Middle school students say goodbye to their trout

Science classes from Greely Middle, Westbrook Middle, Windham Middle, and Jordan Small Middle School released hundreds of brook trout into local rivers this spring. In February, the schools received their bottle of 300 eggs and raised them in the classroom until they reached the fry stage of their life cycle.

The Windham Eagle News: Area students care for trout eggs during winter

As they observed their fish develop, students learned the importance of maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems and how humans impact our watersheds. Before the trout are released, these young scientists measure the chemical properties of the river and search for macroinvertebrates to determine the water quality.

These students did an incredible job raising the trout and had fun learning about their local watersheds.

This amazing program is funded by the Interlocal Stormwater Working Group, the Portland Water District, and taught by the Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District.

Thank you to Lynn Leavitt from the City of Westbrook and all of the staff from the Portland Water District and GZA who volunteered their time to help with the trout releases.

Thank you to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife for providing the brook trout eggs to our classrooms!