Fish Hatchery Stage to be torn down

The Fish Hatchery Stage, which has been a home to Leavenworth Summer Theatre since the 90s, is slated to be torn down in two years.  When the hatchery stage was built in 1993, it was funded almost entirely by Leavenworth Summer Theatre.  Today, the stage needs extensive repair or replacement.

However, due to new laws that have been passed since the nineties, it will not be possible for the stage to be rebuilt, said Julia Pinnix, Leavenworth Fisheries Complex visitor services manager.  Because of this, she has suggested moving the stage to new grounds.

Pinnix was informed by her legal advisors that any building that is constructed on public federal land becomes federal property. Legally, it is extremely difficult to put up new structures on public land without very clear reasons for the need.

“That’s because the government is trying to be fiscally responsible,” she said. “So, from a regional perspective, putting another building up, that wasn’t directly related to raising fish here at the hatchery did not make a lot of sense.”

The hatchery was given a year for Leavenworth Summer Theater to finish performing on the hatchery stage, but then COVID-19 hit and that was extended. The hatchery is under the Department of the Interior and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Hatcheries themselves are managed by the fish and aquatic conservation program within the wildlife service.

One possible solution would be to have portable stages on hatchery grounds, which could be put up for performances and taken off and stored off-site after the end of the season, Pinnix says. The cost and feasibility of portable stages is not yet known.

Pinnix says it doesn’t matter who pays for it, building a structure on federal land means it becomes owned by the government. So, the current stage, although it was funded by the theatre, is owned by the government.

Legal advisors and leadership said it was not feasible to create another permanent stage at the fish hatchery, Pinnix said.  In the 1990s, the manager at the hatchery was very supportive of visitors’ service and had a freer hand than managers are allowed today, she said. Accordingly, he was able to get the project for the stage approved.

“Since the nineties, laws have changed regarding how government sites are managed”, Pinnix said. In the past decade, laws have changed so groups outside of the hatchery so that “friend groups” with the hatchery cannot handle money for public lands.  In the past, special use permits on public lands were given for twenty years, and now they are given for five, she said. The current stage has positives and negatives, Pinnix said.

“Its location is a bit problematic; it could have been designed differently,” she said. “It would be great if we could just tear it down and start over. I’m sure a lot of things would be done differently. But I think having the opportunity for a temporary stage also allows us to try some different things as well and see if we can make improvements…you have more flexibility.”