The Abridged version:
- Sacramento-area elected officials are responding to funding cuts at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.
- Some plan to send letters, while others are monitoring the situation as it moves ahead.
- The hatchery was closed to visitors in the summer and has scaled back its operations in recent months due to federal budget cuts.
Three and a half months after operations at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery started to falter due to federal budget cuts, local elected officials are beginning a push to restore its funding.
Signs that something was wrong at the popular local destination began over the summer when it closed to visitors for two months. Then, at the beginning of October, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the hatchery would halve its fish production this year in response to insufficient funding from the federal Bureau of Reclamation.
Now, representatives from the region are starting to respond.
Local representatives say they paying attention
“This funding is essential to maintaining healthy fish populations and strengthening our local economy, and I’ll continue working to reverse these harmful cuts by the Administration,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Ami Bera said in a written statement. He and his staff met with the California Natural Resources Agency and plan on writing a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation demanding full restoration of funding for the hatchery.
In the state Legislature, Assemblymember Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, is writing a letter and recruiting co-signers in support of restoring the hatchery’s funding. Teresa Trujillo, Hoover’s chief of staff, said the letter will also discuss rising costs for the hatchery.
State Senator Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said he will pay attention to the situation as it moves forward.
“The Nimbus Fish Hatchery is an important resource to the greater Sacramento (V)alley, and I will be closely monitoring as the Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife try to find a solution to preserve the hatchery’s funding,” he said in a text message.
A local favorite
A longtime favorite for local school tours, fishing enthusiasts and wildlife watchers, the Nimbus Fish Hatchery is funded with federal money and operated by the state at the northeast edge of Gold River. For decades, the facility has bolstered California’s Chinook salmon population by hatching, raising and releasing millions of fish into the lower American River. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, fish from the hatchery represent a significant portion of the state’s commercial and recreational salmon fishery, which has struggled in recent years.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s latest allocation to Nimbus Fish Hatchery is insufficient to maintain historical levels of production, CDFW says. Funding cuts and rising costs have left the hatchery with a budget gap of $660,000 — from $3.2 million down to $2.5 million. The cut forced the hatchery to slash its fish production for the coming year in half.
“These reductions come at a critical time for fall-run Chinook recovery,” CDFW said in an emailed statement. “After three years of closed commercial fishing and limited recreational opportunity, the hatchery’s output is essential to rebuilding stocks and supporting fisheries across the state.”
The state doesn’t yet have any plans to step in. H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the state Department of Finance, said there have been no discussions about the state making up for the lost federal funds at the hatchery.
In the meantime, salmon and steelhead hatched and reared in previous years will soon make their way up the lower American River. This year, those that make it to the end of their run at Nimbus will likely arrive at a hatchery producing far fewer fish than it has in the past.
Related from PBS KVIE: Rob on the Road: Nimbus Fish Hatchery
Daniel Hennessy is a reporter at Abridged.