Intro to Ag classes release trout

Thursday, April 29, Seth Burge’s Intro to Ag classes released the trout they had been raising since January at Lake Ogallala.

The class received permission from the Nebraska Game and Parks to release the trout in the canal that is east of the Lake Ogallala diversion dam.

“We can’t keep the trout during the summer, so we release them as late in the school year as possible to they are bigger and have a chance to survive,” Burge said.

The fish were still in the fry stage at release, making them old enough to seek food sources on their own.

When they started the project, the class received 220 eggs, around 200 of which hatched. Due to a nitrate issue over spring break in early April, however, many of the trout were lost.

“It was a great trial and error learning experience for the classes!” Burge noted.

17 trout fry survived to be released into Lake Ogallala.

Burge believes the biggest impact this project had on his students was learning trial and error in an environment where it is okay to fail.

“Decisions made in the classroom allow us to make mistakes and evaluate what we would change next time,” he said. “I hope that students learn from these mistakes and when presented with natural resource issues in their personal and professional lives they are able to relate it back to what they learned in Intro to Ag class.”

Burge also noted he is thankful for the grants that allowed the school to purchase the setup for the project.

Because the replacement supplies needed to continue the project over the coming years are relatively low in cost, Burge plans to make it an annual project in the Intro to Ag classes.