Sawtooth Cleaning Waste Ponds Stop #4
This series of ponds are part of the hatchery's effort to release clean water back into the river after it has been used. Water from the raceways flows into the cleaning ponds consecutively, and any particulates which may be in the water settle to the bottom.It takes about three hours for one complete volume of raceway water to pass through each pond. Water then flows into the sedimentation basins.

 

Sawtooth Wildlife Ponds Stop #5
This pond's sole purpose is for use by the fish and wildlife in the area. It is a popular nesting area for duck's and geese. Catchable rainbow trout are also stocked into the pond.

 

Sawtooth Sedimentation Basins Stop #6
This pond is divided into three sedimentation basins. It is the last settling pond in the series used to clean the hatchery's water effluent, receiving water from the waste cleaning ponds. Each basin also has a three hour filtration period, for a total of a nine hour cycle. These ponds are also a popular spot for waterfowl.

 

Sawtooth Adult Holding Ponds & Spawning Area Stop #7
The adult spawning facility is located 300 yards downstream of the main hatchery building. This is the area where all adult fish that return to the hatchery are held. The fish are trapped at the hatchery;s fish weir, and are then sorted by gender and spawned. Steelhead are harvested from late March to early May, chinook are harvested in August.

The adult facility consists of three adult ponds and an enclosed spawning shed (32 ft x 52 ft).

The adult facility has three concrete adult fish holding ponds with 4,500 cubic ft of holding area. Each pond can hold approximately 1,300 adult salmon or steelhead.

 

Sawtooth Dormitory Building Stop #8
The temporary employee dormitory is located 300 yards downstream of the main hatchery building. The dormitory (38 ft x 72 ft) has three bedrooms with a bath in each, storage and laundry room, living and dining room with an open kitchen. There are also five resident houses at Sawtooth, all 1,360 square ft with attached single car garages.

 

Look at a sequence of pictures that lets you travel up the fish ladder from the weir to the holding ponds:
* Fish Trap 1
* Fish Trap 2
* Fish Trap 3
* Fish Trap 4
* Fish Trap 5
Sawtooth Fish Weir & Bridge Stop #9
Sawtooth Fish Hatchery weir, located on the river at the facility, is approximately 400 river miles from Lower Granite Dam and 900 river miles from the mouth of the Columbia River.

The fish weir is a barrier that is placed across the river to prevent adult fish passage upstream.

The fish are diverted at the weir into a fish ladder, and are trapped at the top in the adult holding ponds, until they can be sorted and spawned.

 

Sawtooth Visitor Parking Stop #10
Two parking areas are available to the public.
Written and compiled by Jacqueline Harvey 1999.