When: Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006 10 a.m.

Where: Nimbus Hatchery ??? HW 50 east to Hazel Ave exit, go left over freeway. Take left at Gold Country (second traffic signal). Take first right into hatchery.

What: Opening of the Nimbus Hatchery fish ladder

The annual opening of Nimbus Hatchery's fish ladder is one of the most anticipated wildlife viewing opportunities in the Sacramento region. The fall run of Chinook (King) salmon is in the river and ready to complete their life cycle. Most were born in the Nimbus hatchery between 3-4 years ago. After being raised in the hatchery, Nimbus personnel truck the juveniles to San Pablo Bay, where they swim out to the ocean and live the majority of their lives. Upon some unknown signal from nature, they come back every fall under the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Sacramento River Delta and have ended up at their place of origin to either lay eggs or fertilize them. Fish and Game personnel take the fish and propagate them artificially, as they have since 1955 when Nimbus and Folsom Dams were constructed and blocked access to historical spawning habitat. All Pacific salmon naturally die soon after they spawn.

In addition to watching fish jump up the ladder, visitors are encouraged to take a walk along the River Discovery Trail that extends from the fish ladder downstream for several hundred yards or the hatchery visitor's center with 20 exhibits on salmon and steelhead trout biology, ecology, management, and conservation. Fish will not be spawned on the day the ladder opens as hatchery personnel use the time to make water flow adjustments in the building itself.