MINTER CREEK FISH HATCHERY

Requirement 7 of the Soil & Water Conservation badge reads:

a. Make a trip to two of the following places. Write a report of more than 500 words about the soil and water and energy conservation practices you saw.

1. An agricultural experiment.

2. A managed forest or a woodlot, range, or pasture.

3. A wildlife refuge or a fish or game management area.

4. A conservation-managed farm or ranch.

5. A managed watershed.

6. A waste-treatment plant.

7. A public drinking water treatment plant.

8. An industry water-use installation.

9. A desalinization plant.

Since we live in Washington, a salmon management facility was a natural choice! The largest one in our area is Minter Creek Fish Hatchery (go here for the unofficial webpage). Minter Creek raises 2 million fish a year. Yes, million. A substantial number return home to spawn. It is an awe-inspiring (albeit, low-key) field trip.

Best time to go - October, when the salmon are all moving up the ladder. Useful information all year round.

Much of the tour is outside so bring a jacket.

Elisha says: My brother and I went to the fish hatchery last week. We then met somebody who showed us the water pumps, which were like a chute with water flowing in them, they put the fish in big containers filled with water; there were different containers for each species of fish. They have somebody next to the pumps who will pick up a fish and move it if it is going to the wrong container. Then they showed us the area where they control the gates of the water pumps, there was a gate for each container which they opened when the right fish went by. He said that after the salmon spawn, the fairly intact carcasses they sold. Then he showed us the area where they put the salmon eggs, we say ones that were fairly young, and we saw ones that were big enough to see them jumping wildly, they were all smaller than an inch. Then he showed us the frozen fish locker. He showed us a couple frozen fish; they were VERY big and cool looking, they had very sharp teeth. Later when the tour was over asked we asked what education he needed, he said he needed LOTS of math, more than he can remember, zoology, he studied the eco system, and he studied water, he needed a bachelor’s degree to work there. The soil and water conservation practices taken place in the fish hatchery are they use vegetable oil instead of petroleum oil for the water pumps.

David says: At the fish hatchery I saw many things like pumps eggs and containers. The pumps were big and they split off into different sections for different kinds of salmon. It was one tube that split into three tubes, and the person in the tower would look at the kind of salmon and out it into the correct container, and that there would be like 15 fish jammed together so someone would have to hold them back so only a few would go at a time. He said that sometimes they would go into the wrong one so three times a week they check and make sure that none are in the wrong place, and they out them into the correct container. He said that they used vegetable oil instead of petroleum oil to help the salmon keep healthy. After that, I went to the fish egg holding building. They had eggs that were about two months old. They were no more then an inch long and there were thousands of them. They were kept in water filled containers. It was very cool! He said that he had taken so many science classes that he could not remember them all, and that he did not just take classes about fish, but of all animals including mammals, so he knew about all the things that fish and salmon had to deal with. He learned about the whole ecosystem, and he said he had gotten a bachelor’s degree in zoology. It was a very cool experience.