What We Do
The next time you go fishing, you might just catch a fish that was raised at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery. Since 1871, National Fish Hatcheries have been responding to conservation challenges affecting America’s fish and other aquatic species. Producing fish continues to be an irreplaceable tool in managing or restoring fisheries along with habitat conservation. In doing so, we help provide recreation opportunities to America’s 34 million anglers who spend $36 billion annually in pursuit of their favored pastime.
Alteration of habitat by impoundment, drought, pollution, fragmentation, and competition with aquatic invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species have all played a part in placing a number of the Southeast’s aquatic species in peril. To address this problem, Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery is involved in the recovery and restoration of imperiled aquatic and terrestrial species.
Management and Conservation
Warm Springs NFH produces fish, freshwater mussels, tortoises, and frogs for recovery programs within the state of Georgia and throughout the Southeast Region. Every year, the hatchery stocks thousands of fish in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida. Gopher tortoises and gopher frogs are released every year across the state of Georgia.
Our Projects and Research
National Fish Hatcheries raise fish and other aquatic species – like crayfish and mussels - to help restore and sustain important fish and other aquatic species for the benefit of the American people. Freshwater mussels play very important roles in our rivers and lakes filtering the water and creating habitat for fish and aquatic insects fish like to eat. With declining fish populations and declining freshwater mussel populations becoming prevalent across the world, fish hatchery operations are important than ever.
Alligator Gar Restoration Program
Warm Springs NFH participates in the Alligator Gar Restoration Program covering the Mobile River basin in Alabama and the Mississippi River basin in Tennessee. We are helping to achieve management objectives for this top-level predator working in cooperation with other Federal Hatcheries, along with other State and Federal agencies. Alligator Gar are a valued sport fish, the second largest freshwater species in the USA, and a top-level predator, capable of consuming non-native species such as Asian Carp.
Fish Passage Project
What is a barrier to aquatic species movement? These obstacles prevent fish or other aquatic organisms from moving up or downstream. They can be either natural or man-made barriers. Some may be less obvious, allowing passage of some species while preventing others. Stream conditions may be different up and downstream from these barriers, especially during times of low and high flows. We determine the efficacy of removal or modification of the priority barriers for the protection of native aquatic species within their natural range, prioritize fish barriers for removal or modification, and establish planning level cost estimates.
Freshwater Mussels Research
Southeastern mussel species are an incredible group of aquatic animals, of which many species are imperiled through their historical ranges. Warm Springs NFH works to achieve conservation goals for selected species within tributaries of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin to assist the recovery of federally listed mussels, by augmenting existing populations with hatchery propagated mussels. Warm Springs NFH developed a 2016 work plan for mussel propagation using, Purple Bank Climber, Little Spectacle Case, and Downy Rainbow mussels.
Gopher Frogs
Warm Springs NFH works in partnership with the University of Georgia, Zoo Atlanta, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Amphibian Foundation, Inc., and others to expand conservation efforts for Gopher Frogs within its historical native range. This rare species is currently under review for formal listing by USFWS, and Georgia documents the species as vulnerable. Working with partners, we are rearing juvenile Gopher Frogs from eggs until they are fully metamorphosed. We then distribute the young frogs according to management objectives set for the species.
Gopher Tortoise
Gopher Tortoises are a federally listed “candidate species” for populations east of the Mobile and Tombigbee Rivers; Georgia state lists the species as “threatened.” WSNFH established the Head-Start Program with the goal of raising juveniles through their first two years of life to larger sizes so they are less vulnerable to mortality via predation and environmental factors. Head-started juveniles are marked and released within known Georgia habitats. Partners in this expanding effort currently include GADNR, University of Georgia, The Nature Conservancy, and Zoo Atlanta.
Gulf Coast Striped Bass Restoration
Warm Springs NFH distributes Gulf Coast Striped Bass, which are a valued sport fish whose populations have significantly declined from historical levels. Contributing factors include loss of habitat, blocked access to historical spawning areas, depleted summer thermal refuges, and water quality degradation. As the need arose for conservation measures, agency directors and commissioners from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed a Cooperative Agreement in 1987, to establish by mutual consensus the restoration of Striped Bass in the Apalachicola Chattahoochee Flint (ACF) river system.
Lake Sturgeon Reintroduction and Restoration Program
Our primary goal is to restore self-sustaining populations of Lake Sturgeon to its historic range throughout the southern United States. The species currently cannot support recreational fishing anywhere in the southeast. Our efforts began in 1998 with restocking and monitoring programs in sections of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers in TN and later to the Coosa River of Georgia and Alabama. Tennessee currently has Lake Sturgeon listed as endangered, while in Georgia and Alabama the species was considered extirpated prior to restocking activities.
Pollinator and Native Plants Habitat Project
Habitat managed for pollinators on station include a 1.7-acre pond bottom seeded with native southeastern plant species beneficial to pollinators. Work continues on adding and maintaining high value plant species such as butterfly weed within the landscaped portion of this pollinator habitat.
Sicklefin Redhorse
Our work with Sicklefin Redhorse represents a cooperative effort to address propagation tasks developed by members of the Sicklefin Redhorse Conservation Committee. Warm Springs NFH collaborates with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; USFWS Ecological Services (ES), Asheville, NC; Conservation Fisheries Inc. (CFI); North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC); Duke Energy; Western Carolina University; and others to meet conservation goals for the species. Click on the picture to the right to go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Fish of the Week podcast episode on Sicklefin Redhorse.