Iowa DNR casting out live-in staff from fish hatcheries

ELKADER — For 25 years, Gary Siegwarth lived and worked at the Big Spring Fish Hatchery near Elkader, where he helped bait hooks at the kids’ fishing pond, deterred fish thieves and responded to flooding emergencies at the trout hatchery on the banks of the Turkey River.

But fisheries staff no longer will live at the state’s fish hatcheries.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in a budget-saving move, is asking employees who live in state-owned houses at fish hatcheries to move out by the end of 2028. The houses where biologists and other staff have lived for decades will be sold or torn down, according to records obtained by The Gazette.

“All the times over the years, I’ve been there,” said Siegwarth, who retired March 31. “From showing them how to put a worm on the hook to being up for 72 hours because there’s a flood and no one can get there. You don’t want to abandon that. It prevents losses of fish that could be preventable.”

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Iowa DNR evicts park rangers in 2022

The Iowa DNR in 2022 evicted park rangers and other staff from government-owned houses in 23 state parks because the department didn’t want to spend up to $1 million on repairs. At that time, the agency said it was keeping fisheries staff in the homes because their presence reduced the odds that fish would die in a power outage or other emergency.

“Fish hatcheries are one of the few government entities that are responsible for producing a live product,” Iowa DNR spokeswoman Tammie Krausman said in 2022. “On-site residences at hatcheries serve several purposes, including quick response to alarm (water, oxygen, pumps) calls, security, and performing essential tasks during non-standard business hours.”

But the net fell on fisheries staff earlier this year.

“By Jan. 1, 2029, all houses managed by the Fisheries Bureau must be vacated,” Pete Hildreth, Conservation and Recreation Bureau director, wrote in a Feb. 9 letter to five employees who live at the Big Spring, Decorah, Manchester and Rathbun fish hatcheries. “This decision is part of our ongoing efforts to streamline resources and allocate them more efficiently to meet the evolving needs of the Department.”

Hildreth said the change will “improve the overall financial solvency” of the state agency.

With a flat budget in recent years, the Iowa DNR is struggling to fix broken or worn-out buildings, shelters and other infrastructure at state parks, The Gazette reported in March. Many parks also lack restrooms and other facilities accessible to people with disabilities.

Gov. Kim Reynolds approved $1.3 million for next fiscal year to improve accessibility at state parks and another $6 million for park infrastructure and repairs — far short of $100 million in needs identified by a former Iowa DNR official.

Natural spring feeds trout hatchery

The agency stocks more than 130 million fish a year into Iowa lakes and streams. These fish — which include trout, channel catfish, hybrid striped bass, muskie, northern pike, saugeye, walleye and more — are raised in cold-water fish hatcheries, warm-water hatcheries and egg-taking stations around the state.

The Big Spring hatchery originally was developed as a private trout farm and fishing club by Mary and Otto Bankes in the late 1930s. The state purchased the farm in 1961 and the Iowa DNR now raises more than 200,000 rainbow trout a year at the hatchery.

Big Spring, the largest cold water spring in Iowa, supplies cool water to long, narrow raceways for trout of varying sizes. Flows from the spring usually range from 20,000 to 30,000 gallons per minute, but can exceed 150,000 gallons per minute, the Turkey River Watershed Management Authority reports.

All trout reared at Big Spring come from the Manchester Hatchery when they are 2 to 3 inches long. Growing the fish to catchable size, about 10 to 12 inches, takes about 15 months.

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The state built a two-story office at Big Spring after 2008, when the Turkey River escaped its banks and flooded the hatchery grounds.

On Friday afternoon, a half-dozen families cast lines at the kids’ fishing pond there.

“We’re at the stage of life where we have chickens and rabbits,” said Carrie Forbes, of Oelwein, about her family of three young children. “One of the next things was fishing.”

Teddy, 5, caught his first fish Friday.

“I got it up great,” he said when asked if the fish was hard to reel in. “We died it so we can take it home.”

Visiting the hatchery Friday, Siegwarth chatted with Matt Klaes, a seasonal worker, and pointed out the modular house he lived in from 1999 until this spring. Siegwarth is worried that without live-in staff at the hatchery, people will enter the park in evening hours or on the weekend and harm the fish or cause damage.

“As you can see, we’re in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “There are too many things that can be messed with.”

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Protecting fish

If the Big Spring or the Turkey River starts rising, staff can adjust flow levels to protect the fish, Siegwarth said. In other flood emergencies, trout have been evacuated. Each trout is valued at $2, so the losses could be $100,000 or more, depending on how many fish are at the hatchery at the time.

Siegwarth wrote last month to Reynolds to ask her to reverse the eviction order for future staff at Big Spring.

“I can personally attest to the many occasions a very costly disaster or situation was averted simply because of a dedicated state employee presence there,” he wrote in the May 1 letter.

Siegwarth said he got a call from someone on Reynolds staff, who said the decision was in the Iowa DNR’s hands and the governor would not intervene.

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The Iowa DNR hopes to minimize losses of fish with alarm systems.

“Although staff residing in on-site housing does provide timely response to emergencies, such as power outages, pump failures, etc., that occur outside of normal business hours, the department has systems in place at 4 of 7 hatcheries to dial an employee at each hatchery in the case of an alarm condition,” Krausman said in an email last week. “Employees that are in ‘standby’ are required to be within 15 miles of the facility to ensure a timely response to the alarm condition.”

At the three hatcheries without alert systems, fish are held in ponds or tanks that do not use electricity or pumps to move water, “greatly reducing the likelihood of fish loss due to an equipment failure,” Krausman said.

The public will have the same access to the hatcheries — many of which have machines where guests can buy fish food, she said.

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What will happen to houses?

The Iowa DNR plans to sell or demolish most of the houses on fish hatchery grounds. If they are sold, buyers would be required to move the houses elsewhere. A stone house built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s at the Decorah Fish Hatchery likely will become an office, emails show.

The department expects to save money by not having to repair hatchery housing, Krausman said.

“Any housing repairs and updates are paid for by the DNR’s Capitals account, which is also the source of funding for fish habitat, fish production and hatchery infrastructure,” she said. “These public resources have long been prioritized over staff housing, resulting in significant deferred maintenance and deteriorating conditions.”

The former ranger houses at Iowa’s state parks now are vacant, but have not yet been put up for sale or torn down, Krausman said.

After department leaders decided to evict fish hatchery staff from state-owned housing, fisheries staff discussed who would break the “unwelcome news,” emails show.

“I am happy they gave us 5 years,” Fisheries Bureau Chief Joe Larscheid said in a Jan. 11 email. “Other Bureaus only got 1 year to vacant these homes once the decision was made.“

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com

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