New hatchlings are offering a hopeful bright spot during the upcoming winter and spring months at Benjamin Logan Elementary and Middle School, along with hands-on learning opportunities for pupils.
The future Mad River inhabitants have journeyed 1,600 miles from Montana to Ohio. After a stopover at the State Fish Hatchery in London, the 200 brown trout eggs arrived at BLES and BLMS on the Friday before Thanksgiving break.
During the next six months, the eggs will hatch, and the fry will grow and develop into fingerlings that are ready for their ultimate destination, the Mad River. The release will take place in West Liberty during May.
This is the ninth year that Benjamin Logan students have participated in Trout in the Classroom, a program that is co-sponsored by the Madmen Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Trout require cold, clean water. The students will study water chemistry, habitat components, and trout adaptations in order to provide a suitable home for their charges.
Some students also will join an after school program, Trout Madness, where these aquatic studies will be extended and enriched.
The school district has three aquaria. Brown trout are being raised in the elementary school library by fourth-graders and at the middle school by Mrs. Forsythe’s seventh-graders. Rainbow trout will be raised at the high school by Mr. Reames’ students.
“Interest in raising trout has always been extraordinary, to the extent that some students have even taken to naming the fish, a futile but touching gesture,” district officials said.