Saco Middle School students hatch and release brook trout

Saco Middle School seventh grade students stepped out of the classroom and into the woods for some hands-on learning.

The students from Jen Tatro’s science class went to Cascade Falls park on Tuesday morning to release brook trout hatchlings.

“This is a nice culminating activity that gets them outside at Cascade Falls,” said Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District Educator Chris Leow.

The project began in February, when students were given fish eggs and a tank from the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District.

The students learned the proper conditions and environment needed for the eggs to hatch and the seedlings to survive, said Tatro. The tank had a cooling system to mimic stream temperatures in Maine winters. Over time, the water was warmed gradually to replicate the change in temperature in nature, and the dark insulating cover was slowly removed to let in sunlight.

On Tuesday morning, with a scenic waterfall in the backdrop, students paired up to conduct research on water from Cascade Brook.

Students Fae Letendre and Summer Price gently stirred a basin of brook water looking for macroinvertebrates. They removed the tiny creatures and separated them in a sampling tray. Using a chart, they identified them – a mayfly larvae and a damselfly larvae.

“This is very fun, it’s really interesting,” said Summer.

Their research was interrupted when Loew shouted, “Make sure you check out the moving stick.”  The students crowded around to look at the interesting creature found by their peers. The “moving stick” was a caddisfly larvae, a bug that creates a protective armor from sticks and other natural items to camouflage itself.

 

A caddisfly larvae camouflages itself with a protective layer made of sticks. PHOTO BY LIZ GOTTHELF

After the larvae identification was completed, the students tallied up the bugs they had found, and learned from Leow that some larvae, like that of mayflies, damselflies and caddisflies only live in clean water, and their presence was a good indicator of the health of a waterway.

 

Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District Educator Chris Leow talks to Saco Middle School students about their findings at Cascade Falls park on Tuesday. PHOTO BY LIZ GOTTHELF

Each student was given a cup of water with a small hatchling. They bid goodbye to the fish as they released them into the brook.   

Tatro said the students enjoy hands-on learning, and projects like the fish release are the school activities they will remember long after the academic year is over.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.