U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Welcome to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

Self-Guided TourLeavenworth National Fish Hatchery

In 1940, Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery proudly opened as the world’s largest fish hatchery. Its mission was to produce salmon to make up for the impact of the Grand Coulee Dam, which completely blocked fish passage to the upper Columbia River. That’s exactly what the hatchery has continued to do, decade after decade, successfully providing salmon that support people and wildlife.

The Bureau of Reclamation funds three hatcheries, operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Leavenworth Fisheries Complex: Leavenworth, Entiat, and Winthrop. The Mid-Columbia River Fishery Resource Office is also part of the Complex, and works on monitoring and evaluation of hatchery fish, habitat restoration, and native fish conservation.

We raise 1.2 million spring Chinook salmon at Leavenworth every year. Take a walk around and learn how we do it.

Starting at the entrance to the main hatchery building, walk down the hall into the visitor center.

just right (below 60°F). Growing salmon are fed special diets that change as they develop.

When the fingerlings are 20 months old, their bodies begin to change, preparing for the long journey ahead of them. They shed scales and grow new ones, changing from mottled and dark to shiny silver. Wild fingerlings go through the same change, losing their stream camouflage and gaining coloring that will hide them better in the ocean. We release our fish into Icicle Creek in April, sending 1.2 million young salmon downstream to the Pacific Ocean. The journey itself is important, helping the fish learn the route they will take to come back home 2-3 years later.

Walk to the creek to reach Stop 4, at the edge of the bridge.

Stop 1: Visitor CenterSalmon are tied to just about everything in this region! Stroll around the room and look carefully at the mural, and you’ll see many of the animals that rely on salmon—including people. Yet salmon face many hurdles. To reach the hatchery from the ocean, adults must swim upstream 500 miles and pass seven dams. Of the 1.2 million young salmon we release, we might see just 500-6,000 return. Learn about the challenges salmon face as you read the exhibit panels.

Continue through the doors into the nursery.

Stop 2: NurserySpring Chinook salmon spawn in late August. Females dig nests called redds in the gravel of cool flowing streams, and males release milt

Bridge

Spillway

Diversion channel

Nature trail

Rac

eway

s fo

r fin

gerl

ings

Cov

ered

rac

eway

s

Unused historic Foster-Lucas ponds

Gazebo

Fish ladder

Adult holding ponds

Viewing platform

Tribal fishing platforms

Historic Foster-Lucas ponds

Visitor center entrance

Storage

Cold storage and lab

Maintenance shop

Storage

Cascade Discovery Program high school

Nursery and offices

Summer theater

Icicle Creek

Icicle Creek

1

2

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5

(sperm) to fertilize the eggs. Water moves through the gravel, bringing oxygen to the eggs. In our nursery, we imitate nature. We take the eggs and milt from the adults, mix them, and put the fertilized eggs into trays. We run water through the trays to provide oxygen.

When the eggs hatch in late September or October, the tiny fish (called sac-fry or alevins) are still undeveloped. They feed off yolk sacs until they are big enough to start eating on their own. In the wild, they would eat aquatic insects. In the hatchery, we move them into green fiberglass nursery tanks and feed them carefully prepared dry food by hand up to seven times a day!

The fry are usually in the tanks from December to February, when we move them to outside

ponds called raceways. Even when the fry are outside, we have a small aquarium with local fish in the nursery for you to view.

Go back out the front door, turn left on the sidewalk, and walk to the raceways. Stop 3 is on your right.

Stop 3: Raising FingerlingsFor 14 months, young salmon live in these outdoor raceways. You may see our staff out here feeding the fingerlings, cleaning their raceways, and checking on their health. The fish need attention every single day. We protect them from predators like ospreys and otters, and watch for signs of illness. River and well waters are mixed to keep the temperature

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.

Tha

nk y

ou fo

r vi

siti

ng u

s to

day!

You

can

con

tinu

e ac

ross

the

br

idge

for

a w

alk

on t

he I

cicl

e C

reek

Nat

ure

Trai

l, a

one

mile

pa

ved

trai

l wit

h vi

ewpo

ints

alo

ng

the

cree

k. O

r yo

u ca

n w

alk

back

to

the

mai

n ha

tche

ry b

uild

ing.

Hat

cher

y st

aff c

an a

nsw

er

ques

tion

s fo

r yo

u; o

r vi

sit

us o

nlin

e at

our

web

site

: ht

tp://

ww

w.fw

s.go

v/le

aven

wor

thfis

heri

esco

mpl

ex/

inde

x.cf

m. L

ike

Lea

venw

orth

F

ishe

ries

Com

plex

on

Fac

eboo

k.

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