Flooding issue fixed at Boulder Rearing Station
Game and Fish receives engineering award for the project
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s conservation engineering branch was recognized for its outstanding project to prevent flooding at the Boulder Rearing Station. The Association of Conservation Engineers selected the project as the recipient of the 2021 Annual Carl V. Anderson Engineering Award of Excellence.
The Boulder Rearing Station, located 15 miles south of Pinedale, is home to the fall spawning rainbow trout broodstock, and raises other fish species like kokanee salmon, brown, golden and Colorado River cutthroat trout. In total the facility raises approximately 35,000 pounds of fish annually to stock into Wyoming waters.
The Boulder Rearing Station had been plagued with flooding issues from the nearby East Fork River. Flooding presents a problem because of the risk it poses to acquiring fish diseases and an aquatic invasive species infestation for the facility.
Hatcheries were built in places with good, natural water supply as well as favorable quality and temperatures for raising trout. But, if natural water levels rise, there’s a risk of flooding at the hatchery from the nearby streams and rivers and that unfiltered water can bring in diseases and other unwanted organisms
Game and Fish contracted with Sunrise Engineering to design structures and systems to prevent flooding and help keep diseases out. Game and Fish engineers oversaw the design and construction of a complex levy and pump system to prevent flooding from the East Fork River. The project was completed in the summer of 2021 and protects the fall spawning rainbow trout broodstock and numerous other trout species that are raised in outdoor raceways. Engineering solutions like these for fish health and aquatic invasive species prevention can last as long as 75 years.
“Our team is proud to represent the work of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department on a national level and to be acknowledged by our peers with the Award of Excellence, which is the highest award given,” said Loren Woodin, chief of the Game and Fish conservation engineering branch.
Members of the interdisciplinary team who worked on this project include: Loren Woodin, Daniel McGillivray, Dirk Miller, Chip Moller, Joe Gillis, Matt Joki, Guy Campbell, Travis Trimble, Sunrise Engineering and Premier Site Development, LLC.
