Spending time under the Big Sky
A trip to Montana has left a Butler teacher and trout raiser hooked.
David Andrews, a seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Butler Intermediate High School, traveled to Bozeman, Mont., from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 to attend the International Trout Congress.
Andrews said, “I was invited to come as one of two teachers in the nation invited to speak because of my involvement on the local, state and even national level with Trout in the Classroom.”
Andrews said Trout in the Classroom involves science classes tending to trout in tanks at the school.
He said brook trout eggs are hatched in November, and the trout are released to the wild in May. The eggs come from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission which sponsors the program.
Andrews said the project teaches students about a complete ecosystem. The students are responsible for daily water quality testing and the condition of the tanks. Students also plant trees along Thorn Creek using riparian species such as willows, dogwoods and sycamores.
“Trout are some of the tougher ones to do,” said Andrews. “They have to have cold water. The temperature has to be 58 degrees. Other fish tanks have heaters, trout tanks have freezers.”
Andrews said of the trout raised by students, “Some years are good, some are bad.” Anywhere from 30 to 400 trout are released into Thorn Creek at the end of the semester. He's been doing this for nine years.
The congress was organized by Montana State University and is designed to bring together professionals from around the world. Held in the university's Emerson Center, the gathering includes panel discussions and art exhibits.
Andrews and his wife Kim flew out of Pittsburgh, to Denver and then onto Bozeman.
“It's a very interesting airport,” said Andrews of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. “It's very small and completely surrounded by mountains. It has short runways. Log beams in the airport give a Western, very rustic atmosphere.”
As for Bozeman, itself, Andrews said, “It's a college town. There are 'Go Cats' (Montana State's teams are known as the Bobcats) banners and signs everywhere. It gives it a very college type of feel.”
“It's a very country culture area. There are a lot of fly fishing shops, ski shops, mountain biking shops. I had never been out West before,” he said.One thing, Bozeman didn't have, Andrews said, was housing. He said he rented an apartment for a week, but the town has zero vacancies for apartments.“There's a waiting list for housing,” he said. “The town is very laid back. It's a very relaxed atmosphere. It's very different from here,” he said.And with an elevation of 4,800 feet above sea level, Bozeman's actual atmosphere also takes a bit of getting used to, he added.“I didn't notice it, but my wife wasn't feeling her best,” he said.Andrews gave speeches twice at the congress on Oct. 3 and 4 and took part in seminars.But he and his wife also made the first of two excursions to Yellowstone National Park on Oct. 1.“We basically went through west Yellowstone, the touristy part. We saw Old Faithful and toured most of the geologic features,” he said. “It's really a fascinating area.”The weather also proved to be fascinating. “When we flew into Bozeman on Friday it was 80 degrees,” Andrews said. “It rained every single day and it was in the 30s on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday a road in Yellowstone was closed because of snow. When we went back to the park the day before we left, it was 50 degrees in the valleys and there was snow on the peaks.”Andrews said they also got to tour media mogul Ted Turner's ranch, the Flying D, which covers 128,000 acres.“It has a stream restoration project. They've reclaimed a stream back from non-native trout,” Andrews said. He said brook and brown trout were stocked and they were not native to the area.“They (the restoration workers) poisoned the entire stream, killing the brook and brown trout and reintroduced the native west slope Cutthroat trout,” Andrews said.
“We got a tour of the property. They are using the ranch to raise bison. There is an elk herd and we saw golden eagles. The ranch looks over a big, huge valley and we saw wolf tracks,” he said. “They said, 'We know about them. They are just part of our lifestyle.' It's a whole different world.”Andrews said he got an idea as to why they call Montana Big Sky Country.“Part of it is because coming from the East, people saw the mountains from a distance and thought they could reach them easily. There are also some beautiful sunrises and sunsets,” he said.But distances can be deceiving as he found out himself.“They (the mountains) look like they are right there. One day we drove 15 miles and we still weren't close to them,” he said.Andrews said Bozeman is also the hometown of Simms Fishing Products, which makes, among other things, waders used by fishermen across the country. “I've been a fisherman all my life. I recently picked up on fly fishing,” said Andrews.“I would go back in a heartbeat. We have three kids and we are trying to make a plan to get them out there,” Andrew said.“I wish I had gone sooner,” said Andrews, who added the farthest west he had been before last month was St. Louis. It was really a fantastic trip and I thank the school district for allowing me to go,” said Andrews.
