2005 Mount Adams Fish Plant Story and Photos

FISH PLANTING IN THE INDIAN HEAVEN WILDERNESS

 

 For the last eight  or nine years  the Mt. Adams Chapter BCHW has been assisting the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife by volunteering to help plant trout in lakes in the Indian Heaven Wilderness.  The fish plant is coordinated by Washington State hatcheries manager Ron Ballard who is a member of our Chapter.  On Sept. 18, 2005 we planted 4250 Twin Lakes Cutthroat in 8 lakes.

 The Twin Lakes area is a small wilderness north of Wenatchee.  The eggs are collected from fish that enter tributary streams of Lake Wenatchee ready to spawn.  These trout are live spawned and live to return to their lakes.  The eggs are back-packed out and incubated at a local hatchery then shipped to the hatchery at Goldendale where they are reared to the planting size of 200 to the pound.

 On fish planting day,  the tiny trout are weighed into a water tank on the hatchery truck and hauled to the East Crater Trailhead to meet with the pack horses and handlers to finish their journey to their new homes.  The fish are again weighed and poured into a measured amount of water in collapsible plastic jugs. As an example, 800 fish (4 pounds) in two jugs were planned for the Blue Lake release. The air is forced out of the jug and pure oxygen pumped back in.     From this time on the object is to get the trout to the lakes as quickly as possible for the safety of the fish.

 Jerry Throop with his pack horse and with Craig Schuster and Jim Pence headed out first with fish for Woods Lake and Deer Lake.  Our group was next with Joe and Pam Bates and their two pack horses, Fred and Mary Jette, and me, Connie Baugher.  (I got to go because I know the Indian Heaven fairly well.)  We planted Blue Lake, Sahalee Tyee, Naha Lake and Rock Lake.  The last group was Dave Welch with his pack horse and Craig Vance.  They planted Bear Lake and Elk Lake. 

This is a working ride;and because we are going into a wilderness,we are limited as to the size of each group.   This year we had beautiful weather and terrible ground yellow jackets.  I think every horse was stung at least once and some many times.  Other years the fish have been hauled in pouring rain that sometimes mixed with snow.  All in all, this is an interesting project for our Chapter to be involved in.  It earns us volunteer hours for BCHW for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Jerry Heading Out

Transferring the fish

Ron Ballard filling the jug with oxygen