A New Angle in Education

At Encampment K-12 School, an empty fish tank sits in the main lobby. Soon, however, it will be home to more than 200 trout eggs.

Encampment will be one of more than 60 schools taking part in the “Trout in the Classroom,” a program administered by Wyoming Trout Unlimited with the help of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD).

“Schools are getting around 250 eggs because there is quite a bit of die-off,” said Ian McCreary, Wyoming Trout Unlimited State Coordinator. “They’ll raise them from egg stage, they’ll see them form into alevin and then into fingerlings.”

On Friday morning, third grade teacher Rayna Greenwood spoke with other elementary school teachers about the program and scheduling the feeding and care of the trout. Greenwood, who was hired this year to teach at Encampment K-12 School, applied for the program after visiting the Trout Unlimited website following a visit from Jeff Streeter. Streeter, an Encampment resident, was once the North Platte River Project Manager for Wyoming Trout Unlimited.

“When I emailed Trout in the Classroom, I contacted Ian McCreary and he has been extremely helpful in this whole process,” said Greenwood.

The new teacher also went through a training conducted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Frances Schaetz, the conservation education specialist.

“Frances has been very helpful in getting us organized and getting us started,” said Greenwood.

The success of Encampment K-12 School getting involved in the program is a prime example of how a small community can work together. According to McCreary, the Wyoming Trout Unlimited Council had met in early October to approve $30,000 for “Trout in the Classroom” programs across the state.

“Rayna had reached out to me a week or two after they had made the decision and schools had already been selected,” said McCreary. “I was able to reach out to the Wyoming Game and Fish coordinator to see if we could add one more school, if they had either the tank or they could supply their own funding.”

Platte Valley Trout Unlimited—which is composed of most of Carbon County—donated $1,000 towards the program in Encampment. Mother Mountain Anglers, represented by President Josh Craig, donated $670 on Friday morning.

“We’re definitely a fishing organization and one of the things we really like to promote is education. That’s why we do ice safety training and teach kids how to handle fish,” said Craig. “When Rayna approached us, I thought this sounded like such an excellent opportunity for some of our funding to go [towards] to help. Not only do we get to be a part of the community, but we get to affect every child here. If we’re going to make little conservationists and people interested in fishing and nature, this is one of the best opportunities.”

For Craig, Greenwood and McCreary the ability for the program to come together with local funding is an example of the type of community which can be found both inside and outside the school.

“It just goes along with what Encampment is all about. Encampment is all about community [and] being a unit as a school,” said Greenwood. “We’re all excited that we have so many people who want to be involved. The more teachers who want to be involved, the more students can be involved in these activities.”

McCreary said he is impressed with how Greenwood is opening the program, which is typically modeled for fourth through ninth grades, to the entirety of Encampment K-12 School.

“It’s going to have that public view where all students [can] walk by and see the process. It makes it available for all teachers to interact with different levels of curriculum for their age group,” said McCreary. “It’s really cool that they’re doing it across the board and it sets them up for other programming that can be offered from Trout Unlimited.”

According to McCreary, another program which could be available to Encampment K-12 School is “Adopt a Trout.” This program, he said, involved tagging a handful of trout. Students and teachers can then track it as it makes its way through the rivers and other bodies of water.

“In the next few years, if they decide to [do that program], we can help try to figure out funding because it’s a much more expensive program,” said McCreary. “[The] local chapter [of Trout Unlimited] or myself can go into the school and talk about conservation with students and I can talk about aquatic ecosystems as well.”

This program would go well in a Platte Valley school, said McCreary, due to the unique nature of the North Platte and Encampment rivers in the Valley.

“We have a really unique fishery here. It’s the only section of the [North] Platte [River] in Wyoming that’s a freestone river,” said McCreary. “Once you get past [Interstate] 80 up to Seminoe [Reservoir], everything else beyond that becomes dam-controlled. It’s a really cool area, it’s pretty untouched and pretty well intact but there’s still stuff that can be done that students can learn.”

According to Craig, a program like “Trout in the Classroom” is a wise investment for Mother Mountain Anglers because of the return on investment it will bring.

“I think kids will go home and this will also cause engagement with parents. This is one of these projects that goes beyond school and makes you think more about your natural world, [it] makes you think more about our community,” said Craig. “It also makes you think about preserving what we do have and how special we are to live in an area where things like this are possible.”

Schools will begin to receive their trout eggs in January, said McCreary, after teachers have had the opportunity to prepare their tanks.

“Trout Unlimited volunteers will go to selected hatcheries, pick up eggs and then distribute them to all the schools [in the program] across the state,” said McCreary. “Starting about now to December, teachers should start cycling through their tanks to get everything running, cool and the water processed for rearing trout eggs.”

Once trout have reached the stage of fingerling, they will be released into bodies of water accepted by WGFD and Wyoming Trout Unlimited. Saratoga Lake, a trout fishery managed by WGFD, is one of those bodies of water. This will take place in May 2025.