Butte Falls Fish Hatchery Finds Cash to Stay Open

MEDFORD, Ore. -- The Butte Falls Hatchery in southwestern Oregon will not be closing after all.

Located high in the Cascade Range community of Butte Falls outside Medford, the 94-year-old hatchery was slated for closure last April as part of a 30-percent cut in the budget of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But officials have found enough money to keep the lights on with one employee and a few rainbow trout while it serves out the last year of a three-year quarantine due to a 2006 disease outbreak.

The state's third oldest hatchery had been plagued with a backlog of maintenance and production was severely cut due to the quarantine.

Regional fish and wildlife manager Russ Stauff says they will resume producing salmon, steelhead and trout next year.