LEAVENWORTH, Wash. - The Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service today signed a joint record of decision selecting the preferred alternative proposed for the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Surface Water Intake Fish Screens and Fish Passage Project to improve conditions for anadromous and resident fish and their habitats. The project is designed to rehabilitate, replace, and modernize the hatchery's water intake and delivery system on Icicle Creek.
The selected alternative includes building new headworks, installing National Marine Fisheries Service-compliant fish screens, constructing a creek-width roughened channel, and replacing and lining the surface water conveyance pipeline to the hatchery. The selected alternative is anticipated to result in benefits to Endangered Species Act-listed fish while improving employee safety when operating and maintaining the intake and delivery structures, and increasing the reliability and longevity of the water delivery system.
The Bureau of Reclamation evaluated the impacts of the project on the natural and human environment and made its decision to support the selected alternative based on the best available commercial and scientific information.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through its role as owner and operator of LNFH has assisted with the preparation of this environmental impact statement, served as a cooperating agency throughout the process and is a joint signatory of the record of decision.
The LNFH was designed and constructed in the late 1930s as mitigation for the impacts to anadromous fish resulting from the construction and operation of Grand Coulee Dam. The hatchery, which is owned and operated by the USFWS and funded by Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration, currently raises and releases 1.2 million spring chinook salmon smolts annually into Icicle Creek.
The signing of the joint record of decision completes the requirements for the National Environmental Policy Act. The final EIS was released on March 26, 2021, and is available for download at https://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/leavenworth/swisp/feis.html. The record of decision is also available on this same website or on request by contacting Jason Sutter at (208) 378-5313 or jasutter@usbr.gov.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
