

 

3/14/2020

Wonderful hallway trout sculptures at MSS!
Suzanne Alfano, 5th/6th Grade Science Teacher at The Maple Street School, sent me the following message:

Hi Joe-
Look what’s swimming down our halls at Maple Street thanks to the collaborative efforts of our art teacher Leslie Sullivan and whoever the TIC teacher was that shared the resource. Our 5th Graders loved this project and we will definitely be making it part our TIC curriculum every year.

Here are three photos Suzanne sent me. Cool, huh! How about those great shadows?

Documenting TIC at Newark Street School
Cindy Mosedale, first-year TIC teacher at Newark Street School, sent me a document she produced that describes their Trout in the Classroom program to date.

But first, a bit about Newark, Vermont, which I had to research and which I suspect may be the smallest and most remote Vermont town to host a TIC project. (If you think your town deserves that distinction, let me know.) With a maximum elevation of 1,319 feet, Newark lies on the northern edge of Caledonia County. It is south of Island Pond, southeast of Lake Willoughby, north of Burke, and is bordered by a large untracked region to the east. Its population was 581 in the 2010 census, with a density of 16 people per square mile. The history of its population growth and decline is interesting. In 1800 it had eight residents; by 1880 that had grown to 679. That all-time high was followed by a long period of continuous decline, which bottomed out in 1970 when there were only 144 people in Newark. Since then, growth has returned. By the way, Lowell, with a slightly larger population (738), is more sparsely settled than Newark (13.2 people per square mile). What do your kids know about your community and how it compares to others around the state?

Here’s a link to a list of all Vermont’s towns, including population data, area, etc.  The town with the smallest population, by the way, is Lewis (Essex County) with no residents. Somerset (Windham County) has three, and Glastenbury (Bennington County) has eight.

Click here to see Cindy‘s document. And below are screenshots from Cindy’s document. Great work, Cindy!

Jail break follow-up
The day after I posted the last blog, I got this good news from Keith Harrington, of Poultney Elementary School:Good Morning Joe, 
After our breeder basket dumped all of our alevin into the tank, I have just been going about normal procedures. No need to panic. As I said to my students, “We have been very lucky over the years compared to some schools. Maybe this was just our time to not be lucky!”When I came back  from Spring Break armed with a new small net to try to collect some alevin to put back in the breeder basket to make sure they were eating, I got a nice surprise. I caught two and put them in the basket. The next thing I know many were swimming up from the rocks to the top of the tank so I fed them. They attacked the food. So I Iet the other two back out to join their friends. More and more are swimming up every day. I am quite pleased. Looks like we have a nice group of survivors so far. I was also glad to see after being gone for a week that the water chemistry was good. Except for GH that was quite high, all readings were near perfect. That’s a great turn of events, Keith! I am very happy to hear it.

The Castleton River last week. (Looks different today!)

​We get by with a little help from our friends!
Liz Volpe, of Orwell Village School, sent me a nice note that day too.I’d like to send a huge shout out to Eoin Noonan of Orwell Village School.  He diligently fed the fry and checked chemical levels all week during the February break.All of the trout were alive and well upon my return.  This was a very exciting way to start back to work.Can we give him some public recognition?Yes, we can! Thank you, Eoin!!When should you release your fry into the tank?
This morning, Joe Frigo, science teacher at Riverside Middle School, sent me this question:Most of my trout are feeding and swimming around the breeder basket. Do you think it is ok to put the basket in a position that allows the more adventurous trout to swim out into the tank?When I asked Joe when he started feeding his fish, he said last Friday. That prompted me to respond, “Keep them in the breeder basket for at least another week.” Releasing fry into the tank too soon can be a major cause of die-offs. We recommend that you keep them in the basket for at least two weeks after they’ve all been feeding.

Are they swimming up yet? What are we hearing on the national TIC/SIC network?

2/24/2020

Are your fish swimming up yet?
Some teachers have reported that their fish have swum up and are eating. These are at classrooms that used the “warm and fast” temperature protocol. Most, schools, however, have kept their tanks cooler–perhaps 43 degrees or so–in order to have the swim-up occur after the winter break.As we’ve discussed both at the fall workshop and in previous blogs, the key to knowing when your fish are likely to swim up is tracking DI (Development Index). You do this by entering daily temperatures, including estimated temperatures over weekends and school breaks, in the spreadsheet titled “NEW 2019 Temp and DI record and swim-up calculator“ (using the Temp entry and DI record worksheet after you’ve opened the spreadsheet in Numbers). Even if you haven’t been keeping up this spreadsheet, as long as you’ve been recording temperature, you can reconstruct the Temp and DI record and find out what your DI is.So what DI are we looking for? The experiences of TIC teachers in the past suggest that a DI of 82 is the time to be hyper vigilant. We believe that most fry will start swimming up between DIs of 82 and 87.When your fry swim up, you should try feeding them a tiny bit of food. If the alevin don’t eat it fairly quickly, scoop it out and discard.Over the next couple of weeks, it will be critical that teachers and students whose fish haven’t yet swum up are watching their alevin/fry very carefully, looking for signs that the alevin are getting ready to swim up. Here’s a short video that tries to explain what that swim-up readiness looks like.

