When La Tierra Montessori School Science Teacher Beth Sanchez announced River Source Director’s Rich Schrader was going to cut open a fish to look inside its stomach, only a handful of students broke away from fishing or exploring the area to view the dissection.
The students, their teacher and Schrader participated in the April 19 fishing field trip organized by River Source, New Mexico Game and Fish and La Tierra personnel. Besides teaching students how to fish, the purpose of the trip was to help students develop an interest in nature that could last a lifetime.
Schrader said the momentum behind the outing was to introduce students to the joys of nature.
“We are teaching students fishing skills,” he said. “Game and Fish wants to get these kids excited about fishing and being outdoors and learning about the health of the water for people and fish.”
Before the students were allowed to cast fishing lines or take a tour of the lake in the boat piloted by Game Warden Wyatt Harwell, they collected water samples and did other things that could presumably make the next lake visitor’s stay more pleasant.
“They did service,” Schrader said. “They collected water quality data and shared it online. They also did a trash clean-up. The place was filthy when we got here.”
The data the students collected was uploaded to watershedwiser.org/projects/nm-watershed-watch.
The website serves as a database that anyone can visit, to check lake conditions on any given day.
Sanchez said this isn’t the first time her students collected water samples. Earlier in the school year, the class collected samples from both, private and public lands and discussed myriad differences that existed between the collection sites.
Sanchez, who has been teaching for about six years, said she believes the hands-on learning will have a lasting impression.
“Definitely, I think these experiences have more of an impact,” she said. “They (the students) not only know that there are jobs in natural resources, but they see people like Wyatt (Harwell) and Rich (Schrader) out here doing natural resource work. Also, just to get out in nature and enjoy it.”
Harwell said he was pleased to take a break from his normal work routine to help the La Tierra students learn best practices when interacting with nature.
However, he said he was surprised to see students take such a keen interest in the lake and its surrounding habitat.
“Their fascination with the outdoors is great,” he said. “It is an opportunity for them (the students) to do something outside of the box. Instead of playing video games or sitting and watching TV — come and see the water.”
Harwell said in recent years, there has been a decline in the number of people who use the land responsibly and he hopes outings like the fishing trip will help cultivate future hunters and fishermen.
“Believe it or not, there has been a steady decline in sportsmen and women,” he said. “It is not only important to expose children to outdoor activity in general, but it also important to teach them the ethics and morals of doing it right.”
Sixth-grader Marilyn Griego said although she has some fishing experience, she is far from an expert.
The young angler had a good time on the outing, even though she didn’t have any success getting fish to bite.
“It was really fun,” she said. “This is like my 10th time fishing.”
Like Griego, her classmate Audrey Wiseberg goes fishing often, with her dad, so she didn’t need a lesson.
Nonetheless, she enjoyed spending the day at the lake fishing with her classmates.
“I liked it because I don’t think most schools take their students fishing,” she said.
Wiseberg said although her fishing skills aren’t too shabby, she was able to refrain from being a know-it-all with her peers.
“I just stayed quiet and let them fish,” she said. “I did pretty good, I guess. I got a compliment on how far I can cast.”