CDFW Announces Completion of New Nimbus Hatchery Fish Passage Project

GOLD RIVER一 The Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Fish and Wildlife celebrated the completion of the new Nimbus Hatchery Fish Passage Project on Nov. 2. The project was over a decade in the making and created a new fish ladder that has been designed to improve hatchery operations and has relocated the entrance upstream to open up additional in-river spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead.

The ladder also has underwater viewing windows and an outdoor gathering space for visitors.

“Not only will this new and improved fish ladder greatly improve our hatchery operations and efficiencies at Nimbus, we’ve moved the ladder entrance to lessen the disturbance for those salmon and steelhead spawning naturally in the river,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham in a Nov. 2 press release. “We’re proud to be part of a project that simultaneously benefits both our hatchery operations and wild-spawned fish and improves the visitor experience along the river and ladder for our Sacramento-area constituents who love to tour this facility, even though it has been closed recently due to COVID-19.”