Warm Springs
Plan Your Visit
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery operations are considered pivotal for the enhancement of anadromous fish runs as well as meeting the resident salmonid program needs for the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. Enhancing anadromous fish runs in all Reservation waters to meet the future needs of the resource as well as those of the Tribe is a high priority.
Adult spring Chinook salmon return in the spring of the year. Our fish ladder opens in early May. Juvenile spring Chinook salmon can be seen all year in our rearing ponds.
The hatchery offers a short walk-around guided tour of the hatchery. This walk allows you to view the Visitor Center, Adult Holding Ponds, Rearing Ponds and also offers a bird's-eye view of our Boiler/Chiller Room. This is a complicated set of machinery that allows us to warm our water in the colder winter months and chill our water in the hot, dry summer months.
If you or your group would like a tour of the facility, please call ahead to schedule this so that we can adjust plans accordingly and make time in the daily project list to be able to show you around and answer questions in more depth. You can reach the hatchery at (541) 553-1692.
Activities
Get Involved
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery offers many ways to be involved! Whether you want to further conservation, learn more about nature or share your love of the outdoors, you’ve come to the right place. National fish hatcheries provide many opportunities for you to help your community and fish and wildlife by doing what you love.
Services
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery's primary focus is carrying out Tribal trust responsibilities. We engage in Service initiatives such as Youth in Nature and climate change assessment. We also maintain genetic integrity while enhancing Warm Springs River stocks by producing fish indistinguishable from native stocks.
We rear and release 750,000 spring Chinook salmon annually directly into the Warm Springs River.
About
Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery was established following a 1959 request by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon to enhance salmon and steelhead populations. The facility is co-managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on leased Tribal lands and focuses on supplementation rather than mitigation. Its primary current objective is the production and release of 750,000 spring Chinook smolts annually.
Warm Springs is part of the Columbia River Gorge National Fish Hatchery Complex.