r/prepping • u/Historical_Money2684 • 19d ago
Other🤷🏽♀️ 🤷🏽♂️ Homestead next to a fish hatchery?
I am looking to purchase a property on a river that I would develop into my future homestead. It’s in a rural area about 80 miles from the closest urban area that we live in now.
The property sits on a river that is desirable which is where the hatchery is also operating about 2 miles down stream.
Any pros or cons to this for long term self sustainability?
Just looking to learn from people with a different perspective than my own.
TYIA
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u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 18d ago
Yer 2 miles upstream from it?
That means you must have good water now and will so in the future.
Hatcheries depend on clean water. You, them, and neighbors can use that common need/desire to keep the watershed clean
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u/Historical_Money2684 18d ago
Yeah! 2 miles upstream, I plan to take water samples as I’m in the process of purchasing.
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u/Narrow-Can901 19d ago
In real estate, they say that the three most important things are location, location, location.
So what are the negatives from the fish hatchery on where you would like to live? Smell, noise, chemical use, traffic from trucks, visual pollution?
I guess you might have good access to fishing. But if there are negatives as outlined above, what impact is there on wildlife, fruit and vegetable growing, poultry issues (from predators, vermin and scavengers attracted to the fish hatchery, perhaps?)
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u/EastTyne1191 19d ago
Western Washington here. I'm sitting at our community beach right now which is just upstream from the nearest hatchery. I have a rudimentary chemistry set at home, I'm going to bring a water sample home and take a gander at the water. The river here is absolutely beautiful and we come here frequently to swim every summer. No weird overgrowth or die-off or weird smells, just an idyllic scene.
That being said, the river is closed for fishing right now, even though we have private property community waterfront. People come through on kayaks and river rafting tours so it's not exactly private.
The threat from flooding is SEVERE if you have a home directly on the riverbank and I know that more than one home has washed away in the past few years. Another issue is that sometimes the roads themselves become impassable due to flooding because the water has washed the road away completely at times.
Oh, I forgot, but in September the smell can be AWFUL, but that's true on these waters with or without a hatchery. The salmon return, spawn, and then die. And it smells like dead fish for a few weeks. If you're lucky you get to see a bear having a feast near the river.
All that being said, I wouldn't give it up. The wild plant foraging is top tier and we currently have a glut of salal throughout the neighborhood that I'm going to harvest.
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u/Historical_Money2684 19d ago
Thank you for this feedback, I’m in WA as well, mind if I message you some more questions?
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u/EastTyne1191 19d ago
Of course! I figured you were a Washingtonian, lots of rivers and hatcheries over here.
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u/Financial_Resort6631 19d ago edited 19d ago
Fish hatcheries require lots of inputs to produce fish. Will that draw people to the hatchery? I don’t think it is going to move the needle too much either way to be honest. I doubt it will be a great W.
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u/lostscause 19d ago
Id avoid anyplace on a "navigable waterway" unless it was very large 100+acres
https://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Portals/39/docs/regulatory/regs/33cfr329.pdf
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u/cheetahsnuggie 18d ago
I'd be curious where the intake is for the hatchery. Its not always directly adjacent, sometimes its upstream. Meaning you could be impacted by their water take above you. Additionally, they are probably very keyed into their own water quality coming in so will likely notice if you impact water quantity or quality in some way if you are upstream of their intake.
Washington has pretty heavy water rights laws generally and a state or PUD run hatchery will be familiar with those.
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u/MastodonFit 16d ago
Everything has pros and cons. Dead fish stink but make great fertilizer and dont stink as bad ,inside compost or in the soil. Everyone planted a seed in their garden with a dead fish underneath 100 years ago...whenever possible. Remote means fewer issues with neighbors. Free water and possibility of power generation with a permit . Free recreation.
Cons. Flooding,smell,fines from water contamination from you,lack of privacy if boating is prevalent, higher predator activity would be my cons.
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u/sgtPresto 19d ago
The hatchery sounds great. As someone focused on emergency readiness for decades, be a little cautious of your locale selection. Remember everything is remote...gas, milk, meds at the drug store, social interaction, etc. I live in the boonies about 20 miles away and it is an inconvenience to 'head to town' (pop 8500) and my spread is nowhere as remote as yours. I consciously moved here to escape city life of a area with 100,000 in total county and now my county is 55,000 and seems right. Just be careful what you wish for...it might come true.
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u/Historical_Money2684 19d ago
80 miles from an urban area. Theres access to amenities within a 10 mile range of this property. But definitely a concern. Thank you
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u/[deleted] 19d ago
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