The Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery, located in Independence

Independence, California

Independence is the county seat of Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet . The population of this census-designated place was 669 at the 2010 census, up from 574 at the 2000 census....

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in the United States, is an historic fish hatchery

Fish hatchery

A fish hatchery is a "place for artificial breeding, hatching and rearing through the early life stages of animals, finfish and shellfish in particular". Hatcheries produce larval and juvenile fish primarily to support the aquaculture industry where they are transferred to on-growing systems...

 that has played an important role in the preservation of the golden trout

Golden Trout

The golden trout is a sub-species of the rainbow trout, and it closley resembles the juvenile Rainbow trout. The fish is also known as the California golden trout and is native to Golden Trout Creek, Volcano Creek and the South Fork Kern River. Another variant, O. m...

, California's state fish.

Construction

The facility was built and operated by the California State Fish & Game Commission, now known as the California Department of Fish and Game

California Department of Fish and Game

The California Department of Fish and Game is a department within the government of California, falling under its parent California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Game manages and protects the state's diverse fish, wildlife, plant resources, and native habitats...

. Starting in 1915, the citizens of Independence began a local fundraising drive to purchase a site for a proposed state fish hatchery. $1,500.00 was raised, and an ideal 40 acres (16.2 ha) site was purchased on Oak Creek, just north of the town. Fish and Game Commissioner M. J. Connell instructed the design team led by Charles Dean of the State Department of Engineering "to design a building that would match the mountains, would last forever, and would be a showplace for all time." The architectural style they chose is Tudor Revival. Construction began in March, 1916, with a final budget of approximately $60,000.00. The walls of the building are constructed using 3500 short tons (3,125 LT) of native granite collected within a quarter mile (400 m) of the site. The walls are two to three feet (600 to 900 mm) thick. The roof is red Spanish tile made in Lincoln

Lincoln, California

Lincoln is a city in Placer County, California, United States located in the metropolitan area of Sacramento. The population was 42,819 at the 2010 census, with a growth rate of 282.1 percent since 2000 , making it the fastest growing city in the U.S...

, California.

Operation

When construction was completed in 1917, it was the largest and best equipped hatchery in California and could produce 2,000,000 fish fry per year. Initially, fish eggs were collected from the Rae Lakes

Rae Lakes

Rae Lakes is a series of lakes in the Sierra Nevada, located in Kings Canyon National Park, eastern Fresno County, California. The lakes are located on the John Muir Trail....

 and were transported to the hatchery by mule train. Starting in 1918, golden trout eggs were collected from the Cottonwood Lakes, and production of golden trout continued until 2008. This program was the sole source of California golden trout eggs for 90 years.

In July of 1931, the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery and the Colorado Fish Commission traded 30,000 Colorado River cutthroat trout

Colorado River cutthroat trout

The Colorado River cutthroat trout is a subspecies of cutthroat trout native only to the Green and Colorado River basins, which are west of the Continental Divide...

 eggs for 25,000 golden trout eggs. The resulting Colorado cutthroat fry were planted in remote High Sierra

High Sierra

High Sierra is an early heist film and film noir written by W.R. Burnett and John Huston from the novel by Burnett. The movie features Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart and was directed by Raoul Walsh on location at Whitney Portal, halfway up Mount Whitney.The screenplay was co-written by Bogart's...

 lakes at very high elevations. Over the following 50 years, the population in Colorado became endangered due to habitat destruction and interbreeding with other species of trout. The cutthroats now living in California remained pure. In 1987, California and Colorado cooperated to transplant 50 genetically pure cutthroats back to a remote lake in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado.It features majestic mountain views, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails...

, where they thrived.

Proposed closure

In 1996, the California Department of Fish and Game proposed closing the hatchery due to budget cuts. Local and statewide opposition to the closure developed, and instead, a plan was approved to save the facility in order to "provide the public with an interpretation of the historical significance of the hatchery, knowledge of the hatchery's function and an understanding of our natural resources". Legislation was passed designating the "Friends of the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery" as a private group authorized to lease part of the hatchery in order to maintain and preserve it, in coordination with the State Office of Historic Preservation.

Wildfire and mudslide

On July 5, 2007, a 55000 acres (22,257.7 ha) wildfire burned upstream to the west of the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery. As a result, a year later, on July 12, 2008, a heavy thunderstorm caused a massive mudslide in the fire-scarred Oak Creek watershed that swept downstream, severely damaging the ponds and water supplies of the hatchery, as well as two employee housing units. The main building escaped major damage.The Friends of the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery organized restoration work that allowed the interpretive center and display pond to re-open on May 30, 2009. However, the future of full-scale hatchery production is uncertain.

The first group of fish to come out of the hatchery in three years were planted in Diaz Lake

Diaz Lake

Diaz Lake is located in the Owens Valley, just south of Lone Pine, California, United States.-History:The lake was formed by the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake on Tuesday, March 26 of that year when of the Owens Valley dropped approximately 20 feet and a new spring opened, causing water to fill the...

, and a Kids Fishing Day was held in May, 2010. An expanded interpretive center is in the planning stages.