Dworshak Media Project: Making Dworshak "Greener"

At Dworshak Fisheries Complex  We Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

I was walking around the facility the other day and thinking about how far Dworshak National Fisheries Complex has come in 6 years with regard to improving our environmental footprint.  In 2007 we kicked our Environmental Management Systems program into high gear.  Prior to that time we had been recycling toner cartridges from our printers, aluminum, and paper.  We had even started recycling our plastic soda and water bottles.  It was a good start!

Recently, however, we’ve had the opportunity to kick our efforts to a new level.  Probably the biggest recycling effort this facility has ever experienced occurred a few weeks ago.  Did you notice the big black pile of plastic “stuff” as you drove past us?  It was clearly visible from Riverside/Hwy 12 and several attentive people asked about it. Well, here’s the story!

A plastic Koch ring used for water treatment, USFWS

The big black “stuff” was actually plastic media called Koch rings (pronounced Coke). This media was used in reconditioning the water we used to raise fish. When the facility was constructed in 1969, it operated on a water reuse system.  In recent years the staff at Dworshak has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers to update the water treatment system.  Now the media is no longer needed.  It took 6 years before we were able to find a way to remove it AND recycle the plastic. Let me tell you it was no easy feat!

Roto-Rooter used a huge vacuum truck to the suck the media out of the filter beds. The hoses they used, and the men working on the project took a beating, but they accomplished the task in little over one month!

Roto-Rooter trucking media from filter beds, USFWS

Lewis Clark Recyclers, Inc. (LCRI) set up a cardboard bunker area for Roto-Rooter to dump the media in. When the bunker area was full, they brought in a roll-off truck with two containers to transport approximately 60 to 80 yards - think football field - of material each trip.  All the material was loaded into the container using a front-end loader.  Then the media was taken to Lewiston.  Another containment bunker was constructed around a large baler.  The media was then dumped out of the transport container into the baler.

Media staging and loading at Dworshak Fish Hatchery, USFWS

Koch rings bailed and ready to go! LCRI

By this time the material had been handled at least twice and it was becoming brittle, so once it was on the conveyor it was in smaller pieces which made baling difficult.  A typical bale must have a minimum of 5 wires holding it together, this product had between 10 and 15 bands holding it together.

After the first load shipped and was received by Denton Plastics in Portland, Oregon. The processor asked for the bales to be shrink wrapped so they could unload it from the truck more efficiently. It must have been a messy job without the shrink wrap!! 

LCRI shipped 6 loads of media to Portland, that’s little more than 200 bales and a total weight of approximately 200,000 pounds!

A load of bailed and wrapped Koch rings, LCRI

Workers at Denton Plastics ground up the material.

Ground up Koch rings, Denton Plastics

Using an extrusion process, it was mixed with a Polypropylene material and formed into little plastic pellets.

Pellets produces by Denton Plastics

The little pellets will now be sold and made into new products, such as flower pots.

I think it’s a pretty cool story.  It amazes me how hard work, creativity, and technology can turn a huge pile of one hatchery’s   “trash” into a gardener’s treasure!

By Shanna Saldecke (LCRI), Eric Fischer (Denton Plastics), Jill Olson (FWS), and Angela Feldmann (FWS)

Chinook Brood-Stock from the Clearwater River

You never know exactly what kind of fish returns you will see from year to year. Biologists make predictions based on hatchery releases and PIT tags recorded by outgoing smolts and in coming adults. This year’s run predictions were lower than average and once the Chinook started showing up at Bonniville Dam on the Lower Columbia River, the season was shaping up to be heavy on jacks (one ocean year males) marginal for the big adults we all like to catch, and the Hatcheries need for brood-stock. 

Greg Moses holds up a decent Chinook that will be used for brood-stock at Dworshak. Note the many jacks on the sorting table

Because of the lower than average returns the adult Chinook angling season was cut short on the Clearwater River; Jack fishing was pretty good though.

