''We are concerned for fiscal year 2007,'' said Michael Montoya, manager of the Mescalero Tribal Fish Hatchery. ''If we don't have some sort of financial cushion to take care of the operational cost of the fishery, we don't know how we are going to survive.''

Officials plan an auction Aug. 1 at the tribe's Inn of the Mountain Gods to raise money for the trout hatchery's operations.

The hatchery raises rainbow trout from the smallest fish in incubation tanks to fish ready for stocking for Mescalero recreation programs.

The tribe began operating the hatchery soon after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closed its operations earlier this decade.

''In 2000, there was a massive mud slide that came through here. That seemed to be the turning point for the Fish and Wildlife Service to close operations,'' said Kai-t Blue Sky of Cochiti Pueblo, a fisheries intern.

Various tribes lobbied unsuccessfully to restore funding to the hatchery.

Tribes from across New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah formed a partnership, the Southwest Tribal Fisheries Commission, which helped obtain a Fish and Wildlife grant that kept the hatchery going for the next few years.

''We had an agreement with the government that they would offset the costs of operation and maintenance for the hatchery, but that funding has been discontinued,'' Montoya said.

Other tribes, including the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the Southern Ute Tribe, donated money to see out this fiscal year.

But, Montoya said, ''We are operating on about 25 percent of a normal operating budget.''

Officials want the hatchery to break even and provide fish for the tribe at a price that will allow the tribal fisheries programs to be profitable and competitive.

''If we could run the fishery at full capacity, we could be profitable,'' Montoya said.