Evansville students take to the ice to learn about environmental recreation and stewardship

• Ice fishing

Emily Englund was successful during a recent fishing excursion.
• Evansville ice fishing

Troy Fuller participated in an ice fishing excursion near Evansville.

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The Evansville 5th and 6th grade classes recently concluded a program in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) MinnAqua Program.

The MinnAqua Program is designed to teach angling recreation and stewardship, as well as the ecology and conservation of aquatic habitats.

In December, Evansville teachers Jeff Anderson and Brian Perleberg attended a MinnAqua educator workshop at Glendelough State Park.

The program was a good tie-in to the environmental education taught to Evansville 5th and 6th graders for many years.

Anderson and Perleberg utilized many of the lessons in the “Fishing: Get in the Habitat!” curriculum to educate students about fish habitat, identification, ice safety, water stewardship, and more.

The final portion of the MinnAqua Program involved taking the students ice fishing on a local lake.

The Evansville School partnered with the nationally known Ice Team, based out of the Twin Cities, to help put on this event.

Ice Team is a group of fishing professionals dedicated to promoting the sport of ice fishing. The team provided warming shelters, Vexilar electronics, fishing rods, tackle, underwater cameras, drilled all the holes and gave the students fishing tips.

Several people from the community also helped make the event successful. Kent Huisman of H&H Landscaping plowed the area and helped the students fish. Joe Whalin of the Melby FlyWay (where the bait came from) and Tom Slack offered the use of their land for the event.

Other helpers included parents Chris Johnson, Terry Garder and Lisa Bous; local fishing enthusiast Brent Olson and his brother, Brad; and Evansville paraprofessional Annette Ohren. Evansville superintendent Rick Bliechner, who supported and encouraged the teachers as they started this new program, also made a visit to the lake.

The young anglers caught 25 fish on their outing.

Tags: life, school, ice, fishing, evansville