BUTTE FALLS, Ore. (AP) — Bulldozers are working this week on demolishing a state-run fish hatchery near the town of Butte Falls.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife crews are knocking down concrete walls and filling in 8-foot-deep ponds to close the 96-year-old facility plagued by budget cuts, disease and a maintenance backlog.
The state shut down the Butte Falls Hatchery in September, just seven years after making about $1 million in improvements.
The hatchery is one of nine statewide. But it’s been under quarantine for four years after a disease outbreak in its water supply, leaving it to raise only rainbow trout for release.
