On Tuesday of this week I traveled to Bridgeport and met with Pat Phillips, hatchery manager at the Colville Tribal Salmon Hatchery, and Casey Baldwin, Senior Research Scientist for the Colville Fish and Wildlife Department.

On Tuesday of this week I traveled to Bridgeport and met with Pat Phillips, hatchery manager at the Colville Tribal Salmon Hatchery, and Casey Baldwin, Senior Research Scientist for the Colville Fish and Wildlife Department. This gave me a chance to see the facility up and running with fish being processed and to talk about the near future of the salmon fishing in this region.

I saw spring and summer run salmon in different stages of maturity, from just-hatched eggs to small fry that were still too young to be fed. They showed me the large ponds where the fish were being held until they would smolt and be released into the Columbia.

One of the features of this hatchery is that the fish are transferred from one station to the other and finally into the river without being handled. This water-to-water transfer system greatly increases survival rates of the fish. Everything is working as it should at the new facility.

Anglers are eager for the first return of salmon to the upper Columbia and this hatchery in 2017, and the return in 2018 is to be even larger.