During the hands-on, guided tour, students made connections between fish culture, fish health, and water quality. This experience complimented their previous opportunities last fall to help hatchery staff release fish into Horicon Refuge and with their water quality monitoring on the west branch of the Rock River before it enters the Refuge.

They observed and/or touched a variety of hatchery species including lake sturgeon, trout, and mussels. They toured outdoor ponds and gained an appreciation for the hatchery's role in helping save endangered species as well as game fish.

Students camped at Black Hawk Park (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), overlooking the Upper Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. On the return trip, they also visited the Kickapoo Valley Reserve visitor center in LaFarge, Wis., and learned about that federal flood control effort which ultimately failed. The reserve is now owned by the Ho-Chunk Nation and the State of Wisconsin.

The entire student project began last fall with a training workshop called Testing the Waters at Riveredge Nature Center in Newburg, Wis., attended by about 125 students and 10 adults, most from the Milwaukee River basin, including partner school, Spotted Eagle School. Their data will be combined with other student data in the WAV network through Wisconsin DNR.

The Friends of Horicon Refuge helped support this project through a USFWS Region 3 challenge cost-share grant. One Friends member (Nancy Hall of Fort Atkinson) attended the training and two additional members (Harold and Nancy Steinback) attended the hatchery tour. Future efforts to extend this pilot project may involve successful field trip exchanges between other school sites in the Rock River basin.