Klamath Fish Hatchery

Well we have arrived at our first hosting job as part of the "give back" plan. This hatchery, about 35 mile north of Klamath Falls, Oregon, is not only historic but beautiful at the same time. Built in 1920 by the local Indians, the state bought it, and surrounding land, from the tribe in 1930.

                 Here's Donna at the crack of dawn ready to start our first day at the hatchery...ok, maybe not the crack of dawn, more like 8:30. Well, 8:30 might be stretching it but I'm sure it was before noon.:-)

These eight raceways (that hold 7-9 inch fish) are what you see as soon as you enter the hatchery. This is the osprey's favorite place to hunt...hunt may be a strong word, this is like shooting fish in a barrel so to speak. But they raise extra fish just for this reason.

This is the administration offices and one of the egg incubators buildings

The eggs under cover are about three weeks old. These eggs will produce a rainbow in about 75 days called triploid because before we get them they are treated to high pressure in order to make all the fish sterile. The pressure causes the fish to gain one extra chromosome which destroys their ability to reproduce.

Here are some fish raceways that hold recently hatched eggs. They are protected inside the building for another month before being sent to a outside raceway. When they get big enough to be introduced to wild trout rivers they are not a danger to the wild population because of their sterility.

After leaving the protection of the building, the fry (that's what they call the fish before they become fingerling's (3-4 inches) are moved to one of these outdoor raceways. There is some protecting cover overhead and a net on the side but the minks and otters still get in once in a while. Some are planted soon after reaching fingerling size while others are move to the uncovered raceways as seen in second photo.

This raceway and trailer are used to clip the fins of the fingerling's,this is done to all the fish raised at the hatchery in order to identify them as hatchery raised fish.

Inside the trailer, Heidi and three other kids, get minimum wage to fin-clip a couple hundred thousand fish. The fish, a few at a time, are under general anesthesia in the pool of water so they are easier to handle. I can only imagine how cold your hands must get doing this for eight hours a day.

Three springs flow into this pool to provide clean and cool water for the hatchery.

The cement dam was built in the 30's by the C.C.Corp but the deteriorating wood planks that line the creek are original pieces of the hatchery when it was first built in 1920's

One of the four residential properties on the hatchery grounds. There are 4 full time workers here and the state provides these houses at a very reasonable rate.

Here is our digs for the next two months. Right behind the motorhome is a beautiful creek that has fish, beaver and otters as it's local residents.

Another seemingly "permanent" resident is Edgar the Bald Eagle.

Here is "Edgar" strafing his favorite pond that holds all the bigger 2 pound fish. I'll work some more on my photography.