Terraset Trout Eggs Due This Week!

Have you noticed the large fish tank in Terraset's courseway? Well it is about to be populated! Our next batch of some 200 Brook Trout eggs will be arriving on Thursday, October 11th.

These eggs come to us as part of the Trout in the Classroom program sponsored by Terraset PTA. First introduced in 2009 by Dianne Rose and George Paine, Terraset students have successfully released about 60 Brook Trout into Virginian streams over the past three years!

Originally the fish were raised by students in our Eco Club. Unfortunately, we cannot run Eco Club this year as the lead volunteer parent, Dianne Rose, has now "graduated" from Terraset along with the graduation of her younger child. However, this does not mean the Trout in the Classroom program will not continue. Indeed, it is about to flourish with its inclusion into the regular curriculum of one of Terraset's classrooms.

Ms Meredith Capets will work with her students to maintain the tank. The students will get to observe the life cycle of the brook trout and share in the responsibility of caring for the Trout. However, Ms Capets will not have to manage this on her own. A number of older students at Terraset, along with a couple of Terraset graduates are keen to help. Ms Capets and the volunteers will be there at key times to make sure the water quality (testing and changing as needed) and temperature (50 - 55 degrees) are right, the air pump and filter are working, any dead fish are removed, the fish are adequately fed. The team will work together to ensure as many of the eggs survive and grow vigorously through to their release time.

Terraset students release the brook trout they raised last year
into Red Bud Run

Of course, release time is the most exciting part of the whole project. The children, along with their parents, transport the fish to a carefully selected spot in a fresh water creek --typically a couple of hours drive away from Terraset.

Its been great to watch this program establish itself over the years. One of the exciting things is that every student in the school gets to watch the eggs hatch into alevin, then grow into fry at which time they are released into the wild.