JACKSON, Wyo. — The Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) and several partners including Trout Unlimited, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Teton Conservation District, recently completed two fish habitat restoration projects that will allow fish upstream access to miles of habitat and stabilize banks within the Buffalo Fork drainage of the Snake River.
According to a BTNF press release, these projects represent over $700,000 of combined funding, an investment aimed at improving and reconnecting habitat for one of the most intact and healthy native cutthroat trout populations in the U.S. Part of the federally-designated National Wild and Scenic River System, the Buffalo Fork provides critical habitat for native Snake River cutthroat trout and other native fish that include mountain whitefish, bluehead suckers (a Wyoming Species of Greatest Conservation Need), mountain suckers, sculpin and dace.
BTNF calls these projects “a commitment to maintaining this thriving fish population in perpetuity.”
The first of the two projects is called the Lava Creek Project, involving the removal of two large channel-spanning concrete dams that BTNF confirms have prevented fish passage to approximately nine miles of habitat for the past 70 years. The project was completed in collaboration with the Pinto Ranch.
“This project is a great example of a win-win,” David Lee, water resources specialist for the Teton Conservation District, said in the press release.
According to Lee, the project improves fish passage by removing barriers and increasing access to historic spawning in Lava Creek, and benefits the Pinto Ranch that relies on Lava Creek water to irrigate their hay meadows and pasture.
The second project is known as the Blackrock Creek Project, involving the placement of large trees, willows and other organic matter to stabilize streambanks and the installation of rock crossvane structures within the stream channel to redirect flows. BTNF writes that recent high-water events have caused the creek to migrate, and flooded the BTNF’s Blackrock Ranger Station in 2017.
This project mitigates the risk of flooding by helping to dissipate and redirect flows away from vulnerable areas, while improving fish habitat and stream stability using natural materials and processes.
“Both of these projects are critically important to the things we all love about Teton County: our public lands and native trout,” Leslie Steen, Wyoming state director for Trout Unlimited, said in the BTNF press release.
