The Crystal Springs Hatchery Program was contracted in early 2010 to develop a conceptual plan for producing two species of fish, Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout and Snake River Chinook Salmon, to supplement Tribal fisheries both on and off the Reservation.  In 2012 the Tribes submitted a conceptual plan to re-develop a hatchery facility located near Pingree that BPA had purchased in 1997 to use as a Tribal project site for rearing Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.  This conceptual plan was approved by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in August of that year following an independent evaluation of the science behind the proposal.  The approval was based on a program that would produce hatchery fish for release in the Fort Hall Bottoms (Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout), the Yankee Fork Salmon River and Panther Creek (both watersheds would receive Spring/Summer Chinook salmon smolts).

The Tribes completed designs for all facilities over the next eighteen months and in September 2013 the Bonneville Power Administration, US Forest Service, and NOAA-Fisheries began the environmental review of that proposal.  The environmental review process included an evaluation of the program for effects to endangered species and impacts from federal actions connected to the program via the NEPA process.  On parallel tracks the Tribes engaged in required Endangered Species Act consultation with NOAA-Fisheries and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as an Environmental Impact Statement to obtain special use permits from the US Forest Service and approval to spend capital funds allocated by Bonneville Power Administration to construct the hatchery facilities.

The Draft EIS was completed and public comments were received in June 2017, as well as the final submittals of required materials for the ESA consultations with NOAA-Fisheries and the USFWS.  On a concurrent track, BPA and the Tribes developed draft construction and realty memorandum to describe roles and responsibilities for implementing the project described in the DEIS.  However, in August 2017 a significant issue was identified with the rearing and release of Sockeye Salmon smolts from the IDFG Springfield Hatchery, located approximately one mile north of the proposed Crystal Springs site.  The water chemistry difference between the Springfield Hatchery and release site at Redfish Lake Creek was so dramatic that smolts experienced acute mortality near 100% of the total release within 36 hours.  This issue forced BPA to ‘pause’ the environmental review while we performed a study on Chinook salmon smolts to see if the same issue would arise for that species.

Chinook juveniles for the experiment was obtained from the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery to rear approximately 100,000 Chinook salmon smolts at the Springfield Hatchery for release into the Yankee Fork in April 2019.  Based on the results of this study, where Chinook reared in analogous conditions to the proposed Crystal Springs site, the Tribes determined continuing with the previous plan of rearing Chinook at that location carried a significant risk for a new hatchery program.  The intent of this contract is to implement an alternative strategy for the Crystal Springs program that will meet the basic objective of building fisheries in the Salmon River basin and rear resident trout for the Fort Hall Reservation.  Further, this alternative approach will remain cognizant of budget constraints and meet the available capital described in this memorandum.  In summary, the proposed planning process described below would bifurcate production facilities based on species, making use of the BPA purchased Crystal Springs site to rear Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout only and evaluating an in-watershed hatchery facility in the Salmon River basin for Chinook salmon.  

Through a planning process that spanned almost nine years of research and studies, the Tribes’ technical staff has determined that a full hatchery program in the Yankee Fork, and likely the rearing of Chinook salmon at Crystal Springs may not result in the best possible hatchery program for the Tribes.  Based on the review of available data from these studies, technical staff recommends continuing small-scale studies in the Yankee Fork Salmon River under Project 2008-905-00 (SBT Supplementation), while focusing on Chinook hatchery production in Panther Creek or the East Fork Salmon River and at the Crystal Springs site for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.  From a capital perspective, this construction process would facilitate the immediate construction of a Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Hatchery at the existing site and provide adequate time to locate an in-watershed hatchery for Chinook salmon production in the Salmon River basin.