a fun and interesting success
One chance was last Friday, when The Twin Rivers Sturgeon and Burbot Hatchery, located in Boundary County at the confluence of the Kootenai and the Moyie rivers and operated by the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, was open to the public, providing public tours for the first time since its dedication a year ago.
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Those taking advantage of the opportunity to personally walk through and view the ambitious aquaculture program were able to see huge rooms full of large tanks, those tanks full of young sturgeon and burbot. The Tribe is working to restore healthy populations of these fish to the Kootenai River, where the fish once thrived in years past.
On Friday, visitors could join a guided tour, listen to presentations of the program given by hatchery staff, view instructional videos, pick up informative handouts about the hatchery and its aquaculture program, and grab some punch and cookies.
A
nd see drawings of sturgeon and burbot
inscribed into the sidewalks around the
hatchery.Hatchery staff released thousands of young burbot into the river in recent weeks, but held back another few thousand for the public to see at the hatchery's one-day open house.
If you did not make it to the open house, take a look at the photographs accompanying this article. It's an exciting sight to see tanks full of young sturgeon vigorously swimming, awaiting their release into the Kootenai River, along with the young burbot who seem to like to clump together, also awaiting their new river home.
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Later in the day, the Tribe provided a special meeting at the Kootenai River Inn, open to the public, where they presented information and updates about their ongoing program to restore habitat features to the Kootenai River to encourage robust and growing populations of sturgeon, burbot, and other fish and wildlife in and around the river. After the formal presentation, managers of the program and some of the experts involved took questions from the forty or so people in attendance. Interest was high, the audience had many questions, and the question and answer session itself lasted at least half an hour.'
Afterward, the doors to the Kootenai River Inn outdoor deck were opened, and the crowd was treated to direct river side views of the currently ongoing Bonners Ferry Islands project, where deep river pools have recently been constructed, along with two new islands along with restoration of river banks. At this time, the islands are being planted with appropriate vegetation. You can see our recent story with all the details and history of the Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program by clicking here--and answers to questions you may likely have about the program.
During the presentation, it was pointed out that many of the workers and operators on the project, along with several of the subcontractors involved, are local Boundary County companies and local employees.
Enjoy these photographs of the fun and informative day of the exciting program to improve the Kootenai River habitat, cultivate new generations of sturgeon and burbot, and re-introduce them into the river.
