The Mescalero Apache Tribe’s Mescalero Fish Hatchery has come through again with help for the Ruidoso White Mountain Elementary “Trout in the Classroom” project. Trout in the Classroom is a nationwide program of the non-profit Trout Unlimited organization. The program is aimed at teaching students the value of preserving clean cold-water fisheries, educating them on biology and ecology, and encouraging them to participate in fishing. I’ve been Trout Unlimited’s coordinator for the program in southern New Mexico.
If you’ll recall, the New Mexico Game and Fish Department delivered 40 triploid rainbow trout eggs to the 3rd grade classes in Ruidoso in late October. By December, all but one of the eggs had hatched and the alevin were swimming around the 50-gallon tank to the amusement of the constantly gawking students.
Then, there was an unexpected die-off of the tiny fish right before the holiday break. By the time the students got back to school in January, only three of the trout were still alive. At least two of those succumbed a short time later, possibly leaving one lurking in the gravel at the bottom of the aquarium.
We’re not sure what caused the die-off, but it was obviously very disappointing to the students at the school.
Last spring a similar program was conducted at the Ruidoso School. However, when it appeared some of the fish food had gone missing, I reached out to the Mescalero hatchery to see if they might be able to spare a small amount of fish food to keep the program going. They willingly agreed to help out, and I stopped by the hatchery on a drive up to Ruidoso to pick the trout chow.
Assistant hatchery manager Tori Marden and administrative assistant Robert Morgan were especially helpful.
The Mescalero hatchery was called again this year to see if they could help with the loss of fish. They agreed to give the Ruidoso school two fingerlings that could be placed in the tank so that students could continue to see the fish grow until their planned release in May.
The two juvenile fish are still doing well, as you can see in the photo below. The teachers thought there might still be one surviving fish from the original batch that hid somewhere in the recesses of the gravel-bottomed aquarium. (Latest report — no recent sightings of the surviving fish which they had named “The Lone Ranger.”)
I drove up to Ruidoso two weeks ago to check on progress of the program and was joined at the school by three members of the Mescalero hatchery. They gave an informative presentation to the students about trout and the Mescalero program and the fully engaged students had lots of questions. Later, one of the Mescalero team helped with some maintenance of the aquarium, including changing out water in the tank.
The students continue to be engaged in the project as well. They help teachers check for water quality in the aquarium and help clean the tank.
So despite a huge setback, the program is still moving along and the teachers report that the two trout in the tank are “growing bigger every day.”
In the meantime, work continues on plans to implement a similar program at Stout Elementary in Silver City, where we hope once-endangered native Gila trout can be raised in the classroom. Stay tuned for more developments.
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