Jeannie Stafford, Nevada FWO
The Lahontan National Fish Hatchery in Gardnerville, Nevada, plays a key role connecting local communities to the conservation of Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT).  The hatchery is involved in many activities with schools and sponsors numerous community events.

Hatchery staff also provide “Trout in the Classroom” educational programs to schools in Douglas County, Nevada and the Lake Tahoe Basin including one program in partnership with University of California - Davis’s Tahoe Environmental Center.  These unique programs provide information and education about native trout and provide opportunities for students to take part in rearing LCT.

In addition to school programs, the hatchery conducts numerous environmental education tours of the hatchery and “hands-on” experiences for students during career days.  This year, for example, students from Douglas High School in Minden, Nevada, experienced all phases of hatchery operations, assisting biologists with fish culture and spawning LCT. 

The hatchery and the Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility are part of the Lahonton National Fish Hatchery Complex managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  They were created as part of the Washoe Project in 1956 to mitigate the loss of the fishery in Pyramid Lake, Nevada.  The hatchery produces LCT as part of a larger restoration and reintroduction program managed by the Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office in the Tahoe, Walker, and Truckee Basins.  The hatchery houses a captive broodstock of a unique strain of LCT and produces about 400,000 LCT per year.  The hatchery provides all age classes, from eggs to eight-inch "catchables" and produces fish for Pyramid Lake, Walker Lake, Truckee River, Fallen Leaf Lake, and June Lake.

Annual community events the hatchery sponsors and participates in include:  the Kids Fishing Derby, Kokanee Salmon Festival, Washoe Tribe Earth Day, and Environmental Science Day.  These events are instrumental in connecting not only children with their environment, but communities as well.