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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Southwest Washington hatchery is ceasing production due to funding constraints.
The Skamania Hatchery — which produces about 250,000 summer steelhead, 100,000 winter steelhead and 16,000 cutthroat trout annually — is set to close, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed to KOIN 6. The agency attributed the Washougal facility’s closure to the operating and capital budgets that were approved by Gov. Bob Ferguson in May.
WDFW noted that it requested $1.9 million for operations at its Skamania and North Toutle hatcheries for the 2025-2027 biennium, but it received just $750,000. The federal Mitchell Act — which established funding for the Columbia River Basin’s salmon and steelhead production starting in 1938 — has also been “chronically stagnant,” according to the agency.
“Skamania Hatchery plays a valuable role in supporting fisheries and conservation goals in southwest Washington,” a WDFW spokesperson said in a statement. “The significant shortfall in state funding we received — just 40% of our request to backfill recent federal funding cuts — left us no viable option but to move towards closure of this facility. We worked to shift or modify production where possible, but we are disappointed in this outcome and recognize the implications it has for local communities, anglers, and conservation work.”
Officials revealed they chose to maintain operations at the North Toutle Hatchery because it produces tule fall Chinook and coho — two species that support fisheries along the Pacific Ocean, as well as along the Columbia, Cowlitz, and Toutle rivers. They also claimed that rolling back Chinook production could potentially violate Pacific Salmon Treaty, tribal agreements, and Washington’s Southern Resident Killer Whale Recovery executive order.
The Skamania Hatchery’s closure, which will go into effect after its current production is released, has far-reaching impacts for WDFW’s other facilities and operations.
For example, the Washougal River’s summer steelhead plant will drop by 45,000 fish, and 30,000 summer steelhead that the Skamania facility were set to release will now be transferred to the Beaver Creek Hatchery as green eggs.
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Jashayla Pettigrew
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