Deer Park® partners with Pennsylvania school district to sponsor Trout in the Classroom program

For the fifth year, Deer Park® Natural Spring Water has partnered with the Eastern Lebanon County School District in Myerstown 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 the past five months, eighteen students have been raising brook trout from eggs to fingerlings in their AP biology and environmental science class. 

“They’ll get to see them develop literally from the eggs straight through to the fingerlings when they go in the creek. They get to see hatch rates because we keep track of how many eggs we had and then how many fish we actually put in,” ELCO teacher Ms. Lynn Aponick said. 

The students released 156 fingerlings into Mill Creek on May 24, 2022. Our natural springs form the head waters of the branch of Mill Creek and the trout release occurs downstream of our Newmanstown Spring site.  While BlueTriton Brands and Deer Park withdraw some spring water which would flow into Mill Creek, there is plenty of excess spring water that flows into the creek that supports a stocked trout population. 

BlueTriton Brand Springs Specialist David Dennis coordinates closely with the school district to provide aquarium equipment and technical support as needed.  David supported the trout release day event and helped the students as they released the brook trout into the creek. 

The program is also made possible by a unique partnership between the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.