Juvenille winter chinook salmon. (photo:Tami Corn USBOR)

Assistant Manager John Rueth releases fish into the Sacramento River with the help of Coleman NFH. (photo: Tami Corn USBOR )

by John Rueth, Livingston Stone NFH
On January 29, 2009, staff from the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (NFH) released approximately 146,000 juveniles into the Sacramento River below Keswick Dam at the Caldwell Park Boat Ramp in Redding, California. Over the course of the operational history of the hatchery, approximately 1.84 million juveniles have now been reared at and released from the facility.

The Livingston Stone NFH, part of the Coleman NFH Complex, was established in 1998 to aid in the recovery of endangered Sacramento River winter Chinook salmon and operated under strict criteria to enhance the recovery of this listed species.

The program at Livingston Stone seeks to capture and spawn up to 120 natural-origin winter Chinook salmon adults per year and release up to about 200,000 juveniles per year. The program is executed utilizing a variety of genetic tools to reduce program impacts and contribute to species recovery. The program is also well monitored and well supported. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the agency responsible for ESA jurisdiction of anadromous salmonids) noted Livingston Stone NFH by name in Congressional Testimony as a facility operated as a conservation hatchery.