National TIC/SIC network discussions
I’m sure you recall that I participate in the TU national TIC/SIC network. Here Areva few extracts from recent exchanges on that network’s e-mail list serve.

Teacher Douglas Bell, of Lyons, Colorado, raised two issues in a recent e-mail to the group (BTW, Colorado’s TIC program starts much earlier in the fall): he reported inter-fish aggression resulting in casualties and wanted to know how many of his fish he should expect to carry through to their release day (they now have 70 in their 55-gallon tank).

​Scott Hood from Oklahoma answered:

A good question … but one you will only answer when you are one your way to the release point.

Be delighted when you have 20. I got a text this morning from one of my schools … all trout dead. Seems the school janitorial staff had orders to spray the school with disinfectant for flu virus. In spite of signs to Please Do Not Spray in the area of the tank, they did it anyway!  Very sad day for these students.

Doug replied in turn:

Oof, I’m sorry to hear that. We had a substitute cleaning staff turn off our power strip over the weekend when the fish were pretty small. They weathered it, but now we’re always on guard.

Scott, came back with:

Douglas, power failures due to weather or construction, accidental and not so accidental unplugs by helpful janitorial staff, and anti-bacterial soap on little hands that find there way into the water … number one killers.

However, we’ve had huge celebratory releases for as few as 3 surviving trout before with class of over 75 kids.  Some have gone to the release area with zero. We always go.

Chuck Dinkel, my favorite TIC support person, contributed this:

A school in Maryland had the exact same result when their school was sprayed 4 times with a mist to control the flu virus. This was a first for us. If the teacher had had advanced warning of this would there have been some way of covering the tank to protect the fish?

Snow covered Birdseye Brook even though is was 54 degrees today (2-24-20)

Lessons to be learned
So what’s the take-away from these conversations?

1. ​Well intentioned but poorly informed “helpers” can mess things up big time for your fish.
2. Proactively communicate with anybody at your school you can think of who could either make some of the above mentioned mistakes or prevent them from happening. That means your principal, nurse, custodial staff, fellow teachers, substitutes, etc.
3. Explain the problem with spraying toxic substances in a classroom that has baby brook trout.
4. Make sure everybody knows about the dangers of sanitary hand cleaners. Bad!
5. Put tape over any exposed power switch and put signage everywhere warning Do Not Turn Off!
6. With that reminder about the possibility of power outages, I want to remind you tokeep several liters of dechlorinated water frozen in a freezer somewhere, preferably at your school.

As far as Doug’s question about how many fish to expect to still be alive at the end of the process, there really is not great answer. 

• Some schools lose ALL their fish (usually because of the issues mentioned above). 
• Some schools bring more than 90% of the fish to the finish line. 
• In Vermont our statewide average for survival rates is about 50%.

But the important thing to remember that this is not a stocking program. While we try to keep tank conditions healthy for our trout and are proud when many of them survive, it’s not about the numbers; it’s about the learning!

Paradoxically, having all your fish survive may give kids the wrong message. They might graduate from the program thinking that brook trout are hardy, can tolerate all sorts of suboptimal conditions, and have high survival rates in nature. No, no, and no!

• On January 1, there were 50 gallons of new water in his tank, and its salinity was 200.
• On January 31, the volume of water was down to 25 gallons, with a salinity of 400.
• On February 1, Rich added 25 gallons of tap water with a salinity of 200. That brought the tank’s salinity to 300.
• On February 29, the volume of the tank’s water was back down to 25 gallons. And its salinity? 600.
• On March 1, Rich added 25 gallons of tap water with a salinity of 200. That brought the tank’s salinity to 400.
• On March 30, the volume of the tank was again a mere 25 gallons, with a salinity of 800.
• On April 1, Rich added 25 gallons of tap water with a salinity of 200. That brought the tank’s salinity to 500.

​Get the idea? Evaporation can almost continuously raise the salinity. You can use this exercise to help students practice fractions and proportions.

Winter road treatments
​I write this after two consecutive “snow days,” when a large portion of Vermont’s schools were closed. And over those two days, what was happening out on our roads?

