Hatchery Member - Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery

Hatchery Support Member - Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery Summary

American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit Conservation Corps, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), is seeking ONE Hatchery Support Member to contribute to fish hatchery operations and provide supplemental field science and public outreach support to projects under the mentorship of Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery Staff.

For more information about ACE, please visit our website.

Start Date: 5/4/2026 Estimated End Date: 10/17/2026
* a 24-week minimum commitment is required, approximately 960 hours*

Location Details/

Description:

Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, Cook, WA

Founded in 1898, Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery (NFH) is the oldest Columbia River hatchery and a pioneer of salmon propagation. They raise and release roughly 5.5 million young spring and up-river bright fall Chinook salmon each year; in addition they collect eggs for other facilities in the region, bringing their total egg collection to around 16.5 million annually. The hatchery mitigates fishery losses due to hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and provides for an important sport fishery, while also fulfilling tribal trust responsibilities.

For more information about Little White Salmon NFH, please visit the FWS website.

The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. This position will help FWS realize that mission at Little White Salmon NFH by supporting fish hatchery operations and providing supplemental field science and public outreach support. The fisheries supplementation support at this hatchery includes spawning, egg incubation care, fish rearing, water quality monitoring, fish disease monitoring and other related duties.

There will also be opportunities to provide supplemental assistance for field and hatchery evaluation projects for experience diversification and career exposure. This opportunity is intended for enthusiastic young professionals with a deep interest in advancing their career goals in fisheries conservation.

• Fish Production (75%)
  • Feeding fish, cleaning raceways, picking mortality, sampling fish, assisting with spawning activities, assisting with fish releases.
  • Fish Rearing:
    Fish feeding, raceway (large tank) cleaning and upkeep, fish transfers, and water quality and fish health monitoring
  • Fish Spawning:
    Fish sorting, egg extractions, egg fertilizations, and egg monitoring and transfers.
  • Hatchery Evaluation:
    Mass marking and tagging of juveniles, tag retention sampling, adult tag scans, biological sampling of tagged adults.
  • Field biological sampling, including minnow traps, electrofishing, seins, gill nets, and screw trapping.
  • Fish identification and data collection (length, weight, scale samples, tag scans, etc)
  • Abiotic data collection such as substrate sampling and water salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature.
  • Data entry and management
  • Supporting upkeep of sampling instrumentation used for core position functions.
  • Maintenance duties and forklift use in support of hatchery operations as required
• Landscaping (20%)
  • Operating mowers and string trimmers to assist in hatchery upkeep.
• Outreach (5%)
  • Assist Information and Education office with Outreach Activities around the area.
  • Public engagement: answering questions from visitors, leading hatchery tours, supporting school visits, supporting school programming, and event preparation and implementation.

This individual placement is meant to facilitate professional development and promotes exposure to land management agencies and networking with professionals. This could include gaining experience in different conservation fields and shadowing different work groups.

Duties are tentatively carried out between 7:30am and 4:00pm Pacific, Monday - Friday, 5 days/week. Some weekend work might be necessary if there is a need specifically at the hatchery. Daily work hours may also vary due to supplemental field work assistance. Bi-weekly totals should not exceed 80 hours. A flexible work schedule will be required, which could involve work performed outside of normal work hours including early field work departures (6:00am) and/or late returns (6:00pm) depending on the season and field project.

Time off may be granted, and requests should be directed to ACE and the FWS for approval.

Living Allowance: The ACE Member is expected to contribute ~40 hours/week and will receive a living allowance of $750/week to offset the costs of food and incidental expenses, dispersed bi-weekly.

Public Land Corps Hiring Authority: Members serving under this agreement may be eligible for a federal hiring authority upon completion of their term of service and 640 hours of service. If the duration of a PLC-eligible term is not long enough for Members to accrue 640 hours of…