Students Enjoy Trout Release Project

The trout eggs were given to the school by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in January. The AP class then raised them in the 60-gallon tank in the classroom until they were given permission by the ODNR to release them the first week of March.

The release was made possible by the state Trout in the Classroom (TIC) Program, which provided a tremendous opportunity for our students to witness the growth of trout from the egg stage to the fingerling stage (2-4 in.) 

Said AP teacher Rita Chahda-Gonzalez: “The exciting thing was seeing them take ownership of all the testing and monitoring, and most importantly the release of the baby trout into a state-designated lake or stream, each one to face the hazards and challenges of life in the wild.” 

Chahda-Gonzalez said the trout program is much more than just releasing the trout: “I have been privileged to be part of a conservation effort and teach about the needs of an aquatic organism that is a keystone species and well-fished fish from our Great Lakes,” she said.

According to Chahda-Gonzalez, it is common knowledge that Lakewood is about 500 miles south and west of “real” trout water.  Except for a small pocket of native and genetically distinct brook trout stranded by the last glacial retreat in the northeast corner of the state, trout, as far as we know, are not native to Ohio. Therefore, rainbow trout must be grown and placed in cold water streams as does the anadromous steelhead trout (a stain of rainbow trout) that run from Lake Erie to its tributaries each spring and fall. This requires clean water and proper habitat and food; all of which are closely monitored in the classroom aquarium. 

The Trout in Classroom Program in Ohio is promoted and supported by the state chapters of Trout Unlimited, and the Ohio State Council of Trout Unlimited and is supported and sponsored in part by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). 

The motto of TIC is “connecting students with their watershed.”  Trout Unlimited sees TIC not only as an excellent environmental education tool but as a means of building a sense of environmental responsibility into the next generation of caretakers of our streams and lakes.

The program also provided Lakewood students valuable real-world experience and was a great reflection of our global citizen and collaboration competencies of our Vision of a Lakewood Graduate!