For months, hundreds of brook trout have lived in relatively safe environs in classrooms throughout the Warren County School District.
The last 91 of those Trout in the Classroom trout were released into the wild last Thursday.
Fifth-graders from Youngsville Elementary School hiked from the school to Highland Avenue, then along Mathews Run to its confluence with Brokenstraw Creek where they deposited their fish, most about three inches long.
Each of the 68 students who wanted to got the chance to scoop at least one fish out of the buckets and place it in the water.
Some students came equipped with waterproof footwear. Others just splashed around in what they wore to school.
Teacher Janet Mack kept the buckets in the water of the creek to regulate the water temperatures, but the line of students waiting to release fish had to keep moving so the fish wouldn't exhaust the limited oxygen in the bucket.
When they had released their fish, some students watched the trout while others looked in the water for other creatures.
Students learned about the importance of the oxygen from Warren County Conservation District Watershed Specialist Jean Gomory. Half of the students released fish while the other half learned about aquatic life and habitats from Gomory.
"They need to know the whole cycle," she said.
Learning about aquatic insects helps students learn about their trouts' diets.
Gomory also arranged a number of tests in Mathews Run.
She tested the dissolved oxygen level, the pH, turbidity, and temperature of the water. She also tested for bacteria, nitrates, and biochemical oxygen demand.
Dave Blick of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who works at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery, spoke with the students before they left school. "I talked with the kids about the fish hatchery and the life cycle of a trout," he said.
Thursday's event gave "the kids a really good insight into what's going on in the environment," he said.
He said the Brokenstraw Creek is an excellent stream for trout.
The Trout in the Classroom program in Warren County is sponsored by the Cornplanter Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