Jack Chinook salmon

The normal early season for Steelhead, catch and release on the North Fork Clearwater River, that opened July 1 will close early, midnight July 26^th. The closure is due to the high numbers of Chinook in the North Fork that are needed for Brood-stock by Dworshak Fish Hatchery and Clearwater Fish Hatchery. 

Idaho Department of Fish and Game issued this News Release July 24^th:

North Fork Clearwater Steelhead Catch-and-Release Closed

The catch-and-release fishery for steelhead in the North Fork Clearwater River downstream from the Dworshak Dam will close from midnight July 26 through midnight August 31.

Significant numbers of adult Chinook salmon in the North Fork that are required for brood stock are being caught and released by steelhead anglers. All adult Chinook now in the North Fork downstream of the hatchery trap will be needed to meet the brood-stock goal.

Dworshak Hatchery is behind schedule in acquiring Chinook brood stock, and catch-and-release related Chinook mortalities could contribute to a brood-stock shortfall.

The trapping period for spring Chinook at Dworshak will continue until the end of August.

The fall catch-and-release season on the North Fork Clearwater River will resume September 1 and remain open through October 14.

If you have questions or comments you can contact Idaho Fish and Game 208-334-3746.

Clearwater Region Chinook Salmon Update (6/26/13)

This is a message from IDF&G Regional Fisheries Manager, Joe DuPont:

Hi everybody, this is the Clearwater Region Chinook Salmon update for the week of June 17-23. 

We have decided to close down the Chinook salmon fishery on the Little Salmon.   The final harvest numbers are shown in the tables below.  As you will notice there are still fish on our harvest share, but at this point our main concern is to make brood stock needs.  We still have around 500 more adults we need to collect so we want to be on the safe side and help insure we get the fish we need.   

The Hells Canyon salmon fishery will remain open 7 days a week until further notice.  The fishing was extremely slow there last week as only 2 adults were caught.    

I know this season was not the same as we have experienced the last few years and at times seemed/was confusing and unfair.  I think, despite these issues, we should not forget that at times we experienced some incredible fishing as we documented some of the higher catch rates we have seen for some time.  Unfortunately, when we have these types of catch rates, the fishery can’t last long when the run is down.  Several people have asked me if we could meet and talk about this fishery while issues are fresh in their minds.  I think this is a great idea, and as such, would like to invite anybody who can make it to the Clearwater Hatchery near Orofino on July 18 at 6:00 PM to talk about this year’s Chinook salmon management in the Clearwater Region.  I want to make it clear that at this meeting we will not make any decisions.  This will just be an opportunity to brainstorm ideas, ask questions, and get a better feel for why we managed the Chinook season the way we did.  We will summarize what we discuss at this meeting and present it in a future e-mail as well as at the public meetings next winter where others can comment on any ideas that came forward.  For those of you who can’t make it to this meeting, you can always send (e-mail/call) me your ideas and thoughts, and I will summarize them as well for the next winters public meetings.  I hope to see some of you at this meeting.

This will about wrap it up for my weekly spring Chinook salmon updates.  Probably the only other update I will provide is when we decide to close down the Hells Canyon spring Chinook fishery.

Stay tuned for updates on other fisheries or interesting work we are up to.

Joe DuPont

Clearwater Region Fishery Manager

Idaho Department of Fish and Game

From the Memoirs of a Super Intelligent Spring Chinook Fry

As of this morning, there were 4918 siblings at my house, a cold water flat on the 5^th floor of an incubator high rise just south of the mother water.  Life here is tolerable, if not measurably pleasant. 

Snapshot: Hello Jack, Hello Jenny, oh pardon me, I’m sorry for bumping you, Who just smacked me with their tail, Hmm I think I’ll just lay down for a little nap.

Today I was working on eating the last of my yolk sack and stitching myself up (I’m trying the new dissolving sutures and will compare to the natural method applied by my co-habitants) when unexpectedly there was a bright light, the water sloshed and there, I kid you not, stood the most hideous monstrosity I have ever seen, so huge, its’ horrendous face clad in fur, peering in at us.  My mother once told me, well, umm, my instincts passed onto me from my mother told me SWIM!  HIDE!  RELEASE BUBBLES!

