Mt. Adams Institute Mt. Adams Institute
  • About Us
    • Programs
      • Overview
      • VetsWork Environment
      • VetsWork GreenCorps
      • Education Programs
      • Public Lands Stewards
    • About
      • Our Mission
      • Our Impact
      • Our Staff
      • The Board
      • DEI Commitment
      • Lodging
      • Program Partners
    • Our Interns
      • VetsWork Environment Interns
      • VetsWork GreenCorps Interns
      • Public Lands Stewards Interns
    • Contact Us
      • Reach HQ
      • Live & Social
      • Staff Employment
  • Internships
    • VetsWork Environment
    • VetsWork Greencorps
    • Public Lands Stewards
  • Summer Camps
  • Sense of Place
    • Lecture Series
    • Hear in the Gorge
    • Community Workshops
  • Blog
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Gift A Scholarship
    • Sense of Place Lecture Series Sponsorship
    • Capital Campaign
    • Volunteer
Close
  • About Us
    • Programs
      • Overview
      • VetsWork Environment
      • VetsWork GreenCorps
      • Education Programs
      • Public Lands Stewards
    • About
      • Our Mission
      • Our Impact
      • Our Staff
      • The Board
      • DEI Commitment
      • Lodging
      • Program Partners
    • Our Interns
      • VetsWork Environment Interns
      • VetsWork GreenCorps Interns
      • Public Lands Stewards Interns
    • Contact Us
      • Reach HQ
      • Live & Social
      • Staff Employment
  • Internships
    • VetsWork Environment
    • VetsWork Greencorps
    • Public Lands Stewards
  • Summer Camps
  • Sense of Place
    • Lecture Series
    • Hear in the Gorge
    • Community Workshops
  • Blog
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Gift A Scholarship
    • Sense of Place Lecture Series Sponsorship
    • Capital Campaign
    • Volunteer

Since getting hired by the Mt. Adams Institute through the VetsWork AmeriCorps program in March, it has been an extremely busy time learning how fish hatcheries operate. I began my first day of work at the Carson National Fish Hatchery in Washington on March 25th, 2019. Since then, I’ve been exposed to how much work is involved at a hatchery verses what I thought previously. Hatchery work is physically taxing most of the year; there are busier times of the year than others, depending on what kinds of fish are being raised. For Carson, we release 1.42 million fish a year, and have double that amount for a majority of that time. From what I’ve been told so far, the winter and spring seasons are the absolute busiest.

Within two weeks of working at the hatchery, I learned how to set up a massive pump that safely takes the fish out of their raceways, and pumps them up vertically to the top of water tanker trucks for transporting the fish to another location. In that case, approximately 250,000 fish were transported to Walla Walla. Once the fish arrive via hoses up to the tanker trucks, they are put into brackish water, which helps keep the fish calm. One of the biggest killers of fish is stress. After about 5 hours of crowding the fish down the raceways towards the pump, we successfully loaded up two tanker trucks.

Also, we recently released our smolts, fish that have been raised about 18 months at the hatchery, to the Wind River. We released a total close to 1.17 million. We’ll be lucky if only 1-2 percent return. That was a full day of pulling boards, monitoring water levels, and ensuring safe passage for those fish.

Just recently, we have had a marking crew on site to clip fins and insert a small wore tag into the nose of our remaining 1.42 million salmon. It’s been a great experience meeting the crew and learning the importance of the whole process.

I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity the Mt. Adams Institute has provided via the VetsWork AmeriCorps umbrella, and I hope this story inspires others to look into giving back to our natural world.

Share

FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest

Leave a Reply / Cancel Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join Our Mailing List

Be sure to add your name to the roster, so we can send you latest news, jobs, events and resources.

Make a Donation

Make a Donation

Recent Posts

  • 2022 VetsWork Environment: Taylor Payton
  • 2022 VetsWork Environment: Samuel Kauffman
  • 2022 VetsWork Environment: Robert Alwood
  • 2022 VetsWork Environment: Lupe Zavala
  • 2022 VetsWork Environment: Donald Hollingsworth

Categories

  • Bulletin
  • Cascade Mountain School
  • Fun & Miscellaneous
  • Mountain Talk
  • Public Lands Stewards
  • VetsWork Environment
  • VetsWork Greencorps

Check Out Instagram

View

Jul 16

Open
It was so much fun teaching mtadamsinstitute summer botany camp yesterday. The kids had a blast learning about plants and natural dyes. We had a field trip to bloomanddye to harvest fresh dye flowers and the older kids made bundle dyed bandanas. The young kids made indigo shibori bandanas and left with blue hands and blue arms! 💙🌿🌼💛 

I left exhausted with a big smile and full heart. Seeing the joy and happiness on these kids faces as they saw what they created was a treat. 

#naturaldyes 
#bundledye 
#indigo 
#indigodyed 
#botany 
#summercamp 
#mtadamsinstitute 
#troutlakewashington
161 24

View

Apr 19

Open
She’s off for her school overnight trip! She handled all of her own packing and I am fully confident that means she’ll have at least 95% of the things she really needs. Girlfriend is on top of it! #urchinadventures #montessorikids #overnightfieldtrip #cascademountainschool
32 1

View

Jan 14

Open
Blue Hour at Mount Adams, The #bluehour is the period of #twilight when the Sun is at a significant depth below the horizon and residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue shade.
______________________________

#mtadamsinstitute  #mountainreflections  #explorewashstate #pnwonderland #cascadiaexplored #cascadia #wonderfulwashington #wonderfulwashingtonstate #pnwescapes #pnwadventures #pnwadventurers #pnwcrew #pnw_shooters #mtadams #giffordpinchotnationalforest #giffordpinchot #pnwphotographer #pnwphotography #leavenotrace #washingtonphotography #bluehourphotography #klickitatcounty #photography #blue #light #landscapephotography #landscapephotographer #mountains
55 11

View

Aug 5

Open
Missing camp
#cascademountainschool
164 3

View

Dec 6

Open
Mt Adams in August 
•
•
•
#pnw #mtadams #adamssummit #mtadamssummit #mtadamswilderness #mtadamsinstitute #pnwonderland #pnwlife #pnwadventures #washington #summit #alpine
47 1
Load More
  • Back to Blog
  • Prev
  • Next



© Copyright 2021 Mt. Adams Institute. All rights reserved.
Mt. Adams Institute is an equal opportunity employer.
contact us | partnership inquiries | site by Greta Rose Agency