MN DNR AND TROUT IN THE CLASSROOM: A LONGTIME PARTNERSHIP
For a long time, MNTU has partnered with the MN DNR to uphold our organization’s mission to conserve, protect, restore, and sustain Minnesota’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. This includes habitat projects, restoration efforts, and advocacy pursuits throughout the state. Since 2007, with the establishment of the first tank in Minnesota, this partnership has increasingly included support and assistance with the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program. As TIC has expanded across Minnesota, there are now schools within each of the 4 major fisheries regions.
DNR staff works with the MNTU education team and TIC schools in a variety of ways each year to ensure the program’s success.
At the beginning of the school year, our Education Supervisor works closely with the fisheries administrator to ensure all teachers receive and sign the permit that allows them to have trout in their classrooms and release them in the spring. These permits contain a list of rules and expectations each school must follow, such as no other living organisms allowed in the tanks and disease testing parameters.
In November, we connect with the Lanesboro hatchery staff to get started on the food sorting process and coordinating transport prior to egg delivery. The team at Lanesboro continues to weigh, sort, and label the 5 different sizes of trout food, even as the number of tanks increases each year. This fall, they put together 83 sets of food!
DNR area fisheries managers receive a spreadsheet with all the TIC schools that are located in their region that year. Release sites are determined based on their proximity to the school and consist of bodies of water that the DNR is already stocking with rainbow trout. These sites are not always set in stone and most requests by teachers for alternate sites are granted.
The fisheries pathology lab team works closely with us throughout the school year. They help to ensure teachers are adhering to the permit rules, support schools that have fish die offs or illness, coordinate disease testing and communicate results/next steps, review end of year reports, and collate data from each tank’s mortality log/teacher notes. In addition, the lab manager presents to teachers each year about fish pathology, mortality, and reviews the previous year’s data. They also offer tours of the lab to TIC classrooms that are able to make the trip to St. Paul!
DNR staff engagement with TIC students is an essential component of our partnership in education, working towards the sustain piece of MNTU’s mission statement. Each spring, a few lucky schools get to meet DNR employees and learn about their role, job duties, schooling, and general information about how to obtain a career in the natural resources field. They also assist with aquatic macroinvertebrate studies, conduct shocking demonstrations, have students assist with stocking nets full of fish, and provide equipment for students to fish after releasing their trout!