Hatchery Assessment Program Members

Program Lead: David Hand

Program Members:

Justin Baker    Todd Gilmore    Steve Lazzini

Rikeem Sholes    Brook Silver    Kyle Beard

About the Hatchery Assessment Program 

Fish biologist, Brook Silver, holding a salmon over a silver collection bowl
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The Hatchery Assessment Team conducts monitoring and evaluation programs for Columbia River Gorge Complex National Fish Hatcheries (NFHs). Monitoring is designed to: 

  • assess hatchery production and performance in relation to program objectives,
  • assess impacts to wild and ESA listed populations, and
  •  provide managers with the information they need to effectively manage their programs.

As part of this monitoring, the Team manages and contributes information to region-wide databases including the Columbia River Information System (CRiS), Fish Inventory System (FINS), the Regional Mark Information System (RMIS), and PIT Tag Information System (PTAGIS). The team works closely with the Hatchery Marking and Tagging Team and hatchery managers to develop annual coded-wire tagging, fin-clipping, and PIT tagging plans for each hatchery release. The team annually monitors hatchery juvenile release migration timing and survival through the Columbia River system, as well as providing pre-season and in-season adult return forecasts. 

The Hatchery Assessment Team also designs and implements specific evaluations in response to requests from managers, funders, or ESA compliance agencies. Working with geneticists, fish health specialists, hatchery staff, Tribal biologists, and State biologists, the team helps to identify information needs and designs studies to fill data gaps that help our National Fish Hatcheries operate using the best available information to meet program goals. Examples of specific evaluations include assessments of alternative juvenile release procedures, assessing the impact of increased hatchery production on ESA listed species, and monitoring on-hatchery and off-hatchery performance of different stocks reared at a single location. 

Steve Lazzini sitting in a OHV with hatchery raceways and rolling hills in the background
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Projects we are currently working on:

  • Assessment of Coho Salmon Collected at Little White Salmon (LWS) National Fish Hatchery (NFH) using Parentage-Based Tagging (PBT) to Determine Potential Hatchery Origin 

  • Impacts of redd superimposition on the spawning success of listed tule fall Chinook salmon in the White Salmon River, Washington 

  • Assessment of Upriver Bright (URB) Fall Chinook Straying Behavior from the Willard (WI) and Little White Salmon (LWS) National Fish Hatcheries (NFHs) using Submersible Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Detection Antennas 

  • Genetic evaluation of fall Chinook salmon carcasses collected during annual spawning ground surveys of the White Salmon River, WA from 2013 – 2020 

  • Lamprey passage monitoring at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery 

  • Three Stocks, One Story: Evaluation of different hatchery stocks reared and released at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery 

To volunteer with this group, please contact: Brook Silver 
Rikeem Sholes, fish biologist, sitting in an OHV
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Recent Annual Reports 

Silver B.P., T. Gilmore, S. Lazzini, K. Beard, J. Baker, D. Hand, J. Rivera, J. Voeltz. 2021. Monitoring and Evaluation of Mitchell Act-Funded National Fish Hatcheries in the Columbia River Gorge Complex, 2021 Annual Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, Vancouver, WA.

Silver, B.P., T. Gilmore, S. Lazzini, J. Baker, D. Hand, J. Rivera, and J. Voeltz. 2022. Monitoring and Evaluation Updates for John Day/The Dalles Dam Mitigation Programs at Spring Creek and Little White Salmon National Fish Hatcheries, 2021 Annual Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, Vancouver, WA. 

Silver B.P., T. Gilmore, D. Hand, J. Rivera, and J. Voeltz. 2022. Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery -Spring Chinook Salmon Program, 2021 Annual Report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, Vancouver, WA.