Smolts escape Lyons Ferry Hatchery

STARBUCK — Approximately 64% of the Lyons Ferry Hatchery Wallowa summer stealhead stock has been lost due to equipment failure.

Hatchery workers lost roughly 249,770 steelhead smolts late last week, officials said, noting the smolts escaped a rearing pond and made their way into the mainstem Snake River.

This loss accounts for about 64% of Lyons Ferry Hatchery’s Wallowa stock summer steelhead production for release in 2022, officials said. The loss is less than 8% of the overall hatchery steelhead production in the Snake River basin.

Hatchery workers became aware of a failure in a rotating scr...