Uncertainty is the theme in Scotia — the once-thriving and bustling company town owned by the Pacific Lumber Co. that has seen better days.

As the bankruptcy case that has overshadowed the timber company for nearly two years winds down in Texas, PALCO executives and its employees are preparing for a transition into a new company that could come in the form of a spin-off of Mendocino Redwoods Co. or something else entirely.

In addition to the dwindling timber industry, there is uncertainty about what will happen to PALCO’s hundreds of employees, the company town and its high-profile Inn, historic theater and museum when the federal bankruptcy judge makes a final ruling in the Chapter 11 case that could come on Monday.

But there are other, less-visible parts of the company town that may come to an end before they ever saw their full potential.

A seemingly out-of-place live-fish exhibit — touted as the largest freshwater aquarium of its kind on the West Coast — is tucked away beside a large lumber mill building just a few hundred yards away from the nearby U.S. Highway 101.

It may be the only place a visitor can see first-hand all of the threatened salmon and other fish that live in the Pacific Northwest’s rivers and streams, but it’s just one of several stops on a PALCO tour, which also includes a hydraulic de-barker machine that one company official says has the ability to captivate visitors for hours.

The $2.3 million educational aquarium facility was built 11 years ago to educate residents about coho and chinook salmon, cutthroat trout and rainbow trout, which are acquired from area hatcheries.

Kate Sullivan, PALCO’s senior scientist who oversees the timber company’s stream monitoring and other research on its 210,000 acres of forest lands, said the exhibit should have been more high-profile and better-developed.

But Sullivan said it has been hard to get traction on the project with the many “crises” the company has dealt with in recent years.

“But maybe with the new owners we can get more traction,” Sullivan said. “We need to kind of worm our way in early and see if they want to run it or expand it.”

Sullivan said decisions will have to be made relatively quickly.

“It’s a great place to educate everyone — kids and tourists,” Sullivan said.

Inside the fish exhibit’s main building is a 4,800-gallon half-moon tank that compliments the many picture displays showing the various fish species that inhabit the PALCO’s approximately 350 stream miles, the fishes life cycles and the company’s wildlife restoration work.

There is also an amphibian display with a large, but reclusive salamander.

The entire facility holds an estimated 40,000 gallons of water, circulated by two large pumps and cycled through filters that is sterilized by ultraviolet light and chilled to a brisk 52 to 56 degrees to keep the fish happy and healthy.

The fish exhibit was built over a former hatchery of sorts — a large horseshoe shaped rearing pond that saw as many as 10,000 fish grown to be released back into the adjacent watershed that was abandoned, in part, because it was difficult to maintain.

A series of tanks outside the main building shows various stages of the fishes’ lives. As the fish age, they are moved to the next larger tank.

Each year, 20 fish from each of the various species of fish are introduced to the exhibit to keep the cycle going.

The facility’s manager Rich Rossen said the fish are pretty easy to maintain, but keeping the tanks clean is a challenge.

The fish will stay in the tanks their entire lives.

After they die, Rossen said the fish are donated to area schools for children to dissect.

“Their whole life and death is about education,” he said.

While the stresses of captive life kill a few of the fish, Rossen said the occasional Kingfisher ventures below the wood covered roof to snatch a small fish or two.

“We’re feeding wildlife and raising fish,” Rossen said.

The fish are fed pellet food on a random schedule and in mixed quantities.

While the salmon never become sexually mature or undergo other physiological changes because they stay in fresh water, the trout can spawn and sometimes do, although Rossen said the conditions prevent the eggs from hatching successfully.

The exhibit’s largest fish, a hefty 10-pound female rainbow trout, is 6 years old.

PALCO pays an estimated $25,000 annually for food, labor and maintenance costs, which includes two part-time staff members who clean and maintain the facility to keep as natural an environment as possible.

Doug Kelly, the executive director of the Humboldt Fish Action Council, has been a consultant to PALCO to help run the facility.

The non-profit HFAC commits one of its volunteers to help at the fish exhibit, but Kelly said its five-member board of directors has been considering taking on the facility and expanding the group’s role just to make sure that it keeps going.

Although the possibilities are endless, Kelly said funding is an issue.

He’s hopeful there are grants available or that PALCO’s new owners will consider helping out.

“We don’t want to lose it,” Kelly said. “It’s that important.”

Kelly said the fish exhibit has been something of a lost opportunity in the community, which let’s people see the salmonids they read about in the newspaper, as well as a chance to see other fish such as the stickleback sculpin and pike minnow.

“The only way to see their full life stage is something like this,” Kelly said. “I think it would be a tremendous tragedy if it were to be shut down.”

The exhibit has been used by the California Department of Fish and Game and the California Conservation Corps to help train crews to identify the North Coast’s fish species.

Local students routinely visit it too, including tours by Trinidad, Rio Dell, Arcata schools and even a class from the Bay Area.

The fish exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays for self-guided tours.