Monitoring and evaluation of the Colville Tribes' Resident Fish Hatchery (CRFH) provides feedback that helps guide future stocking and management strategies as part of an adaptive management process.  The hatchery was created because federal hydropower projects, as well as private power utility systems, had and continue to have devastating impacts on anadromous and resident fish resources that once flourished in the Columbia River and its tributaries.  Historical fish migrations were blocked by dams and their habitat was altered, negatively impacting a primary food resource (i.e., fish) for many native peoples.  To replace these lost resources, many native peoples now rely heavily upon stocked fish.  Artificial production at CRFH seeks to provide some mitigation for the loss of fish resources in the Upper Columbia Sub-Region within the "blocked area" created by the construction of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams through hatchery supplementation and harvest augmentation (i.e., in-place, out-of-kind mitigation).  This artificial production program is part of the Northwest Power and Conservation Councils resident fish substitution policy identified in their Fish and Wildlife Program.  Specifically, the project monitors and evaluates resident fisheries and CRFH stocking strategies within the Colville Confederated Tribes' Reservation portion of the Upper Columbia, Sanpoil, and Okanogan Sub-Basins.

Primary objectives for the 2016–2017 performance period include:

1. Monitoring and evaluating stocking strategies implemented on all Reservation lakes and streams. Evaluation will be based on specific metrics defined for each waterbody.
2. Monitoring water quality/habitat in stocked lakes.
3. Implement a study that assesses the influence of saltwater transition feed on post-stocking survival of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Omak Lake.
4. Identify Lahontan Cutthroat Trout broodstock origin, genetic purity, genetic variation compare to other populations, and the potential for inbreeding depression.
5. Improve Lahontan Cutthroat Trout access to historic spawning tributary.
6. Monitoring stocked Rainbow Trout movement in the Nespelem River to identify emigration rates into Rufus Woods Lake.
7. Monitor nutrient and water quality conditions, and map habitat (i.e., bathymetry) in Omak Lake.
8. Complete draft of the Kokanee and Rainbow Trout carrying capacity study on Buffalo Lake.
9. Complete draft of the Brook Trout carrying capacity study on Owhi Lake.