Deer Park® partners with Pennsylvania school districts to sponsor Trout in the Classroom program for the sixth year
In its sixth year, Deer Park® Natural Spring Water has partnered with the Eastern Lebanon County School District (ELCO) in Myerstown and Northwestern Lehigh School District in New Tripoli to sponsor the Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom program.
Throughout the school year, students are introduced to the importance of watershed conservation efforts, ecosystems, habitats, natural resources, and management strategies to protect and enhance cold water resources.
For months, more than 100 students from two school districts raised brook trout from eggs to fingerlings in their AP biology and environmental science class. Once the eggs develop to fingerlings, the trout can be released into the creek.
Students in both districts released a total of 121 fingerlings into Mill Creek and 115 fingerlings into Ontelaunee Creek at the end of May.
David Dennis, Springs Specialist of BlueTriton Brands, the manufacturer of Deer Park®, works closely with the school districts to provide aquarium equipment and technical support. David has supported both trout release day events. He helps the students as they release the brook trout into the creek.
“Trout in the Classroom has been the perfect opportunity to merge community outreach with water education,” said David Dennis, Springs Specialist with Deer Park. “The enthusiasm of the educators and students raising trout in their classroom, combined with hands-on stream studies to better understand water quality and catalog the many macroinvertebrates that live there, has made release day a highlight of the year for me as well. Knowing that my Natural Resource teammates and I make the right management decisions at our spring sites day after day so that headwater streams will be here for generations to come is very satisfying.”
Last year, 156 fingerlings were released into Mill Creek by ELCO students.
Students release fingerlings into Mill and Ontelaunee Creeks at the end of May 2023.
