The Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited worked with a record number of local schools in 2025-2026, with 16 participating schools (up from 13 the previous year). This included schools from Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Los Alamos and Pecos, and grades from pre-K to elementary and up to high school biology labs.
As is the tradition, the students who raised the trout in their classroom fish tanks had field trips to release them in waters approved by NM Wildlife. Rainbow trout (from eggs) are typically released in the Pecos River or Monastery Lake, whereas Rio Grande Cutthroat trout must be released in the Rio Grande near Pilar to protect their unique genetic strain. Many of the schools started their day with an educational tour of Lisboa Springs Hatchery. Truchas provided volunteers to transport the trout safely in iced aerated conditions and allowed each student to experience a personal connection by releasing a fish held in a small cup. There were also macroinvertebrates collected by seine nets and displayed for the students to learn about the river ecosystem. The importance of clean water and protection of native trout species was emphasized.
One highlight this year was when two large bighorn sheep rams came very close to the students of Mandela International School during lunchtime near the Taos Junction Bridge. Another was the Rio Grande Cutthroat trout raised at El Dorado School that surpassed 6” in length – the largest fish was have ever seen in this program (incidentally the others were only 3-4”, so this fish must have been a hog at feeding time).
This program is one of the primary ways that Truchas gives back to our community and trains future conservation leaders for New Mexico. In addition to the Truchas TIC Coordinator (Mike Jozwiakowski), the program will be co-led in the future by Dave Gregorio. In total, 15 Truchas members or friends volunteered to help run the field trips, a massive thanks to:
David Somoza, David Howard, Brian Rees, Dan Muenzberg, Aaron Dailey, Terry Martinson, David Wheelock, Jeffrey Jones, Nick Tsapatsaris, Paige Johns, Sansom Williams, Patrick Delaney, Mark Zolnik and Mylla Hunter.
In total, over 200 hours of volunteer service were required in the last 6 weeks to run this program; showing the commitment of Truchas members in teaching young people positive lessons about conservation of NM trout and clean water.
