DENVER-The Bozeman Fish Technology Center facility, located 2 miles northeast of Bozeman, Montana, is celebrating 125 years of operation on June 10 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The Anniversary Celebration is being held in conjunction with the Watershed Festival and Kids Fishing Derby, which is an annual event co-hosted by Montana Outdoor Science School and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dedicated to promoting appreciation of nature and showing kids the fun of fishing. This year, there will be fly tying and casting lessons, exhibits and face painting, duck races, bear spray training, tours of the hatchery, chances to see noxious weed loving goats in action, music and food, and, of course, the incredibly popular fishing derby for kids.
Local artist, Jim Dolan, will be on hand to display the metal sculpture of a pallid sturgeon he created to commemorate the facility’s 125 years of operation. Pallid sturgeon is an endangered species in the Missouri River drainage and a long-time subject of technology center research.
The facility was established on August 5, 1892, as the first national fish hatchery in the northern Rocky Mountains to produce trout and other trout-family fishes for stocking into lakes and streams in Montana and Wyoming. Initial construction was completed in 1896, and fish production began during winter 1897. Archives show species produced here included the first planted stock of rainbow trout in Yellowstone National Park, and there is an entry where Colonel William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) requested trout and Arctic grayling for waters on his ranch in Wyoming.
In October 1966, the facility was recommissioned as a fish cultural development center. Production of fish for stocking continued, but focus moved toward investigations to develop techniques and equipment for improving hatchery production. This transformation from traditional hatchery operations to research set the stage for the facility’s designation as a fish technology center in 1983.
Today, Bozeman Fish Technology Center conducts applied research and provides technical guidance on a variety of national and regional aquatic resource issues. Results of these efforts are used by managers to accomplish the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's conservation mission. Work at the technology center is focused in the fields of Conservation Physiology, Fish Nutrition and Diet Development, Fish Passage and Screening, and Sensitive Aquatic Species Conservation.
Since its beginning, the Bozeman Fish Technology Center facility has been a local landmark and has grown with the Bozeman community. The facility’s main campus is centered on 176 acres adjacent to Custer Gallatin National Forest at the Bridger Mountains’ foothills along Bridger Creek. This rural-urban setting is recognized by neighboring residents and visitors to the Greater Yellowstone area as a place for enjoying outdoor activities, observing wildlife, and formal and informal environmental-learning opportunities.
Visitors are welcome to tour the facility throughout the year. Children enjoy feeding trout in the pond, while nature enthusiasts enjoy the incredible diverse natural environment. Drinking Horse Mountain Trial on the property is a National Recreation Trail National Recreation Trail
A National Recreation Trail is a land-based or water-based trail that provides an outdoor recreation opportunity on federal, state, tribal or local public land. National Recreation Trails were established by the National Trails System Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-543), which authorized creation of a national trails system composed of National Recreation Trails, National Scenic Trails and National Historic Trails. Whereas National Scenic Trails and National Historic Trails may be designated only by an act of Congress, National Recreation Trails may be designated by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture to recognize exemplary trails of local and regional significance.
Learn more about National Recreation Trail in the National Trails System. For your safety and for the benefit of the facility’s research programs, please respect signs and access limitations.
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen in the West, connect with us through any of these social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Instagram.
