Field Trip to the Kootenay Trout Hatchery and Visitor Centre!

image source: kootenayrockies.com

What is the Kootenay Trout Hatchery?

The Kootenay Trout Hatchery is a hatchery created and run by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C, and is located in Wardner, B.C.

At this hatchery, visitors can learn about B.C’s freshwater fish, specifically trout species. There are lot’s of fish located in the hatchery that visitors can look at and feed. Inside the hatchery is where troughs of fish are located at various stages, from tiny fish to giant trout. There are also interactive stations that kids can use to learn about fish and native insects.

image source: kootenayrockies.com

How Would I Implement This as a Field Trip?

The hatchery has educational tours specifically for school classes! This tour includes an abundance of information about local ecosystems, native plants, birds, fish and other animals. It is the perfect educational tour to take students on, and includes not only a tour of the hatchery, but also a nature walk and a fun stop at the ‘turtle pond’ to spot Western Painted Turtles.

photo source: leanne jones

Here is an itinerary for a day at the fish hatchery:

Itinerary for a Kootenay Trout Hatchery Field Trip

made on canva with the template “trip itinerary”

How Can Students Apply What They’ve Learned?

After this field trip, students can complete a craft of the fish life cycle to apply what they learned at the hatchery. Here is a quick overview of the fish life cycle:

image source: adobe stock photo

Here is “The Life Cycle of a Fish” craft:

Activity Idea for the Lifecycle of a Fish

made on canva with the template “trip itinerary”

Connection to technology:

To connect this to technology, students could further research the various habitats of fish, and the impacts humans have on these habitats. This can be made into a project where students utilize technology to both research their subject, and present their findings to the class through a slideshow or video.

This can be made into a group project, and students can be split up to cover these various fish habitats:

1. Rivers and Streams: Flowing water; e.g., trout, catfish.
2. Lakes and Ponds: Still water; e.g., bass, perch.
3. Wetlands: Water-covered areas; e.g., sunfish, mosquito fish.
4. Coral Reefs: Colorful ecosystems; e.g., clownfish, angelfish.
5. Estuaries: Freshwater meets saltwater; e.g., striped bass, flounder.
6. Open Ocean: Vast saltwater; e.g., tuna, sharks.
7. Deep Sea: Dark, deep areas; e.g., anglerfish, gulper eel.

Students can include factors such as water quality, temperature, vegetation, salinity, pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction into their project as well.

The goal of this project is for students to learn how diverse habitats of fish are, and that they are delicate and there are many factors that can effect these habitats. Another goal is for students to effectively use technology to research and present their projects.

Here is an example project:

Generated by MagicSchoolAI, presented by Google Slides