Connecting Children in Nature:
A summary of the Mountain Prairie Fisheries Fishing Week events are as follows:
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Fisheries Program in the Mountain-Prairie Region helps conserve, protect, and enhance aquatic resources and provides economically valuable recreational fishing to anglers across the country. The program comprises 12 National Fish Hatcheries; a National Fish Technology and National Fish Health Center; and 8 Fish & Wildlife Management Assistance Offices serving Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.Event Date Station
05/03/2008 Gavins NFHS, SD
05/05/2008 Jackson NFH, WY
05/09/2008 Garrison NFH, ND kids
05/16/2008 Hotchkiss NFH, CO
05/17/2008 Fish Technology Center, MT
05/27/2008 Leadville NFH, CO
06/07/2008 MT FWMAO / FCO
06/07/2008 Jackson NFH, WY
06/07/2008 Hotchkiss NFH, CO 2
06/07/2008 DC Booth HNFH, SD
06/07/2008 Fish Technology Center, MT
06/07/2008 Regional Office, CO
06/14/2008 Saratoga NFH, WY
06/15/2008 Ennis NFH, MT
06/21/2008 Jones Hole NFH, UT
09/20/2008 Garrison NFH, ND kids
09/22/2008 Garrison NFH, ND older Sr citizens
The Region’s National Fish Hatcheries produce millions of coldwater, coolwater, and warmwater game fish every year for stocking in public lakes, rivers, and streams; hatchery-raised fish meet legally mandated "mitigation" requirements, compensating for fish losses caused by federal water projects and associated dams. The hatcheries also raise native fish and other aquatic wildlife to help restore populations in the wild and to support recovery of threatened and endangered species. Two of the Mountain-Prairie hatcheries – one in Ennis, Montana and the other in Saratoga, Wyoming – are part of the National Broodstock Program, providing disease-free and genetically sound eggs to dozens of states, tribes, other hatcheries, and research facilities. These eggs support production of millions of fish for recreational angling opportunities, species recovery and restoration, mitigation, tribal subsistence fishing, and other fisheries activities.
The Fish Technology Center and Fish Health Center, both located in Bozeman, Montana, assist the National Fish Hatcheries by improving aquatic species conservation techniques and methods for the benefit of state and federal agencies and tribes throughout the nation. The Centers’ work also includes fish nutrition studies and diet development, wild fish health surveys, and managing environmental threats like whirling disease.
The Management Assistance Offices throughout the Region support tribal fisheries and wildlife management programs, endangered species recovery, control of invasive aquatic species (such as mussels, snails, fish, etc.), and fish passage for native species, such as Colorado River fishes, cutthroat trout, bull trout, and pallid sturgeon, especially on private lands and streams.
