JEFFERSONVILLE, NY – For the 16th consecutive year, the little “Dawgs” in Sullivan West elementary school’s fifth-grade classes released several hundred trout fingerlings into the cold clear waters of Callicoon Creek as the final exercise in the Trout in the Classroom project.

The kids raised the trout from eggs supplied by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) fish hatchery in DeBruce.

On May 11, 90 Sullivan West fifth graders released 500 tiny brown trout into the clear water, which flowed serenely by.

The school’s Trout in the Classroom project was created by Trout Unlimited. At the “Home of the Bulldogs,” it involved Sue Mullally, the math facilitator for grades K through six and classroom instructors Wendy Kraack, John Meyer, Kara Parisi, Sandra Ahnstrom and Chris Hawkins.

The current Trout in the Classroom project has been going on since 2008, but it traces its origins back to the mid-1990s. Back then, science teacher Mike Ellmauer and others—including Bill McCann, an earth science teacher at Deposit, and Joan and Art Stoliar—raised trout in discarded rain gutters, using a cube refrigerator to cool the water in a 10-gallon tank.

“We measured the weight, tested the oxygen and nitrogen in the water,” recalled Ellmauer, while taking a break between innings of a girls’ varsity softball game, held later in the afternoon on the day of the trout release. He taught science classes at the local high school for 38 years before recently retiring, and stays active as a volunteer coach.

“It’s a wonderful educational program that’s national,” said Mullally, adding that the release day is “the culmination of all the fun things we’ve done through the school year.”

Other activities and demonstrations during the event included testing pH, temperature, water speed and stream observations after the release;  flycasting; and displays about birds of prey and the environment from the National Park Service (NPS) Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

Park ranger Susie Kasper, an 18-year veteran of the NPS who previously served in Grand Tetons National Park, the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site before her posting at the Upper Delaware, talked to the kids about American bald eagles and the river’s complex ecosystem.

Speaking of eagles in the river valley, she said, “We have a healthy population of the American bald eagle; it’s really a success story... Back in the early ‘80s in this area, there were hardly any bald eagles left; they need to have a healthy water environment in order to survive.”

And of the trout program, Kasper said, “Seeing the whole process will make them respect it, and perhaps become good fishermen... stewardship is super important.”

Jeff Skelding, president of the Friends of the Upper Delaware River (FUDR), which bills itself as “the only professionally staffed organization in the Upper Delaware River watershed working every day to protect and restore this magnificent cold water ecosystem and the communities that surround it,” said of fly fishing, “We are very interested in the future of the sport, really associated with conservation, and the kids are our future.”

Jack Costello, one of the main players in Jeffersonville Enhances More of Sullivan (JEMS)—a grassroots beautification project in the village—showed up with a small American flag. It’s a change from his usual role of freeing little plastic ducks during the annual duck race,

“I just love to help the children; the kids enjoy being outside talking about conservation and learning the proper way to take care of nature...  it’s not so much about catching fish and eating them, but enjoying the wildlife,” Costello said on the eve of his 83rd birthday.