The National Trout Center in Preston, Minnesota, has just opened its doors to the public for the 2013 season. Now in its fourth year of operation, the National Trout Center is embarking upon its first major attempts to secure funding for its permanent home and operations as an environmental learning center focussed upon trout, trout habitat, and the rôle that trout fishing has played in the arts and literature of our culture since the time of Izaac Walton.
The mission of the National Trout Center (NTC) is to conserve our natural and cultural heritage of trout and their cold-water environments by engaging the public through education, practice and awareness. A public well-informed about cold-water streams and trout habitat, appreciative of the intrinsic beauty of trout, and the importance of the trout fishery to our culture, will develop strong motivation for conservation and responsible stewardship of these resources.
To fulfill this mission, the NTC provides an experiential education and outreach program for people of all ages and abilities that engages them in the ecosystems that support healthy trout populations. By increasing public awareness of the rich diversity of life in trout waters, and by promoting the arts, cultural heritage and experience of trout fishing and angling in cold-water streams and rivers, the NTC will instill in its visitors a life-long respect and admiration for trout and their environments.
The temporary home of the National Trout Center currently provides exhibits, research, and experiential programs focused on trout biology and behavior, trout habitat and cold-water streams. A permanent home for the NTC, planned for Preston, Minnesota, in the Root River valley, will provide an anchor for on-site activities in the science of aquatic ecology, angling experience, fishery management, and a window into a living stream characteristic of trout habitat in the region. From its permanent home in the heart of the unglaciated region of the upper midwest, the Trout Center will eventually provide our visitors with a "virtual engagement" to trout fisheries at home, and, ultimately, all over the world. The website for the NTC will become a portal of information for "All Things Trout".
Life-long learning opportunities of the kind promoted by the National Trout Center will continue to improve the lives and experiences of our citizens, leading to an ethic and appreciation for cold-water environments embraced by Aldo Leopold in his promulgation of a “Land Ethic”.
You can support the conservation vision of the National Trout Center by volunteering your time or skills, items of interest for the permanent collection, or, by cash donations. Simply go to the NTC support webpage, and follow the instructions there.
We wish the National Trout Center every success in their endeavors to make the public aware of the need for responsible land use and stewardship of the magnificent trout resources of the upper midwest.
