After a brief pause, work to expand operations at two federal fish hatcheries in north central Idaho took a few steps forward Monday morning.
A state water resource committee recommended spending $650,000 dollars for engineering work on the project, which would build a new pipeline to funnel water from Dworshak Reservoir to the hatcheries.
Right now, the hatcheries pump water from the Clearwater River into their rearing containers.
“That water supply was inadequate in volume to completely water up all of the rearing containers,” said Ed Schriever, a former Idaho Fish and Game director who now serves on a regional energy and environmental group.
Schriever said the current water supply also potentially introduces diseases from adult salmon and steelhead into the juvenile population.
Right now, the two hatcheries combined produce 5.8 million juvenile Chinook salmon and 2.9 million juvenile steelhead. The new pipeline, Schriever said, could add another 2.9 million Chinook to the mix.
“These increases could produce over 15,000 more adult Chinook salmon returning, on average, per year,” he said.
The Army Corps of Engineers had planned to fund the engineering work in 2025, but it was put on hold. If approved, Schriever said the work would begin in April 2027 at the earliest.
The full project is estimated to cost $60 million.
The full Idaho Water Resource Board plans to vote on authorizing the engineering portion of the proposal at its meeting next month.
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