Schools from across the Cayuga Lake Watershed involved in the Trout in the Classroom program are in the process of releasing trout into creeks and rivers feeding into Cayuga Lake after spending most of the school year raising the trout in their classroom.
Students from TST BOCES Turning Point program came out to Salmon Creek at Salt Point, where they walked upstream to find a good spot to release their trout. The students first evaluated the quality of the stream by gathering a sample of macroinvertebrates and using the macroinvertebrate identification key to assess the aquatic life before releasing the trout.
In their stream sample, students in Sarah Kunz' class found lots of mayfly larvae, stoneflies and crayfish among the insects living in the creek. All of these macroinvertebrates will eventually be food to the young trout being released, so it was important to first make sure the trout would have enough food to eat. They also use the macroinvertebrates sample as an indicator of a healthy stream life, since insects are dependent on clean water to survive. The class determined that the creek possessed enough biodiversity to make it habitable for the trout to survive in the water, and moved upstream away from their sampling area to release the trout.
Each student got a small container filled with a couple trout that they had raised throughout the year in their classroom. Students gently released their trout into a pool of water just upstream from a swift current and watched as the trout paused for a minute to acclimate, and then swim away to their new home in the wild!
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