Saratoga National Fish Hatchery (18712552763)

Saratoga National Fish Hatchery is part of the

National Fish Hatchery System The National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) was established by the U.S. Congress in 1871 through the creation of a U.S. Commissioner for Fish and Fisheries. This system of fish hatcheries is now administered by the Fisheries Program of the U.S. Fish ...

operated by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

. It is located northeast of

Saratoga, Wyoming Saratoga is a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,690 at the 2010 census. Saratoga is the home of the Steinley Cup microbrew festival and competition, usually held in August at Veterans Island Park, a playground ...

and, along with the

Jackson National Fish Hatchery Jackson National Fish Hatchery is a National fish hatchery in Jackson, Wyoming. The hatchery is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The hatchery is physically located on the National Elk Refuge, a protected feeding ground for elk that win ...

, is one of two National fish hatcheries operating in Wyoming. Saratoga NHF is primarily a

broodstock Broodstock, or broodfish, are a group of mature individuals used in aquaculture for breeding purposes. Broodstock can be a population of animals maintained in captivity as a source of replacement for, or enhancement of, seed and fry numbers.Waple ...

hatchery; it maintains several healthy adults to produce

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, whi ...

and

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

and distributes fertilized eggs to production hatcheries throughout the country to be hatched and grown to stockable sizes. It is also one of several organizations to establish a program for breeding

Wyoming toad The Wyoming toad or Baxter's toad (''Anaxyrus baxteri'') is an extremely rare amphibian that exists only in captivity and within Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming in the United States. The Wyoming toad was listed as an endange ...

History

The Saratoga NFH was established in 1911 and construction of its facilities began in March 1915. It was originally established to meet stock demands in Wyoming and to be expanded as the state grew. While it had maintained a wide variety of broodstock from its opening in 1915, Saratoga NFH was not officially designated a broodstock hatchery until 1966. The facilities of the Saratoga NFH were renovated and expanded in 1995 and 1996.

Activities

Saratoga NFH has broodstock for egg production of various subspecies of

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

, and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

. Saratoga NFH also rears

Yellowstone cutthroat trout The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri'') is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii''). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). Native only to a few U.S. states, their ...

for stock in various federal and state parks and for tribal lands in Wyoming. Saratoga NFH produces Lewis lake trout eggs for the Great Lakes Restoration Project, Plymouth Rock brown trout for various hatcheries nationwide and holds backup broodstock for McConaughy rainbow trout. Tagging studies show that 75 percent of trout caught from

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

were produced by the Saratoga NFH. Saratoga NFH was one of several hatcheries that had made efforts towards the reintroduction of

greenback cutthroat trout The greenback cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii stomias'') is the easternmost subspecies of cutthroat trout. The greenback cutthroat, once widespread in the Arkansas and South Platte River drainages of Eastern Colorado and Southeast Wyomin ...

in various lakes and rivers by 2002. In 1997, Saratoga NFH began breeding

s as refugia and for future reintroduction efforts. It was the first in the NFHS to use its resources to raise endangered amphibians. It has since supplied hundreds of adult toads to

Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located in southern Albany County in the U.S. state of Wyoming and includes 1,776 acres (7.2 km2). The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service an agency within the U.S. Departme ...

and other locations for reintroduction, including more than 900 adult toads in a single release in June 2016.

References

{{reflist National Fish Hatcheries of the United States Landmarks in Wyoming Agricultural buildings and structures in Wyoming Buildings and structures in Carbon County, Wyoming 1911 establishments in Wyoming