A freshman Wildlife Leadership Academy Conservation Ambassador, Faith Willis’s article on Fall Trout Stocking was recently published in the Pennsylvania Environment Digest Blog. The blog is edited by David Hess, the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Faith’s article:
This fall I had the amazing opportunity to stock fish with the Izaak Walton League. I met my good friend and fellow Wildlife Leadership Academy Conservation Ambassador, Sophia Zalar, at the bridge at Pollock’s Mill early in the morning on November 14.
We started the morning by taking fish from the stock truck down to the float box in buckets. One of the men there asked Sophia and I if we were going down stream with the float box.
We weren’t entirely sure what that meant, but we excitedly agreed. He said the trip would take two and a half hours, and Sophia and I thought he was joking!
Turns out he was not joking, but the next two and a half hours were awesome.
We waded most of the way, throwing fish out into the stream as we went along. There were over 500 fish of different species: rainbow, brown, and golden trout.
It was a great experience to listen to these men talk about how they have spent most of their lives as hunters, fishermen, and conservationists.
It was really interesting to hear about my family and friends who actually fished that stream talk about the fish that they caught–the fish that we had stocked!
Faith is part of the first Envirothon team for Carmichaels, along with Sophia Zalar (the recipient of the 2020 George H. Block Conservation Scholarship), Brooke Watters, Spenser Conard, and Alex Lawrence. The team is competing in the Greene County Envirothon on April 22. They are also joining in the Izaak Walton League tree planting event on April 24.
The students in Carmichaels’ Conservation Biology class participated in a virtual field trip in late February. The virtual event was hosted by Rivers of Steel RiverQuest. RiverQuest is a nonprofit focusing on environmental science education. “Typically, RiverQuest would present to our students aboard Explorer, the vessel which hosts the educational programming,” teacher Kevin Willis shares. “Due to restrictions related to the pandemic, students received their content through a Zoom session. Even though the venue changed from the rivers of Pittsburgh to the home of the students, the content remained rich and was customized for our students.”
The virtual field trip was arranged and introduced by Suzi Bloom, Director of Education at RiverQuest, hosted by Frank Muto, and presented by Marisa Tobia. Both Frank and Marisa are RiverQuest instructors. Marisa presented a program related to well water and groundwater issues. Her presentation included actual well water test results to emphasize the importance of well water testing. Students were challenged to continue their own research into the quality and quantity of water locally available to them, along with ways to conserve their valuable water resources.
Handcrafted Inc. is officially open! Handcrafted Inc. is a student run EdCorps business located in the middle/ high school at Carmichaels Area School District. Check out the premium wax tarts, air freshener sprays and a wide array of sublimated items! Support the 9-12 grade students in the Business Development & Marketing class by visiting https://www.edcorps.org/shop/handcrafted-inc and making a purchase!
