| The warm water sportfish and native aquatic species
hatchery is proposed to be operated by the Utah Division
of Wildlife Resources to meet the warm water needs of Colorado River
Storage Project impacted waters in Utah. These needs were identified in
the Fish Hatchery Production Plan,
and include June sucker (listed as endangered under the Endangered
Species Act), least chub, leatherside chub, roundtail chub, bluehead
sucker and flannelmouth sucker, channel catfish and two amphibians:
spotted frog and boreal toad. Photographs of these native fish can be seen
at the Desert Fishes Council web site.
Least chub and spotted frog are considered conservation species for
which conservation agreements and strategies have been developed, in accordance
with the Endangered Species Act.
A siting study was completed in 2000, recommending Gandy Warm Springs, Millard County,
Utah as the best available site for a new hatchery to meet identified
warm water stocking needs.
A Draft Environmental Impact Statement was completed on the proposal. A range of alternatives,
including a site alternative at Goshen Warm Springs
in Utah County, was evaluated.
In the meantime,
a Decision
Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for constructing
an interim warm water hatchery to help with June
sucker recovery was signed March
17, 2004.
The Division of Wildlife Resources' Fisheries Experiment
Station
(FES) in Logan, Utah was expanded to accommodate the interim facility while a larger warm water hatchery
is brought on-line.
An addition to an existing building was constructed in 2006 and June sucker production and stocking is ongoing. This addition included a water recirculation system, which provides a rearing temperature of 74° F, the temperature at which June sucker has shown the highest growth rates. Use of the recirculation system has resulted in increased June sucker growth rates and fish condition. [Click
here to view the Warm-water Interim Hatchery Facility
Environmental Assessment]
As part of President Obama’s plan to help stimulate the lagging economy, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed in February, 2009. Recovery Act funds provided to the Mitigation Commission accelerate the opportunity to perform needed additional improvements at the FES. Recovery Act funds will be used to install a recirculation system to better manage temperature and water quality of flows used to raise June sucker in the hatchery.
Construction of a new hatchery at Gandy Warm Springs has been postponed
due to
remote site conditions and potential environmental impacts, as well as to the success of the recirculation system at the Fisheries Experiment Station. Instead, the addition
of a recirculation system at the West Springville State Fish Hatchery, located in
Springville Utah, is now being evaluated to see how well it may meet remaining
warm water native aquatic species stocking needs.
The Central Utah Project and other reclamation
projects created many reservoirs in Utah. These flatwater areas provide
for a variety of water-related recreation opportunities including
fishing. Most reservoir fisheries are heavily used and not able to
sustain themselves through natural recruitment, requiring management
programs dependent on stocking hatchery-reared fish. Fish stocking
demands in Utah for reclamation projects have been met in the past
through both State and Federal hatcheries. CUPCA identifies funding for
planning and implementing improvements to existing hatcheries and/or the
development of new fish hatcheries to increase production of warm-water
and cold-water fish for areas affected by the Colorado River Storage
Project in Utah.
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