Warm Water Hatchery Project
Left space of pagetop header navigationLink to return to Home PageLink to PRRP PageLink to projects by watershed pageLink to Wetlands Projects PageLink to Hatchery Projects PageLink to Native Species PageRight space of pagetop header navigation
Big Left space of navigation section
Small Left space of navigation section
Selection Marker ImageFish Hatchery Production Plan
Selection Marker ImageKamas State Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageFountain Green Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageNative Aquatic Species Culture Facility
Selection Marker ImageJones Hole National Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageBig Springs Tribal Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageWhiterocks State Fish Hatchery
Selection Marker ImageHatchery
The warm water sportfish and native aquatic species hatchery is a proposed new hatchery to be operated by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to meet the warm water needs in Colorado River Storage Project impacted waters in Utah. These needs were identified in the Fish Hatchery Production Plan, and include June sucker (listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act), least chub, leatherside chub, roundtail chub, bluehead sucker and flannelmouth sucker, channel catfish and two amphibians: spotted frog and boreal toad. Photographs of the native fish can be seen at the Desert Fishes Council web site. Least chub and spotted frog are considered conservation species for which conservation agreements and strategies have been developed, in accordance with the Endangered Species Act.

Gandy Warm Springs, Gandy UtahA siting study for the proposed hatchery was completed in 2000, recommending Gandy Warm Springs, Millard County, Utah as the best available site to meet identified stocking needs. On October 16, 2000, a Notice of Intent to Develop an Environmental Impact Study on the proposal to build a hatchery at Gandy Warm Springs was published. A range of alternatives, including a site alternative at Goshen Warm Springs in Utah County, will be evaluated. Technical studies are being conducted to evaluate environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposal.

In the meantime, a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for constructing an interim warm water hatchery to help with June sucker recovery was signed March 17, 2004. The Division of Wildlife Resources' Fisheries Experiment Station in Logan, Utah will be expanded to accommodate the interim facility while the larger warm water hatchery is brought on-line. Feasibility level design to determine construction and operation costs has been completed and work is proceeding on schedule. [Click here to view the Warm-water Interim Hatchery Facility Environmental Assessment]

The Central Utah Project and other reclamation projects created many reservoirs in Utah. These flatwater areas provide for a variety of water-related recreation opportunities including fishing. Most reservoir fisheries are heavily used and not able to sustain themselves through natural recruitment, requiring management programs dependent on stocking hatchery-reared fish. Fish stocking demands in Utah for reclamation projects have been met in the past through both State and Federal hatcheries. CUPCA identifies funding for planning and implementing improvements to existing hatcheries and/or the development of new fish hatcheries to increase production of warm-water and cold-water fish for areas affected by the Colorado River Storage Project in Utah.
 
Email Link to the Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, urmcc@uc.usbr.govAddress for Utah Reclamation Mitigation Conservation Commission, 230 South 500 East, Suite 230, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102-2045, (801)524-3146, Fax (801)524-3148