Release Day #3. More ideas for groups that can help with Release Days

4/4/2017

In my March 20 blog I offered a few ideas about who might be available to help you and your students on Release Day. Those suggestions included your local Trout Unlimited liaison as well as staff associated with one of the regional "natural resources conservation district" groups. Now I want to offer two more options.

But first, a photo of the Castleton River at 1:00 pm today when the water temperature was 35 degrees!

What would you call that color? It's kind of a cross between pea soup and coffee with lots of cream. Brrr!

Watershed groups
All across the state of Vermont you will find a variety of watershed groups. Here's a map of their distribution. I bet there's one near your school.

Many of those red dots represent groups that have a special interest in a local river. Some focus not so much on a specific river but rather on a watershed. Here are some of the rivers covered by these organizations:

Batten Kill
Black River
Connecticut River
Deerfield River
Mad River
Hoosic River
Huntington River
Lewis Creek
Missisquoi River
New Haven River
Ottauquechee River
Rock River
White River
Winooski River

Below I've provided a link to a Web page listing all these organizations as well as others.

River and watershed groups

Here's an example of the Web site of just one of these groups.

Audubon Society
Members of the various Audubon Society chapters around the state have also in the past assisted schools with their Release Days. Here is some contact information on each of Vermont's eight Audubon Society chapters. I'll bet there's one in your neighborhood!

Ascutney Mountain Audubon Society, ellenallman@gmail.com
Green Mountain Audubon Society, bmacphe@aol.com
Green Mountain Audubon Center, 255 Sherman Hollow, Huntington, VT 05462
Northeast Kingdom Audubon Society, blackpoll@myfairpoint.com, 802-626-9071
Otter Creek Audubon Society, ocasvt@gmail.com
Rutland County Audubon Society, ovenbird14@yahoo.com
Southeastern Vermont Audubon Society, 802-254-7409
Taconic Tri-state Audubon Society, loandwill@gmail.com, 802-447-1907

Craig Zondag, of Otter Creek Audubon Society, introducing Lincoln Community School to the bird habitat near their school

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Joe Mark, Lead Facilitator, Vermont Trout in the Classroom

In June 2012, I retired after 40 years in higher education, having spent the last 32 years of my career as dean at Castleton. One of the first things I volunteered to do in retirement was to work with Jim Mirenda to help the Dorset School, where his kids and my Vermont grandkids attend, start a TIC program. Gradually that commitment grew into my current role, which is both demanding and highly rewarding.

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