Feather River Hatchery Steelhead Planting
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has begun planting Central Valley steelhead raised at the Feather River Fish Hatchery at sites along the Feather and Sacramento rivers. A total of 540,222 yearling-size steelhead were raised in 2024 for release in local waterways between Jan. 10 and Jan. 30.
- Feather River at Boyd’s Pump Boat Launch: 348,917
- Sacramento River at Verona Boat Launch: 116,305
- Thermalito Afterbay at Wilbur Road Boat Launch: 75,000
Steelhead spawning operations are also underway at the Hatchery and will continue through early February. These fish enter the Hatchery via the fish ladder that leads up from the Feather River Fish Barrier Dam and can be seen at the viewing windows and facility. Once the spawned fish eggs have hatched, the juvenile fish will be reared at the hatchery for a full year and then released next winter into the Feather River.
Like the salmon that populate the Feather River, steelhead trout migrate from the river to the ocean, returning to the river as adults to spawn. Unlike salmon, they can spawn several times during their lifetime. The name “steelhead” comes from their appearance, a more streamlined shape than Chinook salmon with a silvery or brassy color as an adult.
The Feather River Fish Hatchery is a California State Water Project (SWP) facility built in the late 1960s by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to mitigate impacts on fish migration resulting from the construction of Oroville Dam. DWR owns and maintains the facility and provides funding to CDFW to perform spawning, rearing, and stocking operations.
