Wednesday December 17, 2025
The Trinity Journal —
A sudden infrastructure failure at the Trinity River Hatchery on Nov. 7 forced the emergency release of hundreds of thousands of juvenile fish and thousands of adult salmon into the Trinity River after a trash rack collapsed and blocked most of the facility’s water supply, according to state and federal officials.
The incident was disclosed publicly for the first time during the Trinity Management Council’s quarterly meeting on Dec. 10, when Derek Rupert, a fish biologist with the Bureau of Reclamation’s Northern California Area Office, briefed council members on what he described as a rare and serious operational emergency.