Ensuring that hatchery fish come home is the focus of the research at the Elk River Hatchery. As each tributary of water has a unique signature of amino acids, even within the same watershed , it is believed that adult Fall Chinook navigate back to their natal streams by recalling these unique amino acid signatures. Historically, at Elk River Hatchery, incubation occurred in well water to help minimize the negative impacts of sediment, temperature fluctuations, pathogens, etc. However, d id this incubation strategy also minimize the ability for the Fall Chinook to imprint on the unique amino acid signature that they would encounter as they return to the hatchery as adults? In an effort to reduce straying of returning of adult hatchery Fall Chinook, the Elk River Hatchery is testing the effects of hatching performance, growth, and homing of adults from eggs incubated in River Water vs. Well Water. Additionally, Elk River Hatchery is conducting studies that test whether or not adding a unique signature of amino acids to the water during the incubation and rearing periods, if the returning adults will exhibit a better homing response to this unique amino acid signature.