I am pleased to announce that New Jersey’s TIC State Coordinator, Brian Cowden, was presented with the national Youth Leadership Award by Trout Unlimited at the TU national meeting in Boise, ID on  September 14th, 2007.  This award, the first of its kind "honoring individuals who demonstrate exemplary leadership and a deep passion for inspiring young people to become thoughtful, responsible stewards of North America’s coldwater fisheries", was for Brian’s work with the Trout in the Classroom program in New Jersey.  This award encompasses the work done to bring New Jersey’s one TIC program prior to the 2006-’07 school year to over 25 schools last year and more than 50 for the current (2007-’08) school year as well as formulating the first ever state-wide approach by Trout Unlimited involving all 8 state chapters and for work done to build this website, another first of its kind in the nation.  

In Boise, Brian accepted this award on behalf of all TU volunteers involved with this great program as well as the New Jersey teachers that provide him with his continual motivation to build TIC throughout the state.  Cowden made special mention of his mentor and friend, Marilyn Steneken of the Sparta Middle School who will be entering her 12th year teaching TIC in the state and who continues to lead by example.  Marilyn is truly one of a kind!  Congratulations, Brian!    

If your school is planning to participate in TIC in September, you need to contact Brian Cowden, State Coordinator, to ensure enrollment.  This will help us to coordinate the delivery of eggs and food in late September or early October.  It will also allow Trout Unlimited and NJ Fish & Wildlife to provide additional volunteer help for a variety of programing and equipment and/or water quality trouble shooting throughout the school year.  Please email or call Brian at:    brianmag@optonline.net  or call on cell at 201-230-3383.  Thanks!  

    Many of you are planning the day when you release your brook trout for this year.  I have spoken or emailed a large number of you recently regarding this topic.  Please remember to work with your Trout Unlimited local chapter coordinator.  This is usually, although not always, the person that brought you the eggs or sac fry last September or October.  If you are not certain who to contact, please reach out to me and I will be happy to steer you in the right direction!  Remember, we need to obtain for each school the necessary release permit from the state Fish & Wildlife division and it takes a couple of weeks to accomplish this most times.  Also, please strongly consider using the list of pre-approved streams/rivers that I sent each of you recently.  For many schools, there are not adequate year-round trout waters nearby so plans will need to be made with your TU coordinators to arrange the release into waters that might be more than an hour away from the school.  It would be a shame to release the trout into waters that cannot support them year-round as they would have no chance of survival beyond the summer months.     

Some of you have noticed a white foam that is accumulating on the water in the tanks.  This is a by-product of the eggs hatching and is normal.  If you desire, the foam can be scooped out of the water.  You may also notice a slight odor to this foam which is also a normal occurrence.  

Has anyone contacted local newspapers about the project? Our local newspaper is usually pretty reponsive to cool projects like this in the schools. I just wanted to find out if anyone else has contacted the papers and if so, how?

Regardless of the brand or model of chiller that will be used, all chillers require some basic maintenance.  A chiller really is nothing more than a heat exchanger and utilizes coils to run the water through to cool it down.  Depending on the environment in which your chiller operates, you will need to periodically clean the lint and dust buildup that accumulates on the coils and outside grill.  This will ensure that your chiller is working properly and will also lengthen the life of your unit.  Please be diligent in maintaining this very important piece of equipment!  It is also a good idea to read the owner’s manual prior to each fall semester when you are about to re-fill the tank and prepare for the arrival of eggs in October.