Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

What’s New?

Reclamation Awards $150,000 Contract for Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery

Leavenworth Hatchery Tours

Schedule a Leavenworth Hatchery guided tour for this spring and summer. Tours are available Monday – Friday between 9 am to 4 pm each day. Scheduling ahead provides hatchery educators and interpreters time to plan and customize a special tour just for your school, organization, business, or community group. It’s a great way for us to connect you with nature!

Tours include a walk in the visitor center and hatchery nursery providing several opportunities to view salmon. Also included, is a beautiful stroll on the scenic Icicle Creek Nature Trail where you can observe wildlife, enjoy the smell and sounds of nature at its best. Bring a picnic and relax in Hatchery Park. Call 509-548-7641 for more information.

Handicap Fishing Platform Upgraded by local Eagle Scout

Handicap Fishing Platform Upgraded by Eagle Scout
Steps to handicap fishing platform completed by Eagle Scout.
USFWS

Clark Dice, a Scout from Troop 83 has been awarded the highest honor, the rank of Eagle Scout. Requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout are very strenuous and can be found at http://www.usscouts.org/ Many hours of coordination and labor were required to complete this project and attain his Eagle Scout status.

Clark approached the hatchery asking for a project that would help serve the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery community. Staff have been concerned about the safety of visitors accessing the handicap fishing platform down a steep embankment on the downstream side of the platform. This project provides safe access by way of a well-made series of steps leading down the slope.

The Icicle Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, who originally constructed the platform for use by visitors requiring accessibility to the river for fishing, helped by financing the project. Clark utilized staff from the hatchery and members of his troop to complete the laborious project. He worked hard to get things in place before winter arrived so it would be available for the 2011 fishing season. We are very proud and thankful for his work.

Priority is still given to handicap anglers, but anyone is welcome to utilize the platform for the purpose of fishing during the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife designated spring Chinook salmon season.

Remodel project completed

equipment pulling up the old concrete sidewalks

Equipment pulling up old concrete sidewalks
USFWS

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery replaced old sidewalks, paved road, and updated other concrete work throughout the grounds.

Pollution Abatement Pond Completed

Second Pollution Abatement Pond
2nd Pollution Abatement Pond.
USFWS

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery has a new pond and a few newly paved areas. You can read about the contract awarded by visiting here.

Projects

Going Green

The Leavenworth Fisheries Complex (LFC) is concerned about the changing climate. The effects of these changes are significant and have prompted us to re-think the way we operate. It is our desire to make more than the minimally required effort where climate change is concerned.

In an attempt to reduce our carbon footprint, we have created a team of Hatchery employees who are volunteering to research and think creatively about ways to make changes, large and small, with the goal of becoming more sustainable. The group, known as the Green Team, will develop ideas and create plans to share with staff for implementation. If you have ideas to share with the us, please give us a call or email to this website. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions. We will provide you with green tips. These tips may be simple ideas to implement at your home or it may be a link to a great resource. Working together, we can help make a difference.

Staying Green

The Leavenworth NFH staff continues to achieve making hatchery operations energy efficient and environmentally sensitive. The facility sits in the heart of the Cascade Mountains surrounded by abundant natural resources. It is imperative that we preserve and protect the natural landscape.

Several steps have been made to ensure we are meeting our conservation goals in our daily hatchery operations and in the public visitation and education programs we provide. These include such activities as:

Energy efficient motors installed on hatchery wells
Aggressive recycling of paper, plastics (including plastic fish food bags), glass, and metals
Replacement of gas vehicles with two hybrid models
Use of electric carts for transportation of visitors and work equipment
Use of bicycles for staff to travel on grounds instead of using gas-powered trucks
Minimization of office energy consumption
Installing hatchery offices with green light fixtures and energy efficient bulbs
Teaching energy awareness in Information and Education programs
Installing solar power to the Cascade Discovery High School located on hatchery grounds
Eliminating pesticides to control invasive plants by taking an integrated approach to weed control including use of goats, hand-pulling, and mowing

Goats eating weeds at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery - Photo: USFWS
Goats eating weeds at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.
USFWS

The Leavenworth NFH was the second National Fish Hatchery to be awarded a national Environmental Management Award. We will continue to make efforts to conserve energy and work toward reducing our overall global footprint.

Green Tips

Shop smarter:

Use reusable fabric bags.
Remember to wash them on regular basis and return them to your car after each use so you have them to bring into the store.
Buy in-season and local.
When you buy locally, you reduce carbon dioxide emissions from transporting your groceries over long distances.
Buy products with less packaging.
When you buy in larger quantities, with less packaging, you save energy and produce less waste. Smaller portions can be stored in reusable containers.
Reuse packaging when possible.
From bread bags to cracker boxes, think creatively and reuse them for free packaging or an art project.

Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Review

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proactively initiated a series of hatchery reviews in May 2005 to assure that its 21 hatchery programs are part of a holistic and integrated strategy—consistent with State, Tribal, and Federal strategies—for conserving wild stocks and managing fisheries in watersheds within the Columbia River Basin.

The team completed their review of the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery program in April 2007. The Hatchery Review Team, comprised of FWS and other federal scientists (NOAA & USGS) conducted field tours with hatchery managers and their staffs, reviewed hatchery operations, and met the co-managing agencies and tribes to get a clear understanding of the goals for and status of each wild and hatchery population and their associated habitat and management strategies. Following these field visits, the team put together recommendations for each hatchery which were then documented in the Pacific Region Hatchery Review Team Report. See the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery section in the Leavenworth Complex Review Final Report.