Thursday, September 4, 2003 Iron Gate - The fish ladder at Iron Gate Hatchery has been open all summer but it has only been over the past week that workers are beginning to make regular checks for the arrival of the first of this year's salmon run.Salmon usually begin showing up at Iron Gate the first part of September, but as of Friday, no fish have been sighted yet. According to hatchery manager Kim Rushton, it is usually the middle of September before salmon begin showing up in significant numbers.

Over the last three years, Iron Gate has had record Chinook salmon runs, the largest in 2000 with 72,000 adult Chinook passing through the hatchery for spawning. Coho salmon and steelhead also return to Iron Gate, but in smaller numbers.

In 2002, over 24,000 adult Chinook salmon made their way from the ocean up the Klamath River to return to the hatchery at Iron Gate. At about the same time, wild fish return to spawn in Bogus Creek which flows into the Klamath River near the hatchery.

Over the last 30 days, hatchery employees have been catching up on maintenance projects in preparation for this year's salmon run. Every year, new improvements are added to make Iron Gate more user friendly for the public and school groups who visit the hatchery on almost a daily basis when the hatchery is at its busiest.

The steelhead run declined drastically in the 1990s, falling to almost nothing. Up until 1989, typical steelhead runs were anywhere from 1,500 to 3,500 but in 1996, the count fell to 12. In 2002, the steelhead count has made its way back to 475.

"We have some theories as to what happened," Rushton said, "but really don't know for sure."

Rushton says reports so far this year are that salmon fishing in the ocean and some of the rivers has been excellent, which could lead to a good salmon run.

"A lot of fish are being caught, which is a good sign and some fish are being caught in Happy Camp and Seiad right now," Rushton said.

Iron Gate's 11th annual open house has been planned for Oct. 25, which should fall at the peak of the salmon run. An average of 1,000 to 1,200 people visit the hatchery each year during open house to watch fish make their way up the fish ladder and loaded into a truck for transport a short distance away to the hatchery building. During open house, visitors can see hatchery crews spawning chinook salmon, fish feeding operations and eggs incubated. As a plus, visitors can also take a short walk from the hatchery parking lot to Bogus Creek and watch salmon spawn in the wild.

"We started the open house so people who work during the week would have a chance to see our spawning operations," Rushton said. "This way, we slow things down, so people can see what it is we do."

Iron Gate Hatchery is located on the Klamath River at the base of Iron Gate Dam.

- By Pat Arnold




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