Project Title: Provide ADA Compliant Restrooms (FFS #R8PE)

State: Nevada

Project Description: Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, this project included furnishing all labor, equipment, materials, and supplies to install a prefabricated, waterless vault toilet system. This project also included all grading, excavation, and construction of a concrete block retaining wall approximately three feet tall and 45 feet long. The finished project consisted of a male restroom, female restroom, and a secure storage area for supplies. It was engineered and designed for long life in extreme conditions with minimal maintenance.

The doors are steel and the construction is split-face block walls with a ribbed metal roof. The facility is furnished with appropriate signage and wall-mounted hand sanitizers. This project also includes a walkway, approximately 20 feet, connecting the facility to the parking lot. The facility and pathway meet all American with Disabilities Act standards.

Romtec, Inc. is one of a handful of companies nationwide that have the SIN 361-32 designation. This allowed them to provide a complete turnkey package, including the design of the retaining wall, excavation of the site, and installation of the double waterless restroom. The Service was able to issue a single purchase order and get the entire project done in only two months.

“Romtec has only received a few ARRA-funded projects, unlike some of our larger competitors that have received hundreds of buildings,” explained Kendra Pettengill. “Because we’re not very big, even the small projects we’ve received have had an enormous impact on our company. We’ve hired a few new personnel and kept some on that would have typically been laid off for the season.” When asked about working with the Service, Pettengill added, “Part of the success of this job was definitely collaborating with the personnel at Fish and Wildlife. Tim Loux was practical and to the point. Anthony Kaiser and Mistylynn Summers were also very professional and especially flexible. Every job we do should be as smooth, quick, and with people as easy to work with as this one. It was a joy for us and we hope to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service somewhere in that area again.”

Project Status: The contract was awarded to Romtec, Inc. of Roseburg, Oregon, on November 30, 2009, in the amount of $ 77,707.23. The project was completed in February 2010.

Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility

The Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility aids in the spawning migration of cui-ui and LCT from Pyramid Lake into the Truckee River. The facility consists of four major components: Marble Bluff Dam, a fish lock (elevator), a fishway, and a fish handling building.

Located near the end of the Truckee River, approximately three miles upstream of Pyramid Lake, the fish lock is a 40-foot deep chamber that fills with water and allows fish to migrate over the dam without being lifted out of the water, similar to an elevator. The high-tech fish lock can move as many as 2,000 cui-ui in 15 minutes and has been instrumental in the re-establishment of the cui-ui spawning migration from Pyramid Lake to the Truckee River. Adults spend two to three weeks in the river and larvae drift back to the lake within three weeks of hatching.

The facility was constructed in 1975 to reduce further erosion of the lower Truckee River and to impound and divert water to the fishway to allow passage around the delta. Without this facility, these fish are unable to access their old spawning grounds because of the changes in the lake’s elevation over the last century.

During the cui-ui spawning season, biologists are able to sample a small portion of the fish as they move though the lock. They weigh, measure, determine the gender of the fish, and check for tags before returning them to the river. This information helps biologists understand the recovery needs of cui-ui and to assess their life history and populations trends.

Current activities at the facility include the development of an incubation system for LCT eggs in the fish handling building. This system allows newly hatched trout to be raised in, and imprinted with, water from the Truckee River. In 2007 (the first year of operation), the incubation system produced approximately 28,400 Lahontan cutthroat trout fry, which were stocked into upstream tributaries of the Truckee River. These LCT will return to spawn in the Truckee River, helping to reestablish the LCT within its historic habitat.

The Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility is operated in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. The Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex operates and maintains the facility. The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for the maintenance of the fish lock and the dam. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe has land management responsibilities for Pyramid Lake and its surrounding area.

Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex

The Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex is an integrated fishery program that includes the Nevada Fishery Resource Office, the Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility, and the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery. These three stations coordinate and implement recovery activities, as well as provide technical assistance to state, tribal, and federal agencies. The administrative office for this Complex is the hatchery.

The Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex was authorized in 1956 to mitigate the loss of the Pyramid Lake fishery. Since 1992, it has provided oversight for the recovery of two fish native to our area, the Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) and the cui-ui.

In the Tahoe/Truckee basin, the cui-ui is currently endangered and the Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) is threatened. These fish played key historical roles in the culture and economy of the region. The cui-ui sucker is found only in the alkaline Pyramid Lake and the lower Truckee River. They were a major food source for local native American tribes throughout the 1800s and are still important to the culture of several tribes in the region. The largest of the cutthroat family, LCT were known to reach over forty pounds and regularly migrated 114 miles in the Truckee River between Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake.

Native fish of the West have faced significant challenges over the past century. Loss of habitat, commercial harvest, water diversions, and the spread of non-native fish have resulted in extinctions and have caused many fish to be listed as endangered or threatened. Under the Endangered Species Act, the Service is working to restore these fish to their native waters.

Want to learn more? Check out the Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility Case Study!

Photos:

Restroom under construction.	The new restroom features waterless valve toilets.

For more information, visit the Marble Bluff Fish Passage Facility website, or contact:

Lisa Heki
Complex Manager
Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex
710 Highway 395
Gardnerville, NV 89410-7813
Phone: (775) 265-2425
Fax: (775) 265-3004
lisa_heki@fws.gov

Paul Hayduk
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Fisheries Program, R-1
911 NE 11th Ave
Portland, OR 97232-4181
Phone: (503) 872-2763
Cell: (503) 791-2859
paul_hayduk@fws.gov

Kendra Pettengill
Romtec, Inc.
18240 North Bank Road
Roseburg, Oregon 97470
Phone: (541) 496-3541
Fax: (541) 496-0803

Originally posted 04/14/2010
Page Completed 01/21/2011