On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) were stationed below the Weir Bridge, where the Middle Boulder Creek meets the Barker Reservoir, to assist the kokanee salmon’s spawning process. The five-person team collected eggs to deliver to a hatchery, where in four months those over 40,000 salmon will be brought back to restock the reservoir.

CPW Aquatic Biologist Ben Swigle and his team, Alex Burks, Gage Dean, Will Harvey, and Adam Koser, gathered eggs from over 86 females and sperm from over 36 males, as well as 60 salmon to be dissected as part of a disease history study.

Eggs were easily extracted from the fish by applying just a bit of pressure and massaging them out into a bowl. The eggs of five females would be extracted into a bowl and mixed with the sperm of two males. Members of the crew would then add water to the bowl while stirring with a goose feather, using the delicate instrument to extract any broken eggs and feces, preventing contamination of the entire batch.

CPWs fishery management efforts help to keep the fish population, and their surrounding habitat, healthy and abundant. Barker Reservoir’s salmon population requires intervention in their natural reproduction process as they instinctively try to swim upstream to spawn, but get stuck just below the Weir Bridge.

Though only required to collect 60 salmon for the study, Swigle and his crew attempted to gather as many “spawns” as possible. Swigle did note that they were short in collected spawns this year, and will be monitoring the site in order to return in a few days to gather more.

For more information about the work CPW does to manage Colorado’s fish populations, from lake and stream surveys

to spawning and other hatchery operations, including stocking reports and statewide conditions by body of water, visit their website at: https://cpw.state.co.us/ thingstodo/pages/fishing.aspx.