Hotchkiss National Fish Hatchery is located about 20 miles east of Delta, Colorado, near the town of Hotchkiss. The hatchery consists of a hatchery building with a small visitor center and tank room, residences, 32 outdoor concrete raceways, 24 nursery tanks, and 6 earthen ponds.
Hotchkiss National Hatchery was established in 1967 as part of the Colorado River Storage Project Act. Located on 58 acres of forest surroundings on the North Fork of the Gunnison River, the hatchery's cold, clean water supply comes from the adjacent Tommy Dowell Spring.
Tommy Dowell Spring was created in the 1930's by an earthquake near Salt Lake City, whose tremors also affected the Hotchkiss area. The spring has a constant water temperature of 56 degrees Farenheit and flows from 2,200 to 5,000 gallons per minute, providing the ideal conditions for trout production.
As the aquatic habitat changes due to natural (drought, flood, habitat destruction) or human (over-harvest, pollution, habitat loss due to development and dam construction) influences, the reproduction of fish in the wild declines. Stocking of fish is one of the many management strategies used by biologists to help replenish the populations for years to come.
