Reclamation releases steelhead into American River

The US Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Fish and Wildlife released more than 400,000 steelhead trout into the Lower American River earlier this month according to a statement on the Agency’s website.

“Reclamation is appreciative of our partnership with CDFW to operate our Nimbus Fish Hatchery on the Lower American River,” said Drew Lessard, Central California area office manager. “Despite the challenges we faced from the pandemic, CDFW was still able to fulfill the production goals for the steelhead trout this year.”

The trout were hatched at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in 2020 and are around 10 inches long and marked with an adipose-fin clip. Fin-clipping is done to ensure hatchery-raised fish are properly identified as such to anglers, as well as fisheries biologists.

CDFW spawns and releases steelhead trout at Nimbus Fish Hatchery and releases them at various locations under a federal financial agreement with Reclamation. This requirement was established in the 1950s by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as mitigation for Reclamation’s construction of Folsom and Nimbus dams on the Lower American River.