Trout in the Classroom is being taught at various grade school levels around the country. Here in New Jersey, TIC is the cooperative effort of New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife and New Jersey State Council of Trout Unlimited along with its various state wide chapters. Our program came about in 1991 when a teacher in the Hopatcong Middle School worked with the Fred Burroughs North Jersey chapter of TU to raise brook trout from eggs. Those same students, dubbed "the Brook Trout Bunch", successfully petitioned the state to have the brook trout listed as the state fish. The brook trout (salvelinus fontinalis) - actually not a true trout, but a char and member of the salmon family - is the only "trout" that is native to our state.
In other states, Trout Unlimited and other cold water conservation minded organizations including state agencies raise species such as brown and rainbow trout and salmon as well as brook trout, depending on locale. Our current curriculum is aimed at science classes for grades 6 - 9 although we have grades both above and below these. Consideration is being given to developing a second curriculum aimed at the elementary school grades due to the interest for programs at those levels. Our curriculum is uniquely developed for students in New Jersey and borrows heavily from the New York state curriculum where more than 150 schools participate each year, including many in New York City.
The brook trout thrives in clean, cold water, and nowhere in the country is clean water at a higher premium than here in New Jersey where human encroachment has had such a tremendous impact. If you think of the brook trout and the insects that they feed upon as the proverbial "canary in a coal mine" in relation to clean water, you will come to appreciate this most beautiful of our freshwater fishes. This year alone (2006) Trout in the Classroom here in New Jersey will educate over 4,000 students throughout the state on the need to conserve our coldwater resources. Students in inner cities will join those in the more rural areas of our state in raising and , ultimately, releasing brook trout into local trout holding rivers and streams. The future of TIC both here and around the nation is bright indeed!