Volunteers net lake trout brood into the tub for spawning. - FWS photo

Iron River National Fish Hatchery was very fortunate to receive quite a response to their “cry for help” for spawning in 2006.  At least 1-2 volunteers were present for each week of spawning from October 2^nd to November 22^nd. 

We were also fortunate to have enough helpers for several weeks to set up two spawning crews, one group working with lake trout and one group working with coaster brook trout, condensing the workload into a couple of days. 

With the help of our “beefed up” workforce, the staff at Iron River NFH spawned more than 1,300 lake trout, collecting more than 5 million eggs and 1,100 coaster brook trout, collecting more than 2 million eggs to date.

Iron River NFH thanks those participating, including:  Lara Fondow (Neceda NWR) and her father Terry Fondow, Wayne Talo (Jordan River NFH), Ed Lagace (Regional Sign Center), staff from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Hatchery, Janis Kacvinsky, Janet Kohl and Jan Karlen from the Superior’s Reel Women sportsmen’s group, Bobbie Stewart (Luddington Biological Station), Bruce Schiller, Jay Guerin and his 14 students from the Agriculture and Food Sciences Academy, Anna Varian and Lorena Edenfield from Purdue University and Rachel Mockler (Leopold WMD).