our hatcheries - glenwood springs
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, ORCAS ISLAND | LILLIWAUP CREEK, HOOD CANAL | WISHKAH RIVER
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 On a former fruit orchard overlooking Orcas Island's East Sound, Glenwood Springs Salmon Hatchery is the site of something remarkable: the creation of a chinook salmon run where none existed before. Begun in a stream in 1978 with eggs from a state hatchery, the run has been propagated from returning adult fish ever since 1982—and because no wild chinook originate in the San Juan Islands, this new salmon run serves commercial and sports fishers while posing no threat to endangered fish.
Just as important, Glenwood Springs is a hands-on laboratory for leading-edge fisheries research and a pioneer in "natural rearing," hatchery practices that mimic nature as closely as possible. The results are salmon that resemble their wild cousins—in appearance, behavior, and biochemical makeup—more closely than they do most hatchery fish. In 2002, after an intensive review process, the Hatchery Scientific Review Group recommended that Glenwood Springs insert a coded wire tag into a significant percentage of the fish released. This will allow LLTK to investigate where Glenwood Springs fish are migrating to and which release strategies lead to increased adult survival. |