Projects and Research
Wyoming Toad
Saratoga National Fish Hatchery adopted a unique role in becoming the first hatchery in the National Fish Hatchery System to become involved in rearing endangered amphibians. The Wyoming toad was a common sight on areas of the Laramie Plains, Albany County, Wyoming, into the early 1970s but the populations crashed in the mid-1970s. The Wyoming toad was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in January 1984. Found only in southwestern Wyoming, the Wyoming toad is considered the most endangered amphibian in North America. The hatchery maintains a captive population for breeding, rearing, and refugia, and the offspring from this program will be used for reintroduction efforts.
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
Saratoga National Fish Hatchery rears and stocks native Yellowstone cutthroat trout into several lowland lakes and high mountain wilderness lakes on the Wind River Reservation in a continuing effort to enhance and maintain this native trout species. Invasions by exotic trout species have greatly diminished the distribution and abundance of Yellowstone cutthroat trout, potentially threatening cutthroat trout persistence in its natural range of the Wind River drainage of Wyoming. Restoration efforts for native Yellowstone cutthroat trout on the Wind River Indian Reservation are only possible with a consistent, genetically pure, quality hatchery and rearing program.