Harden Furniture to help restore salmon to stream

Hatchery to operate near case goods plant

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, December 7, 2009

A Harden Furniture case goods plant is along Fish Creek in upstate New York. The company and a local group plan to test a fish hatchery at the site to help reintroduce salmon to local waterways.

This spring, the family-owned company will help open a test hatchery for 5,000 salmon eggs along Fish Creek, where Harden has operated since 1844. It will cooperate on the project with Fish Creek Atlantic Salmon Club, a group formed in 1997 to restore and reintroduce Atlantic salmon and brook trout to Fish Creek and the Oswego River system.

Harden officials said that by early in the last century, the Atlantic salmon population largely disappeared from streams in New York due to overfishing, dam construction and pollution.

The Fish Creek club and local wildlife officials will monitor the hatchery as the salmon are released in the spring. The fish will swim hundreds of miles into the Atlantic before returning to their birth site to spawn after two years.

Company and club officials said if the test hatchery is successful, they will work on creating a larger, more permanent hatchery that can host up to 60,000 eggs.

"Participating in this initiative to reintroduce the Atlantic salmon is an exciting opportunity for Harden to build upon our commitment to environmental stewardship," company CEO Greg Harden said. "The section of Fish Creek that flows past the Harden factory has always been a popular spot for anglers, and we are extremely excited about the opportunity for a new generation to be able to see Atlantic salmon flourish in Central New York after disappearing from this area for so long."

Harden Furniture is a founding member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council and produces case goods made from wood it harvests on 10,000 acres it owns near its factory. The land has been certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative program that promotes environmentally friendly forestry practices.