California Sea Grant College Program

The Sacramento River steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a threatened species whose numbers are supplemented by the release of captive-bred juveniles. Each year, the Coleman National Fish Hatchery alone produces 600,000 yearling steelhead smolts and releases them into Battle Creek, a tributary of the upper Sacramento River. Smolts are young, silver trout (or salmon) that are ready to migrate to sea for the first time. The hatchery operations are mitigation for loss of natural steelhead in their historic spawning grounds. Coleman is one of several hatcheries in the Sacramento River basin that cultures steel- head for mitigation purposes.