Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery

Cold-water releases from the Hoover Dam tailrace made an ideal location to build Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery in 1962. Trout was the primary fish grown at the hatchery for stocking in nearby lakes Mojave and Mead for over 30 years.

While trout are still stocked from the hatchery to provide recreational fishing opportunity, imperiled fishes, like the razorback sucker and bonytail chub, are receiving much needed attention.

Each summer thousands of these fishes are stocked in their native habitat, the Colorado River, with the aim of aiding their recovery.

Fifteen Years in the Grand Canyon **

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the early 1980’s studied the ecology of wild humpback chub in the Grand Canyon at a time when any information was new information. Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery also took a close look at their temperature needs, and what it takes for them to spawn and for the larvae to survive. >> For more information on this story see link below.

Razorback Sucker Photo credit: Arizona Game & Fish Photo by J. Brooks	Humpback Chub Photo credit: George Andrejko,

• For more information visit their web site at: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/fisheries/willowbeach.html
• ** "Fifteen Years in the Grand Canyon " by Dennis Stone featured in Eddies: Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Summer 2008 edition