Adopt-a-trout is an opportunity for students to participate in hands-on, real-life fisheries science. The program begins with a field day of fish tagging and related curriculum on-site with local students. Trout receive telemetry tags and are “adopted” by local students. The adopted trout’s movement is then monitored throughout the school year.
Adopt-a-Trout is unique in the way that it blends hands-on field experiences with science and technology. Students use real fish and a real river to understand more abstract concepts like global positioning, water chemistry, and hydrology. For this reason, the program can foster diverse partnerships that include state and federal agencies, non-profits, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, corporations and tech industry companies.
Currently, the program is offered in Wyoming and Colorado in partnership with state agencies. Contact Cory Toye, TU’s Wyoming Water & Habitat Program Director, for more information: ctoye@tu.org