Boulder Fish Rearing Station | Wyoming Game & Fish Department

Hatchery information

Built on the East Fork River along the west slope of the Wind River Mountains, the Boulder Rearing Station is only a few miles from U.S. Highway 191 south of Pinedale. The facility sits on 448 acres purchased by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and began operations in 1952.

Address

122 Boulder Rearing Station Road
Boulder, WY 82923

(307) 537-5439

Driving directions

Hours

Open to the public 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. daily.

Fun facts

Boulder Rearing Station's rainbow trout broodstock consists of approximately 3,000 fish weighing between three and six pounds each.

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Rainbow trout normally spawn in the spring, but Boulder Rearing Station's broodstock has been manipulated to spawn in the fall.

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The rainbow trout broodstock produces around 3 million eggs a year.

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In July of 2012, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department developed the East Fork hatchery. Located near the Boulder Rearing Station and operated by Boulder personnel, this small facility was constructed to hold and rear native sucker species in captivity. This was the first facility in Wyoming to raise catostomids, a nongame fish. This facility was created to help offset the population declines of these native species. The East Fork Hatchery currently holds bluehead and flannelmouth suckers.

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Approximately 35,000 pounds of fish are raised annually to stock in the public waters of Wyoming.

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Approximatley 350,000 fish are stocked each year from this facility.

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Hatchery broodstock

The main focus of the Boulder Rearing Station is care of the fall spawning rainbow trout broodstock.

Boulder Rearing Station also raises brown trout, Colorado River cutthroat trout, kokanee salmon and occasionally golden trout.

A wide shot showing the grounds of the Boulder Rearing Station

History

Boulder Rearing Station sits on 448 acres of land purchased by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and began operations in 1952.

In 1992 the facility added an isolation unit. This building is used to hatch eggs from wild broodstocks with an unknown pathology. Once the eggs hatch and the fish reach a size of 2 inches long, the state's pathologist will test the fish. If the fish are deemed specific pathogen-free they can leave the isolation facility. The building aids in the biosecurity of the rest of the facility.

In 1999 the spring source of the facility was fully enclosed.
The following year a new brood facility was built, and the broodstock was moved from the original earthen ponds into concrete rearing units. This also was done for biosecurity purposes to break up the life cycle of whirling disease.

In 2021 a large pump house was built to help mitigate occasional flooding during the spring runoff. This aids in preventing the adjacent East Fork River from possibly contaminating the facility with pathogens.