GMCG will be doing another Season of Raising Trout in the Classroom!

GMCG will lead the 2022 season of Trout in the Classroom (TIC) with local schools participating.  Trout are indicator species and their abundance directly reflects the quality of water in which they live.  TIC teaches our students how to raise trout from eggs to fry, monitor tank water quality, engage in stream habitat studies and appreciate water resources.

Each year, Elementary Schools in the Ossipee Watershed  receive about 200 Eastern brook trout eggs to nurture and raise in the classroom. The trout eggs are picked up from NH Fish and Game’s Hatchery in Berlin and delivered to the various schools.  While the eggs are growing into fingerlings, these schools will share their scientific discoveries on a kid’s blog where GMCG staff can interact. TIC compliments the work that many of the schools do with VBAP (Volunteer Biological Assessment Program) in the fall which helps determine where the water quality parameters are suitable for their survival.  Once their fingerlings are ready for release a few months later, the students take a field trip to the river and get to experience the excitement of watching the trout they so carefully raised swim off to start their new life in the clean, healthy water body that they have learned about.  The locations are approved by NH Fish & Game from the data the schools collected earlier.

This program is made possible by Trout Unlimited, Pequawaket Foundation, Quimby Foundation and NH Fish and Game.

View more watershed maps here

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