Kudos to Trout in the Classroom

Thank you for the exciting and informative article about the trout rearing educational project at Cooper Elementary School that appeared in the Jan. 26, 2022, edition of The Weekly Vista. Stephanie Pick and Shannon Tweedy are enthusiastic participants, including taking time on weekends and school breaks to monitor the water quality and feed the trout.

Here is some additional information about this project and others like it in north Arkansas and across the nation. The trout project at Cooper is part of a network of schools enrolled in Trout in the Classroom. Trout Unlimited, a national non-profit conservation organization, sponsors Trout in the Classroom across the United States. Trout in the Classroom is a conservation-oriented environmental education program for elementary, middle, and high school students. Through the school year, students raise trout from eggs to juveniles and then release them into approved cold-water streams and lakes. This act of raising, monitoring, and caring for young trout fosters a conservation

ethic within participating students and promotes an understanding and appreciation of water resources.

Locally, Trout in the Classroom is administered and funded by the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of Trout Unlimited (NWATU), with oversight from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission who approves the schools and trout releases related to the program. In addition to Cooper Elementary, Farmington High School, Gravette High School, Elkins High School, Fayetteville High School, and McNair Middle School are active participants involved in Trout in the Classroom.

In the Mountain Home, AR area, the White River Chapter of Trout Unlimited has nine schools participating in Trout in the Classroom. The cost of the specialized equipment for the initial set-up of Trout in the Classroom at a school exceeds $1,500. The Bella Vista Fly Tyers Club should be thanked and recognized for their generous donation that purchased the Trout in the Classroom equipment at Cooper Elementary. Funding and technical support for the cost of annual upkeep and supplies is provided by the NWATU.

Many thanks to all of the educators, Trout Unlimited volunteers and sponsors that make Trout in the Classroom the educational tool that it is.

Ron Blackwelder

NW Arkansas Trout Unlimited