The pungent smell of fish fills the air. And although Malone's job of keeping pumps and essential gear in working order confines him to the hatchery, the fruits of his and his three coworker's labor has an influence that extends far beyond this tiny portion of Wyoming. These hatcheries were intended to make up for, or mitigate, the sport fisheries lost to dams built by the federal government for flood control and electric power production. The remaining brown trout eggs from Saratoga go to Indian tribes and states to support sport fishing. A small portion of eggs go to research facilities where, for example, they are used to assay chemicals for controlling parasitic lampreys.
Brown trout is but one species kept at Saratoga.
Malone and his coworkers also work with the largest trout in North America, the lake trout. Lakers were once abundant in the Great Lakes and sustained a commercial fishery for some time. But that's a trend the hatchery plays an integral part in reversing. Fortunately in the 1890s lake trout had been transported by railcars from Lake Michigan to Cinnabar, Montana, and then by pack horse to Lewis and Shoshone lakes in Wyoming. Descendants of the Lewis Lake transplants were the eventual seed for a brood stock that's helping recover lake trout far away in the Great Lakes.