Idaho Gov. Butch Otter on Tuesday took part in two events marking one of the biggest sockeye salmon runs in the state in decades.

Otter joined Idaho Fish and Game and Shoshone-Bannock tribal officials in releasing more than 30 adult sockeye into Redfish Lake near Stanley to spawn naturally.

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) comments

The sockeye returns to Idaho numbered in the single digits during the 1990s. But, so far this season, state fisheries biologists say more than 500 of the endangered salmon have returned to the central Idaho hatchery near Salmon, the biggest run in more than two decades.

Otter continues

Later in the day, Otter celebrated the opening of a new state-of-the-art sockeye spawning center at the Eagle Fish Hatchery. The new facility is designed to double the capacity of the captive breeding program dedicated to sockeye recovery. (AP)