Fish and Wildlife Management Classes Being Taught at New Prague HS
Article by Joe Noble, reprinted with permission from Nov 19th issue of Outdoor News

New Prague High School is preparing the next generation of wildlife and natural resource management officers and biologists. Each spring and fall, the school offers courses that teach students exactly what wildlife and natural resource managers do on a day-to-day basis. Two classes in the fall and two in the spring are offered with 25-30 kids enrolling in each course.

New Prague High School began offering the course five years ago. In the class, students study biology, ecology, and management of natural resources. The class is taught by New Prague science teacher, Jeff Decker. A Wisconsin native, Decker grew up hunting and fishing, and continues to be a self-proclaimed outdoor lover. "I love to be outdoors, and I love teaching," he said. "So it's great for me to be able to combine teaching and the outdoors."

The course counts as a science elective toward the students' graduation requirements. And while there is a lot of studying, the highlight of the course is the fieldwork required. In the fall, students do an intensive study on trout management. This fall, they assisted Minnesota DNR trout habitat specialist, Brian Nerbonne, as he conducted mark and recapture surveys for trout in metro area rivers. The study Decker's students joined was on the South Fork of the Vermillion River.

The Vermillion River is a two-foot to six-foot wide stream that ranges from a few inches to three and a half feet deep. The Vermillion flows through industrial sites, commercial areas and neighborhoods in southern Lakeville. It is a catch-and-release only fishing stream, and, given its location, is an unlikely trout stream that yields good size trout.

"We've seen very large browns during our research field trips," said Decker. "The kids were surprised that such big trout live in such a small stream.

At the site, the kids don waders and walk behind Nerbonne as he electrofishes. The stunned fish float to the surface and the students net them, holding them in buckets. On shore, classmates measure the fish on a measuring board and ID them. If the netted fish are brown trout, they clip the tail fin for the mark and recapture survey. And then they release fish back to the stream. The second day of the course fieldwork, working with Nerbonne, students capture the fish again. The students count the fish with clipped tails from the previous day and the ones without. The numbers go into a population formula to give biologists an estimate of the stream population.

"The course brings conservation to life," said Decker. "This is the fourth year my classes went trout electrofishing with the Minnesota DNR. We are studying brown trout populations to determine if they are rising or falling via mark and recapture studies. It is a great field trip that the students both enjoyed and learned a lot from."

For fieldwork in the spring course, the wildlife management students build wood duck boxes and put them up for nesting. Students make boxes in groups of two and three. They choose their own location and monitor it for duck nesting behaviors throughout the spring term. Building and maintaining wood duck boxes is a program that began in New Prague more than 10 years ago. In that time, well-over 150 boxes have been constructed, installed and maintained in the greater New Prague area. Students enrolled in the spring course also maintain existing wood duck boxes. Boxes are provided by the Minnesota Waterfowl Association.

"The wood duck box project is a really fun project because it goes on throughout New Prague so many people benefit from it," Decker said. "The students learn a lot about the duck species and what kind of habitat wood ducks like and then go into the field and apply that knowledge."

In the classroom, the course requires rigorous and practical academics. Students are required to be able to identify 40 species of fish and 35 species of waterfowl in each course. Other professionals involved in wildlife and resources management come to the class to give presentations and answer questions. A DNR conservation officer spoke about his job responsibilities; a trapper talked to the kids about trapping; and a waterfowl specialist from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service discussed waterfowl management.

"Even if the kids don't choose wildlife management as a profession," said Decker, "it's still good for all of us to learn about what it takes to manage our natural resources."

"The kids get a lot out of this class," Decker added. "It's my favorite class to teach. I tell the kids this is what I do when I'm not teaching. The kids know when a teacher's not interested in something. I love teaching these kids about the outdoors."