The Neosho National Fish Hatchery is the oldest federal fish hatchery in operation today. It is one of 69 fish hatcheries operated by the

US Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats in the United States. ...

. It was established in 1888.

History

Neosho, located in the Ozark Mountain region of southwest

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, was chosen for the hatchery site because of access to spring water and the railroad. Land for the fish hatchery was purchased from Lemuel B. and Mary A. Hearrell for $2,472. The first source of water for the hatchery, Hearrell Spring, was purchased from the Hearrells for $1 and provided 300 gallons of water per minute. By 1890, the fish hatchery was a productive fish station raising seven species of warm and cold water fish. In 1907, McMahon Spring was added to increase the hatchery water supply to 1,000 gallons per minute. A rehabilitation program was undertaken at the fish hatchery in 1961. A new, modern, tile and brick hatchery building replaced the 1890 hatching house. All trout rearing facilities were removed and replaced with 12 concrete raceways. The title was obtained for of land on the Fort Crowder Military Reservation near Neosho upon which Elm and Bartholic Springs are located. This provided an additional 500 gallons per minute to the hatchery's water supply.

Role of Fish Hatcheries in conservation

The US Fish and Wildlife Service operates fish hatcheries throughout the United States. These hatcheries are a significant part of fisheries conservation and restoration efforts by producing and releasing rare, endangered and other fish back into America’s lakes and rivers. Some of these hatcheries also help mitigate the loss of fishing from the large federal dams built in the last century. Over 130 species of cold, cool, and warm water fish have been produced at the Neosho NFH since it was established. The current focus is on

paddlefish Paddlefish (family Polyodontidae) are a family of ray-finned fish belonging to order Acipenseriformes, and one of two living groups of the order alongside sturgeons (Acipenseridae). They are distinguished from other fish by their elongated rost ...

and

lake sturgeon The lake sturgeon (''Huso fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of 27 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilaginous skele ...

restoration,

pallid sturgeon The pallid sturgeon (''Scaphirhynchus albus'') is an endangered species of ray-finned fish, endemic to the waters of the Missouri and lower Mississippi River basins of the United States. It may have even reached the St. Croix River before colo ...

recovery, production of

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

for mitigation, and native

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

propagation. The staff at the Neosho Fish Hatchery also protect the endangered Ozark cavefish in one of the springs that supplies the hatchery with water. In 1989, staff discovered Ozark cavefish using the spring. In 2002 efforts were taken to protect the area surrounding. The hatchery water supply is from four gravity flow underground springs, located up to four miles (6 km) from the hatchery. The 1,500 gallons of 54- to 64-degree, high-quality water per minute allows hatchery staff to produce up to 90,000 pounds of fish annually and to rear several species of imperiled fish and other aquatic species.

Current programs

*Recovery efforts for endangered

*Protection for endangered Ozark cavefish *Recovery efforts for threatened or endangered native

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

*Restoration efforts for candidate species,

*Mandated mitigation of rainbow trout for Lake Taneycomo,

*Outreach and educational opportunities for public through guided hatchery tours and offsite presentations

References

Neosho National Fish Hatchery at U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service website
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