For 22 years, Pete LaRochelle has taught biology to the young men at the McCallie School. While the classroom environment is an important component of the learning process, an initiative to place students in the field, participating in hands-on activities, obviously provides a complement, like no other experience, to the time spent in class.
During much of the last decade, LaRochelle has sought to enhance understanding not only in the classroom environment, but also in the larger world outside, leading backpacking expeditions in the West, ecotourism adventures in South America, and traveling to a number of other venues. Several years ago, a big idea developed into a tremendous opportunity for McCallie students to participate in environmental activities and conservation efforts in the field. During the past three summers, McCallie students have traveled to Ted Turner’s 113,613-acre Flying D Ranch just north of Yellowstone National Park in Montana to work with a project to restore the Western Slope Cutthroat Trout to local streams.
“Some of the administration and I came to the realization that the Turner Ranches in the West were great opportunities for our kids and because Ted Turner is a 1956 graduate of McCallie we wanted to see if high school kids doing conservation work and helping in research was feasible,” LaRochelle explains. “If so, we wanted to hook up with some of their projects. I was charged with contacting a number of wildlife biologists and inquired as to whether the work they needed done by their assistants was something high school kids could take part in. Most of them said, ‘Yes.’”
The cooperative effort with Turner Enterprises was actually preceded by a venture to Montana undertaken by six McCallie students who assisted a graduate student from the University of Montana performing research on the elk population near Missoula. The McCallie students helped to capture elk calves and outfit them with telemetry monitors to track their progress with the herd. The monitors allowed the researchers to determine whether the calves were actually absorbed into the herd as they matured or died, victims of predators, disease or some other fatal condition. In the event of a calf’s death, the students were involved in the autopsy to determine the cause.
“The next year, we coordinated with Carter Cruse, the Director of Aquatic Resources for Turner Enterprises, and he invited us to join him in a trout conservation project at the Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, Montana,” relates LaRochelle. “We became involved in a project that had to do with the restoration of the Western Slope Cutthroat Trout. In Montana it is called a species of special concern.”
According to LaRochelle, the problem for the Cutthroat Trout is that its relatives, the Brook Trout, Brown Trout, and Rainbow Trout, have been introduced to their habitat over the years, reproducing with the Cutthroat, resulting in hybrid fish which compete with the Cutthroat for food and dilute their genetic constitution. Two rivers, the Madison and Gallatin, run through the Flying D Ranch acreage, and the McCallie students participated in the removal of the competing species from the Cherokee Creek drainage area which also crosses the property.
“We worked on phase two and then phase three of the project, eradicating the other fish from the top down and putting up a barrier so that no fish could migrate upstream,” says LaRochelle. “When they were sure that no fish were left, they started restocking by hatching Cutthroat eggs in the stream. We have been using a combination of chemicals to treat the streams. These are natural chemicals – one is a fungal derivative and the other is a plant root derivative. First, we assess the populations of fish by shocking the stream and then determine where to place most of our emphasis, dripping chemicals into the stream at certain levels to sustain an appropriate level which is toxic to fish but not to the other stream organisms. Phase four of the project will be complete when the stream is up and running with Cutthroat Trout.”
Small groups of McCallie students have participated in the trout project thus far. Most recently, seven were involved in 2007 and four are slated for 2008. Students are required to apply for openings, and the number of applications continues to grow. As each group returns from its adventure, interest increases, and Grant Reid, currently a freshman at the University of North Carolina, has actually returned to the Flying D Ranch to work for Turner Enterprises.
“When they come back and talk to their friends, it really is a plug for the program,” remarks Pete. “We are in Montana for about two weeks, with the official program starting around August 1. So, we get there about July 27 and stay until August 10. During that time, we also treat the guys to a day in Yellowstone National Park and to some pretty good fly fishing in the area.”
Reid, a biology major who is considering a pre-medicine track, credits the experience at the Flying D Ranch with broadening his horizons. He spent the majority of his time applying chemicals to eradicate the existing trout population and then worked on the reintroduction of the Cutthroat.
“I had actually never even been camping until I signed up for the trip,” laughs Grant. “Mr. LaRochelle was my AP [advanced placement] biology teacher during my junior year. He said that hands-on learning through labs and stuff like that was the best way to learn, and this was a great way to add to what I had already learned in biology class. I went the summer before my senior year with the McCallie group and then went back last year after I got hired to work as a paid employee.
“It was hard work, but a very rewarding experience,” he continues. “We would typically get up at 6:30 or 7 in the morning and eat breakfast, then hike or drive to the site we were treating for that day. We would be assigned to one of two jobs, a drip station to put chemicals in the water which we monitored for six to eight hours, or carrying a backpack sprayer with the chemical in a spray gun to treat different areas.”
McCallie sophomore Jay Brooks made the 2007 trip to the Flying D. With an interest in biology and conservation, he considered the visit to the Turner property an “awesome opportunity.”
Jay remembers, “The place where we stayed was called Cow Camp, and that is near where everybody worked during the project with the Montana Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Forest Service. We would go out and set up the drip stations to take out the fish. I would sit at a station and call in from time to time over a period of hours, usually taking lunch with me into the field.”
Aside from being involved in conservation work, the McCallie students became aware of the abundant wildlife and the natural beauty around them. Large bison herds, bear, elk, and other animals roam the area.
“It was a good opportunity to clear my mind of the hustle and bustle of school work, and the scenery definitely allowed that to happen,” recalls Reid. “It is in the middle of more than 100,000 acres of ranch land, and I had the opportunity to reflect. It was the first time I had been in the outdoors on my own, and the beauty of the scenery sold me on going back again. I had never even slept in a tent, and on my first day there I was walking down to a stream doing a backpack spray, and a bear cub ran across the stream. That was really something to see after living in a city.”
Brooks recommends the trip to others, particularly as he considers a future career. “I have definitely thought about wildlife management, the forest service, or biology,” he said. “If people have the opportunity to go out West and help out with any kind of environmental project like that, they should take it. It was a great experience for me. It opened my eyes.”
LaRochelle agrees. “The environment of the Flying D Ranch is spectacular,” he concludes. “There are about 3,000 head of bison, a large pure herd, and a very large elk herd. The opportunities to see wildlife are terrific. Our guys have seen black bear, and there have been signs of grizzlies. It is a very serene place to be, and there are coyotes serenading at night. The moose come down to feed, and it is simply a terrific place – 10 miles from nowhere. The kids can’t get in any trouble unless the get chased by something, and that hasn’t happened yet!”
Pete hopes to continue the partnership with Turner Enterprises, possibly expanding the project to one involving amphibians or mammals in New Mexico. The administration of the McCallie School has also been very supportive of the venture. During the 1990s, an endowed fund for environmental studies was established at McCallie. Students are eligible for financial assistance from that source, while the ranch actually pays for the food and lodging while on site.
Through this successful association, McCallie students gain new perspectives on environmental stewardship, preparing for leadership roles in the future.