Idaho Power to rebuild Oxbow fish hatchery
Published 7:30 am Thursday, January 26, 2023
- The Oxbow Hatchery in Hells Canyon of the Snake River, about 70 miles east of Baker City.
OXBOW — Idaho Power Co. plans to rebuild its fish hatchery near Oxbow Dam on the Snake River in eastern Baker County starting this spring.
The work, slated to conclude at the end of 2024, “will allow for the continued safe and efficient production of salmon and steelhead,” company spokesman Brad Bowlin said.
Oxbow is the middle of three dams in the company’s Hell’s Canyon Complex along the Snake River, which separates Idaho and Oregon. Brownlee Dam is upstream and Hells Canyon Dam is downstream.
The dams block fish passage. The Oxbow hatchery was the first built by Idaho Power as part of a mitigation program under its federal license to operate the hydroelectric facilities, which the company has been working to relicense.
The hatchery, built in the 1960s, will continue to operate during construction, Bowlin said. The project will not modify hatchery operations or the company’s overall fish production program.
Current facilities are “dated, with equipment that is increasingly difficult to maintain or repair, due in part to its age,” he said. “The hatchery building also does not meet modern industry safety standards.”
The company owns the hatchery, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game operates it.
The hatchery provides Idaho, Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe “consistent and meaningful spring chinook (salmon) and steelhead harvest opportunities,” Bowlin said. It also provides significant harvest opportunities in the Columbia River Basin. The Snake River is the Columbia River’s largest tributary.
The tribe voiced concerns about the project’s consultation process. That prompted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to require an amendment to the current license to assure a comprehensive environmental review and consultation process, he said. The tribe in September sent a letter to the commission expressing support for the project.
Adult steelhead are collected in a trap at Hells Canyon Dam and held to maturity at the Oxbow hatchery. Staff spawn them — more than 1 million eggs are fertilized and go through their first stages of development at the hatchery. Eggs eventually are delivered to Niagara Springs Hatchery near Wendell, Idaho, to hatch and grow for about 11 months before they are released into the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam.
Idaho Power also traps adult spring chinook salmon from the Snake River for use as broodstock at Rapid River Hatchery south of Riggins, Idaho. Fish are trapped at Hells Canyon Dam, temporarily held at the Oxbow hatchery and then transferred to Rapid River.
At the Oxbow hatchery, Bowlin said, features to be removed include the hatchery building and adjacent cooling unit, unused raceways west of the building, the river water intake structure, adult holding ponds, sorting and spawning equipment and a garage and storage building.
New features include several adult holding ponds covered by an open-air structure; buildings for sorting and spawning, egg incubation, hatchery administration and for shop and storage space; a river water intake structure and aeration tower; and a new visitor kiosk to include interpretive and educational information.
