The Long Way
Shasta County
A fish jumps through rushing water.
Plate I. Salmon jumping, Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From fws.gov
Historic photograph of people working with a boat and nets in a river.
Plate II. Historical broodstock collection, Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From fws.gov
Historic photo showing people fishing with a net from a boat and the shore.
Plate III. Historical seining photo, Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From fws.gov
An underwater view showing a large school of fish swimming near the surface.
Plate IV. Salmon swimming at Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From fws.gov
Fish swim in blue water.
Plate V. Salmon swimming, Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From visitredding.com
A close-up view of pink fish eggs with a few small hatching fry visible.
Plate VI. Salmon eggs, Coleman National Fish Hatchery. From fws.gov

Coleman National Fish Hatchery

Anderson, Shasta County, California. Fish hatchery and park.

Details

Map. Anderson, Shasta County, California. Larger map
Where
24411 Coleman Fish Hatchery Road, Anderson, CA 24411. Directions
When
Saturday, October 17, 2026 at 9:00 AM (annual).
Season
Best adult salmon viewing in October; adults return from September, gathering at the barrier weir by late September and early October.
Getting there
Right on Ash Creek Rd (1.3 miles), right on Gover Rd (1.6 miles), left on Coleman Fish Hatchery Road; proceed approximately 2 miles, the hatchery is on the right with a big brown sign in front.
Fees
The festival is free to attend.
Hours
Daily (including holidays), 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Access
The hatchery is open for self guided tours daily, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Walk-in or reserve
Self-guided tours daily with no reservation; group tours arranged by contacting Laura Mahoney.
Phone
530-365-8622
Website
fws.gov
Managed by
United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Established
1942.

Working federal hatchery releasing approximately 12,000,000 fall Chinook Salmon, 1,000,000 late-fall Chinook Salmon, and 600,000 steelhead trout each year.

Notable Events

  1. 1895A hatchery was erected near the mouth of Battle Creek, in Tehama County. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  2. 1896Another facility, the Battle Creek National Fish Cultural Station, located near the mouth of the Sacramento River, was established in 1896. fws.gov
  3. 1896The US Fish Commission erected temporary structures at the Battle Creek site to handle any surplus spawn. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  4. 1935Construction of the facility was authorized and established under the provisions of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 and the First Deficiency Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 1936. fws.gov
  5. 1942Under the Bureau contract, hatchery construction began at Coleman in 1942 with the hatchery building completed in November of that year. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  6. 1943It was not until the early summer 1943 that Coleman's rearing ponds were capable of receiving spring-run salmon. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  7. 1945The Battle Creek Station remained in operation through 1945, when federal agencies built dams like Grand Coulee and Shasta. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  8. 1947Beginning in 1947, hatchery production struck out in new directions with an experimental program involving steelhead. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  9. 1948Within the September 21, 1948 Memorandum of Agreement, the Bureau of Reclamation formally launched the process of a hatchery transfer to the Fish and Wildlife Service. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  10. 1949The Coleman facility enjoyed Bureau funding during the first half of 1949, after which the Service assumed full funding responsibility; the July 1, 1949 MOA declared Coleman Station separate from the Bureau's Central Valley Project obligations. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  11. 1970Coleman Hatchery began the 1970s with a series of crises: January freshets flooded out many of Coleman's holding ponds. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  12. 1981Hatchery manager Thomas B. Luken co-authored an Operational Plan for rebuilding and greatly expanding Coleman National Fish Hatchery. nrm.dfg.ca.gov
  13. 1984The Bureau initiated the Coleman Hatchery Action Plan (CHAP), intended to assist the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the fishery mitigation effort at the Keswick Dam fishtrap and the hatchery. nrm.dfg.ca.gov

People

  • Jerry Grover, Former Coleman Superintendent.
  • John Pelnar, Superintendent.
  • Thomas B. Luken, Coleman Hatchery manager; co-author of the 1981 Operational Plan (1981).

Sources

  1. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman
  2. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman/visit-us
  3. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman/about-us
  4. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman/events
  5. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman/visit-us/trails
  6. fws.gov/event/return-salmon-festival
  7. fws.gov/fish-hatchery/coleman/news
  8. facebook.com/ColemanNFH
  9. visitredding.com/events-in-redding-ca/return-of-the-salmon-festival
  10. krcrtv.com/news/local/cuts-at-coleman-national-fish-hatchery-raise-concerns-for-salmon-population
  11. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coleman_National_Fish_Hatchery
  12. nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=3566