Alevins everywhere! Many photos. Remind me about DI.

1/31/2020

Alevins, alevins, alevins!
The reports I’ve received suggest that all our eggs have hatched and that Vermont is full of many new batches of alevins. By the way, how do you say “alevin”?Here’s a YouTube video offering the correct pronunciation.

Photos from Vermont schools
Poultney Elementary
I was also pleased to get a number of photos from teachers.​On Monday,Keith Harrington, at Poultney Elementary School sent this photo of his breeder basket with its alevin. (Notice the bubbles in the middle of the bottom netting? That usually means that the breeder basket may be a bit  too close to the airstone. It’s not a big problem unless the netting starts bulging up too high.)

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Paul Legris, of Cambridge Elementary School, reported that they just had their big hatch last Friday (1/24/20).
​Schoolhouse Learning Center
​​Those of you who have been in our TIC program in the past will remember the great close-up photography that Schoolhouse Learning Center’s Danielle Levine has shared with us. Well she’s at it again! Look at these beautiful images!

And like many of you, Danielle gets her kids involved in all sorts of interesting and creative activities. Here are photos of her kids while they were making models of–what, Danielle? Embryos?

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​Benson Village School
Jeff Walker, sent me this report and these photos from Benson Village School. Lots of cute kids behaving cutely!Hi Joe!
Here’s some pics of our kindergartners visiting the middle school (and 1st and 2nd graders too) to see the newly-arrived eggs.  Love the magnifying glass skills!

Still more kindergartners

Development Index (DI)
One of our first-time TIC teachers asked me to remind him about DI. This becomes increasingly important as we approach the stage when we can start expecting our fish to “swim up.” Here’s what I told him.DI stands for Development Index, and really ought to be called Cumulative Development Index. It’s a measure of how developed your eggs and alevin are. It starts at zero when the eggs are fertilized and goes up to 100 (more or less) when all fish are feeding. At that point, what used to be called alevin are then called “fry.” (We find that the strain of brook trout that we raise actually starts feeding closer to a DI of 85 or 90.)DI increases every day the temperature is above 32 degrees F. There’s a table (part of the “Temp and DI record and swim-up calculator”) that shows you,depending on what the temperature is,what the constant is that gets added to Cumulative DI.
When the tank water temperature is only 35 degrees Fahrenheit, only 0.333 gets added to the Cumulative DI each day; at 45 degrees, 0.815 gets added; and at 55 degrees, the DI jumps by 1.728 each day.
More about Redds
In my December 30, 2019 blog, I wrote about the “field trip” Janni Jacobs and her Braintree Elementary School students (accompanied by Rudi Ruddell) took to a local river, hoping to find some “redds” AKA trout nests.Well, just today, I got an e-mail from Trout Unlimited reporting on similar “redd hunts” in Michigan.This photo is from that online article. If you click on it, you should be able to read the story. BONUS ALERT: the article includes a link to a free document that is TU’s Redd Survey Handbook. (Click on the handbook title to access it.)

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• be creative in a visual medium,
• practice their writing skills, and
• ​learn a little about another part of the country

​Here are some examples of former year’s quilts, both from Vermont schools and those in other states.

• Educate everyone, students, fellow teachers, the custodian, etc.
• Put signs up to reinforce that message.
• Keep the switches inaccessible if you can.
• Put tape over them!!

Thanks for the helpful story, Seth.

More egg deliveries. Teacher workshop and learning opportunities. Photos/videos of early hatchlings. Data sharing.

1/15/2020

​SWVTTU egg deliveries
On Tuesday, nine volunteers delivered over 2,200 brook trout eggs to 21 southwest Vermont schools. Four other SWVT schools will get their eggs at a later date. When we arrived at many schools, people–from the principal to the school secretary to the maintenance guy–were excitedly waiting for us.

​Free teacher workshop
Colleen Hickey, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Lake Champlain Basin Program, recently asked me to let you know about a special opportunity that will take place later this month. As part of LCBP’s celebration of the Year of the Salmon, they will hold a free workshop for teachers on Saturday, January 25. The following topics will be addressed:

• History of salmon in the Lake Champlain basin
• Life cycle
• Fish dissection, including of trout
• Habitat restoration
• The Salmon in the Classroom program

As is indicated on the flier below, the workshop will take place from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at Gordon Center House, 54 West Shore Road, Grand Isle, Vermont. A free homemade lunch will be provided. To register, e-mail Stephanie Larkin at slarkin@lcbp.org.

​To learn more about the Year of the Salmon, click here.

• Eggs/fry lost
• Water temperature
• pH
• Ammonia
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
• KH
• How much water you changed
• How much Nite-Out II you added
• And your observations and notes

​If all our TIC classrooms can keep and share good data, we will be able to improve our practice every year.

