Entiat National Fish Hatchery

Facility Activities

Tour the Hatchery

Visitors are welcome to tour our hatchery. In summer, a volunteer may be on hand to show you around. Although our small staff is busy, we can help answer your questions, too.

A kids fishing pond was installed on the property in 2012. The pond is open for fishing only during the Entiat Outdoor Skills Days program, when local students make field trips to the hatchery. Many trees were planted around the pond, too. Visit each year and see how this reclaimed landscape changes over time!

Pets must be on a leash.

Walk for Wildlife

Behind the hatchery’s main building and nursery, a trail crosses the outlet from our abatement pond and leads to the river. Follow the graveled riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.

Learn more about riparian trail through a stand of cottonwood trees and enjoy sightings of birds and other wildlife.

The work of the Mid-Columbia Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office is visible from the trail. Interpretive signs show how river restoration projects benefit wildlife and people.

Fishing

Entiat National Fish Hatchery raises summer Chinook salmon, releasing them into the Entiat River to make their way to the Pacific Ocean. Many are harvested in commercial, sport and tribal fisheries from the Entiat River to southeast Alaska. Visit the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife...

Hiking

Enjoy the Red Willow Trail, a short stroll beside the Entiat River, with interpretive signs. Dogs on leash, please.

Wildlife watching

Our site has a steep hillside, a spring, a wetland, and borders the river, making this place attractive to all kinds of wildlife. Be alert: that includes rattlesnakes and cougars!

Birding

A great variety of habitat is found on our site. Look for nesting birds in the wetland and riverside thickets in spring, including a bald eagle nest in one of the tall cottonwood trees!

Fish viewing

Our summer Chinook salmon spend a portion of their lives inside the nursery and in our outside ponds, where you can see them. Fishing in the trout pond is reserved for special school programs, but is a pleasant stop while touring the hatchery.