Snapshot:  Out of my way Jack!  Move it Jill!  Well that’s what you get for being slow.  Every fish for itself!  Move over, there’s room for one more!

The cloth laden beast grasped my home in its malformed appendages and pulled it out of the water.  Can you say utter chaos?  I almost believed the sandwich board Jill used to wear around that read “The end is dry”.  The goliath ripped the roof off and then dumped us head over fin, into…

A big white sea filled with others of my kind.  Thousands of my kind, from different mothers, with different spot patterns.  Granted, many were screaming and hiding and I can’t really blame them as our house did just get capsized by a leviathan, but I knew we were on the verge of something great.  For one thing, if I chose, I didn’t have to sleep sandwiched by my brothers, and for another, I could swim!

 “Brothers, Sisters” I shouted.  “This is one small swim for Chinook, and one giant swim for Chinook kind!  Gather round and I shall tell you my vision.”

Unfortunately they were too busy hiding, but, not every fish can be a super intelligent Chinook fry.  Then the light grew dim and our home began to move.

Most of my brothers and sisters were starting to calm down.  There is something about a wave pool that’s just so relaxing.  Suddenly a hatch, here to for unknown, opened and out we all went down the water slide until splashdown, into the massive place I now call home.

Snapshot:  Queue Wipeout by the Surfaris.  Fish in Bermuda shorts and shades, Hula skirted salmon, lays, a fishy festival of fun!

By day’s end, our first actual day in the sun, the world was our oyster, and we found our new home was the pearl.  8 square meals, oxygen galore, a flow to die for, seasons, light cycles, protection from predators, and 100,000 new friends (all named Jack, Jill and Jenny).

Text by Jeremy Sommer

Photos by Angela Feldmann

Fish On! Another Fun Kids' Fishing Day

Under a cloudy gray sky, Dworshak National Fish Hatchery (Hatchery) held its 23^rd annual Kid’s Fishing Day on May 18, 2013. The Hatchery partnered with Nez Perce Fisheries and held the event at Tunnel Pond just east of Orofino, ID. Hatchery volunteers and staff, along with local volunteers from the Clearwater Sheriff’s department, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Nez Perce National Historic Park, Dworshak State Park, and the local school district helped bring this year’s event together.

Fishing opened at 8:00 for kids 14 and under. The Hatchery, Nez Perce Tribe, and local vendors provided poles, bait, nets and expertize to assist youth in their day of fishing. Each child was allowed three fish and no kid went home empty handed!

The morning was a little drizzly but by 10:30 or so the threat of rain subsided and folks started to really show up. Cool weather and overcast skies made for great fishing conditions so it didn’t take long to reach the 3 fish limit. But there was much more for the children to do besides fish! Volunteers were on hand to help kids make artful fishing flies, create Japanese fish prints, and make pine cone bird feeders. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) had their Cast a Carp game out so kids could perfect their casting skills. Dworshak State Park (IDPR) taught kids how to make bird feeders from recycled objects and provided supplies to make pine cone bird feeders. The Nez Perce National Historical Park (NPS) brought out a great display of historical fishing gear. Clearwater County Sheriff deputies brought out their jet skis and taught kids about water safety. The Nez Perce Tribe put up a teepee and the Hatchery taught kids how to make a “shore lunch” by cleaning and cooking each kid’s catch. The Guide Shop provided all the bait for the event and Ronatta’s Cakery provided cookies to go along with the shore lunch.

The event had 94 registered kids, about the same as last year’s event. Staff helped net fish, bait hooks, provide casting lessons, ice caught fish, and even gave fish cleaning lessons. It was a wonderful day and everyone had a great time.

This event would not have been possible without the commitment from our Hatchery volunteers, the Nez Perce Fisheries, the IDFG, the Clearwater County Sheriff Department, the NPS, IDPR , the Guide Shop, Ronatta’s Cakery, and funding from the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan.

Text and Photo's by Angela Feldmann