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New Fish Ladder at Coleman National Fish Hatchery to Improve Fish Passage on Battle Creek: View it on October 18th at RETURN OF THE SALMON Festival

October 7, 2008 -- The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have just completed an important fish ladder project at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson, Calif., the largest salmon hatchery outside of Alaska. This ladder has been built to improve fish passage on Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. It assists the salmon and steelhead passage upstream while allowing the hatchery to continue to collect spawning fall-run Chinook salmon in sufficient numbers to perpetuate the runs at the hatchery.

The new fish ladder is about 10 times larger than the previous fish ladder and will help improve managers' ability to separate spawning populations of Central Valley spring- and fall-run Chinook salmon. Spring-run Chinook are threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. The ladder should contribute to the success of the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project, which is working to improve fish passage and habitat in the upstream reaches of Battle Creek.

Visitors to Coleman National Fish Hatchery at the annual Return of the Salmon Festival on Oct. 18 will be able to see the new ladder and observe fish in the creek, the hatchery's holding ponds and in some parts of the new ladder.

For more information, please contact Janice Pinero, Reclamation (916) 978-5041 or Scott Hamelberg, Coleman National Fish Hatchery (530) 356-8622.