The White Mountain 13 have been freed!!!

Imagine you come to self awareness and realize you are a rainbow trout in a 55-gallon glass prison cell. You constantly bump up against the clear walls that surround you and you endure the endless sound of buzzing machines pumping water. Each day, at least 100 scary animals, mostly small humans, peer at you quizzically through the glass. A larger human occasionally dips testing things into the water, but you’re not sure if she’s trying to help or catch you.

You’d consider swimming so fast that you could leap out of the tank, but who knows what fate might await you once you escaped.

But today, one of the larger human animals dipped you out of the glass prison and put you and your other 12 brothers and sisters in a white round object filled with water. Next you went on a scary rumbling ride in a thing that looked like a giant yellow dragonfly, then were scooped out into a smaller white round object and then … suddenly released in a clear, cold river in the mountains. You are now free to live your life with other members of the Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Rio Ruidoso.

Yes, the White Mountain Elementary Trout In the Classroom fish were freed today into the waters of the Rio Ruidoso.

Okay, enough of the drama. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I’ve been helping the third grade classes at White Mountain Elementary with Trout Unlimited’s “Trout In the Classroom” program to help young students learn about the importance of clean cold waters by raising trout in their classes and releasing them into the wild.

Today’s event culminated more than three months of raising trout from eggs to fry in the third grade classroom of Michelle Thurston at White Mountain Elementary. Assisted by “Trout Queen” teacher Rachel Lutterman and four other third grade teachers, the fruits of their semester-long effort were achieved today in a grand release party on the river. (You can read my earlier posts on this project by clicking on the blog section and scrolling down.)

The 125-plus third grade students who were bused to the park enjoyed the day by going on a nature scavenger hunt, checking water quality on the river and learning about fly fishing and casting from my wife and me. Then they all gathered around as we released each of the 13 fish into the waters of the Rio Ruidoso. And then to celebrate, they managed to munch down 35 boxes of pizza provided by Trout Unlimited and other donors.

I had the honor of releasing “The Big Kahuna,” the largest of the small trout that were raised in the tank at the school. He was in a large plastic bucket with 12 of his brothers and sisters when teacher Rachel Lutterman scooped him into a small paper cup. I took him to the bank of the river with scores of third graders looking on as I loudly announced: “The release of the Big Kahuna.” Then I kneeled down and let him slip out of the cup into the river. It was followed by a big cheer, one of the best I’ve ever experienced.

It was a happy moment but also sad. One of the teachers actually shed a tear because she will miss them swimming around the tank in the classroom and worried about their survival.

The teachers were so enthusiastic about the program that they are planning to do it again next fall. They put an incredible amount of work into this project and parents should be proud to have their kids in these classes. I hope it all goes well next time around and that the Big Kahuna can be a mentor to the new fish that will be released sometime in December.

Stay tuned!