Are you a teacher, 4-H leader or Scout program director looking for a fun place to take your children? What if this place offered quality, engaging, hands on learning that served to connect kids with nature? If this sounds like what you are looking for, then be sure and consider Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery for your next field trip visit!

From guided trips of the new Visitor/Environmental Education Center to exploring and touring the raceways, Wolf Creek offers a truly unique outdoor classroom experience for you and your students. The Visitor/Environmental Education Center also offers a gift shop full of fun and educational products. All proceeds from the sales generated go directly towards the support and mission of the hatchery, so take time to purchase some fish food, book, mug, etc.

To add to these opportunities, Wolf Creek is also proud to offer an exciting, hands-on aquatic education curriculum program that affords children the opportunity to have meaningful interactions with fish and aquatic habitats. The Biologist-in-Training program is an experiential environmental education curriculum that utilizes National Fish Hatcheries and streams, lakes, ponds and rivers as outdoor classrooms.

An engaging 20-page activity booklet guides children through five interactive explorations of fish and aquatic environments. Each of the activities promotes stewardship and the intrinsic value of aquatic habitats, builds skills of observation, and teaches different methods of acquiring, organizing and assessing biological information. In the final activity, children will link with a mentor in the field of biology. Upon completion of the activities, students will receive an official certificate of accomplishment and a sticker or patch. This incentive provides a sense of pride, ownership, and empowerment to act to help conserve and protect our local aquatic resources. 

The BiT program may be accomplished in a day at any National Fish Hatchery in the southeast, but also anywhere that water flows. The activities are aligned with national education standards for upper elementary age students; however, the program is designed to be open-ended and adaptable for lower elementary and middle school students. It is ideal for school groups, home school groups, Scout groups, 4-H groups and all children with a sense of wonder.

The BiT program also includes extension activities based on nationally recognized environmental education curricula. The extension activities come ready-to-use in BiT bins that contain all the necessary props and materials. They may be used during a visit to the hatchery, or borrowed for use in a classroom or another off-site location. 

All of the materials listed above, including BiT activity guides, BiT bins and achievement awards are available at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery. There is no charge for any of the program materials.

For more information on the Biologist-in-Training program, please contact Amanda Patrick, Environmental Education/Outreach Specialist at 270-343-3797 or via email at:  Amanda_Patrick@fws.gov. The program materials may also be accessed on the internet by visiting www.fws.gov/southeast/fisheries/BiT.