PALISADE, Colo. — Palisade High School's Endangered Fish Hatchery plans to release its 1,000th Razorback Sucker fish next month, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement Wednesday.
The Razorback Suckers are an endangered species in the Colorado River.
"This huge success is due to the efforts of dedicated students that have hand-raised this rare fish and will now be released into important native habitat found directly behind the school - the Colorado River," the agency said.
The students have worked in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program to grow the threatened fish population.
The hatchery has been operational at Palisade High School since 2020 when it got its first 40 fish, according to the school's website.
But Mike Gross, the Biological Science Technician and Educational Outreach manager at the Ouray National Fish Hatchery - Grand Valley Unit got the ball got rolling three years prior, Palisade High School said.
Gross got a science teacher at the school — Patrick Steele — invested and Steele has become the fish hatchery supervisor.
Students helped fundraise to get the hatchery up and running— by writing grants, selling peaches and baking cakes, according to Palisade High School's website.
The hatchery was eventually created out of a shed in the back of the school that stored telescopes for Astronomy classes, according to the school.
"The US Fish and Wildlife Service provided and continues to provide the hatchery fish tanks, the filtration system, the fish, fish feed and feeding systems, and any other components that are needed for the tank system," Palisade High School said.
In 2018, Palisade High School students visited the Ouray National Fish Hatchery - Grand Valley Unit to get an initial idea of what running the hatchery would entail. In 2019, students visited the Casa Grande High School Fish Hatchery in Petaluma, California to see how another school runs a hatchery.
Since the beginning, the school has grown the hatchery to 230 Razorback Sucker fish, according to the history of the hatchery on the school's website.
"Every day, students and fish hatchery members feed the fish to help them grow, take water chemistry tests, clean the tanks and surrounding areas, and observe fish behaviors. Some additional jobs that students and hatchery members are involved with at the hatchery include weighing the fish, tagging them, and measuring them to track the growth of the fish over the time frame that they are being raised," Palisade High School said.
To celebrate the 1,000th fish being released, Jeff Corwin— a biologist and wildlife conservationist, known for Disney Channel's Going Wild with Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet, ABC's Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin— will attend the event on Tuesday, May 3 in Palisade.
