Tracking trout with Game & Fish and Trout Unlimited
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is working with Trout Unlimited to radio-tag brown trout in the Green River from Fontenelle Dam to the City of Green River.
Some 40 brown trout will be caught and implanted with tags which allow them to be tracked using radio telemetry. Tagging began the week of April 18 in and around the city of Green River.
“To help with the research, we are encouraging anglers who catch tagged trout to release them so they can be tracked by Trout Unlimited for their Adopt-A-Trout program,” said Jessica Lockwood, Green River fisheries biologist. “If you harvest a tagged trout, please return the tag to Trout Unlimited or to the Green River Regional Game and Fish office.”
Adopt-A-Trout is a program that has brought science into classrooms in Wyoming for over a decade. It pairs a research need from fisheries managers with local students. In this project, TU and Game and Fish will track brown trout movements for sixteen months. The monitoring looks at the fish’s habitat usage to determine if there are certain habitat features frequented by trout that could be replicated with habitat improvement projects.
“These tagged trout will be adopted by local students in Green River middle and high schools,” said Nick Walrath, Trout Unlimited Green River project manager. “The students will get to name each fish and to follow the fish through its life cycle in the Green River. Additionally, students will learn about fish anatomy, life cycles, water quality and river ecology. The program gives the kids real ownership in their local river.”
