Wild Rose Fish Hatchery


Wild Rose Fish Hatchery Wild Rose, Wisconsin


Wild Rose Hatchery is the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ largest coldwater fish hatchery, and its renovation is a key part of Wisconsin’s fish stocking program. This first phase of construction includes a new building to house the broodstock and provides four pavilions each with four raceways to incubate eggs and raise them to stocking size. New, deeper, larger wells were drilled and to pump groundwater to be filtered and re-circulated through the pavilions, making more efficient use of groundwater. A $1.5 million visitors center incorporates four historic buildings from the hatchery and uses live aquariums, video and other displays to help tell the story of Wild Rose then and now. Phase II included a cool water nursery building, 14 modern rearing ponds (six half-acre size and eight one-acre ponds, all eight-feet deep with 3:1 slopes), a water reuse system and a new wastewater system that will clean water leaving the hatchery before it enters the Pine River, a Class 1 trout stream.

Completion: March 2008 Architect: FishPro, Inc. A Division of HDR Building Area: 65,000 SF Site Area: 700,000 SF Awards: State of Wisconsin Excellence in Construction Award Build Wisconsin Award presented by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Wisconsin Association of Conservation Engineers (ACE) Award of Excellence American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Illinois Engineering Excellence Award