Officials with Fish and Game, Magic Valley Region have announced that the Niagara Spring Hatchery will be closed to public access for the next several months due to construction activities. It is anticipated that the hatchery grounds will re-open to the public in early 2021.
Construction has already begun on a new sturgeon hatchery within the existing Niagara Spring Fish Hatchery grounds. Funded by Idaho Power, sturgeon reared at the new hatchery will go to support recreational fishing opportunities for these large fish in the Snake River. It is anticipated that the hatchery will raise 2,500 fish each year from eggs collected from adult sturgeon in the Snake River above CJ Strike reservoir. Stocking is anticipated to begin in 2022 from fish raised at the Niagara Springs facility.
Niagara Springs Fish Hatchery
A second construction project will also be starting over the next several weeks at the hatchery that will put a cover over the existing raceways to provide better bio-security measures to the millions of steelhead raised at the Niagara Springs Hatchery. The cover will reduce predation on the young fish by both bird and mammal predators, as well as reduce the potential of introducing other diseases that could wipe out entire raceways full of young steelhead.
The Niagara Springs Fish Hatchery is located approximately 10 miles south of Wendell, and is owned and financed by Idaho Power Company, and operated and staffed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. With a capacity to rear nearly two million steelhead smolts annually, it is one of America’s largest privately-owned steelhead rearing facilities.
Anglers can still fish Niagara Springs Creek that flows out of the canyon wall adjacent to the hatchery by accessing the park area on the east-side of the stream. This two-acre park adjacent to Niagara Springs Creek is owned by Idaho Power and includes a restroom, picnic tables, barbecue grills and refuse containers.
For more information, please call the Magic Valley Regional Office at (208) 324-4359.