On the verge of a new season! Redd hunting. NEK habitat restoration.

12/30/2019

Redd hunting
You may recall that several weeks ago, back when it was still late fall, I mentioned that it was the time of year when you and your students could go out to a trout stream and look for “redds,” that is trout spawning beds. Well, Janni Jacob‘s class of 5th and 6th graders at Braintree Elementary School did just that, and I was pleased to receive a report from Rudi Ruddell, of White River Partnership, about the expedition. Here’s what Rudi wrote.Janni Jacobs’ intrepid crew did, in fact, enjoy a ‘redd hunt’ on a sunny and relatively warm day on November 21 (relatively warm, considering early snows had already arrived and there had been some previous hard freezes). Though we saw some relatively clean patches of gravel, it was pretty hard to know if we were actually seeing redds, and there had been some recent high flows ahead of our outing.Fisheries Biologist Bret Ladago from VT Fish & Wildlife noted, “Finding redds in smaller more mountainous streams can be challenging as the gravel tends to have less silt and therefore redds are less obvious. You would also be primarily looking for brook trout redds which are much smaller than the brown trout redds found in the Deerfield. Water temperatures are cold during spawning and students may encounter a small patch of clean gravel if they are lucky, but trout are rarely observed on the redd. Timing is also challenging and can be difficult to predict unless folks are closely monitoring weather patterns and flow rates.”It was still a fun outing with a great crew, and we got to check out a few macros that were still active; a few pictures attached from grandparent Peter Evans who accompanied.Congratulations, Janni and kids, for getting out there in the interest of science! Here are five pictures that Rudi sent me from the outing.

Celebrating eight years of stream restoration work
On December 29, the Associated Press carried a story about stream restoration work in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom for the benefit of brook trout. That news report was originally carried in the Caledonian Record, looking like this:
​

Here’s the full text of the AP article.

LEWIS, Vt. (AP) — The Department of Fish and Wildlife is celebrating eight years of improving trout habitat in northeastern Vermont rivers and streams.

Trout thrive in streams that offer places to hide, such as under trees that have fallen into the streams. Fallen trees also create a mix of pools and shallow areas that are used by trout for feeding, reproducing, avoiding high flows and hiding from predators.
The Caledonian Record reports that more than 27 miles of brook trout streams have been improved by the placement of large trees in strategic locations.

A six-year study in the East Branch Nulhegan River watershed found that on average brook trout abundance tripled in just three years at sites with added trees.

“By adding this large woody material to streams, we are helping to reverse the legacy of historic clear cutting and repeated log drives on these streams,” said Vermont fisheries biologist Jud Kratzer. 

The fallen trees store sediment and organic material, helping to reducing the flow downstream of sediment, nutrients and slow runoff, reducing downstream flooding.

The work has been done by a variety of organizations, including Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Trout Unlimited, on lands owned by Weyerhaeuser and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This is an important comment on some of the characteristics that are critical to good brook trout habitat. As the article mentioned, not only the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department but also volunteer organizations like Trout Unlimitedinvest a great deal of money, time, and energy each year in improving habitat by adding “woody debris,” large boulders, and stream bank trees (to provide “cover”).

Here’s a five minute video that describes what’s called the “chop and drop” approach to improving stream habitat.

Of course, Vermont is not the only state concerned about restoring/improving stream habitat. When I searched for “improving trout habitat” on YouTube, I got dozens of hits, including one for Vermont’s “chop and drop” program above. Here’s an image of the results page. It’s a link, so feel free to click on it.

Let’s get this party started! (And hope for good driving weather)
Plans are well underway for the several trips that will be necessary to pick up eggs at the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Fish Hatchery in North Chittenden, Vermont. As far as I’m aware, the first deliveries will be made on 1/7 and will continue through that and the following week. Our deliveries in southwestern Vermont are planned for 1/14, depending on the weather of course.Based on the reports I’ve received, it sounds like pre-cycling is going well across the state. A day or two before you expect to receive your eggs, you should get your water temperature to somewhere between 43 and 45degrees. Presumably you’ve been thinking about temperature protocols as they relate to when swim-up will occur at your school.If you still need to get up to speed on temperature and the swim-up process, I’ve got two resources for you.

• I addressed the topic in a preliminary way in the 12/11/19 blog under the heading of “Data sheets.”
• You can also find a fuller discussion of the process in a different section of this VTTIC web site. Go to the VTTIC home page (http://vermonttroutintheclassroom.weebly.com​), click on the “TIC RESOURCES” button, and then click on “MANAGING SWIM-UP AND DI.”

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