MCH History

MCH History. Moccasin Creek Hatchery. The Perfect Location , In the mid-1940s, after an extensive search for a suitable hatchery site between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), began plans to build a new, state-of-the-art hatchery facility., Photo caption: Moccasin Creek Hatchery opening 1954 with earthen ponds., Completed in 1954, the Moccasin Creek Hatchery replaced the Basin Creek, Yosemite, and Bass Lake hatcheries. The new facility, located on a 25.5 acre parcel, opened with 24 dirt ponds, 88 hatchery troughs and six redwood round tanks., Photo caption: Hatchery staff move fingerlings from hatchery building to raceways., Production Hatchery , MCH produces approximately 800,000 to 1.2 million total fish or 300,000 to 500,000 pounds of fish annually - mostly a variety of Rainbow trout strains., Fish planting out of MCH is a year-long activity, with 75% of the fish planted from April to September in selected rivers, streams and lakes in nine counties., Photo caption: Moccasin Creek Hatchery in 2019., Continuously expanding and updating,) the facility grows to meet angling demands. It now includes 48 - 100 food long concrete raceways, new deep tanks for early life stages and fiberglass round tanks., In 2018, the dam breeched and inundated the hatchery with flood waters. All the trout in the hatchery was lost. Hatchery staff worked relentlessly to restore the hatchery., Photo caption: A California golden trout in spawning colors., Raising California's State Fish , The cold Sierra water that runs through Moccasin Creek Hatchery is perfect for raising native trout., In the Spring, hatchery staff, from around the state, travel to the Golden Trout Wilderness to spawn California golden trout lakeside., The eggs are brought to Moccasin Creek to hatch. In the fall, the majority of the golden trout raised at the hatchery are planted in their historic range of Eastern California by plane and some by vehicle., Water and Power , Photo caption: The O'Shaughnessy Dam - Part of the Hetch Hetchy watersystem., Water, the key element for a healthy hatchery environment, is supplied from the afterbay of the Moccasin Creek Power house., The gravity-fed water, flows through the hatchery raceways before entering a settling pond. It is then diverted back into Moccasin Creek to flow into Don Pedro Reservoir., The City and County of San Francisco hold the long-term land and water lease of the facility. Their Hetch Hetchy water system provides the low cost water and power for the facility and in turn, the hatchery provides angling opportunities to California recreational users., For more information on the California State Hatchery system visit our website at: , www.wildlife.ca.gov/fishing/hatcheries