WILSON, Wyo. — Fish Creek is entering a new phase of restoration, with decades of research culminating in a five-year plan to curb pollution, reduce algae (and aquatic vegetation) and protect trout habitat — starting with projects like livestock fencing along the creek banks and potential sewer line connections for homes currently on septic systems close to the creek.
Fish Creek, which runs from its headwaters near Teton Village into the Snake River in Wilson, is a popular recreation place for visitors and residents alike. In the summer months, it’s not uncommon to see groups of five or more tubing, sloshies in hand, or people fishing in the quieter pools upstream.
The Fish Creek Watershed Plan has identified two impairments to the creek: high E. coli levels and and too-high levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, which result in an excess of algae and vegetation that impacts trout reproduction. Nutrient excess is tied to sources including agriculture, septic systems, wastewater infrastructure and fertilizer use. The plan itself, which coalesced nearly all data collected on the creek over the last 20-plus years, lays out 38 projects for 2027 to 2032, pairing near-term fixes with longer-term efforts.
An impairment, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WYDEQ), is when a waterbody is not meeting established state water quality standards and cannot fully support its designated uses, such as recreation, fisheries, agriculture and others.
“If people want to float Fish Creek, if people want to swim Fish Creek, [they] probably don’t want to have E. coli in there,” Water Resources Specialist for Teton Conservation District (TCD) David Lee told Buckrail.
Short-term projects are “low-hanging fruit,” as both Lee and Water Resources Director at Protect Our Water Jackson Hole (POWJH) Matt Bambach described, and are mostly focused on livestock and adding vegetation. That is, installing fencing to keep livestock away from the creek and adding vegetation along the creek bed, intended to filter pollutants out before they reach the water.
One such project is already underway on private land downstream of downtown Wilson. The landowner received fencing materials to exclude cattle from parts of Fish Creek with POWJH funding support.
Longer term, the plan aims to connect more properties along the watershed to sewer. “We have septic systems that do not work to remove nutrients … they’re not designed to remove nutrients,” Bambach told Buckrail in an interview. POWJH’s wastewater focus includes both expanding sewer connections and improving treatment at centralized facilities, including the Town of Jackson plant and a shared treatment plant serving the Aspens and Teton Pines on the West Bank.
POWJH has already shown support for building more sewer connections in other areas in Teton County, including supporting a motion passed by the Town earlier this month to streamline building sewer connections in septic-dependent areas.
Several organizations throughout the community are involved in the multi-pronged plan to improve the water quality of Fish Creek, including POWJH, TCD, Trout Unlimited, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, private landowners and Teton County.
Funding for projects will come from a variety of sources. According to the plan, capital will come from organizations like TCD, the Ricketts Conservation Foundation and WYDEQ, among others.
The plan itself is born of years of effort, and eventually resulted in defining both the impairments to the creek and the projects intended to improve water quality.
“It’s taken 25 years to get to the point of having enough research … to justify them looking into creating a new impairment for the stream,” said Bambach.
Bambach went on to share that he co-authored “The Story of Fish Creek” with David Gonzales — a former staffer at POWJH and widely known as the originator of the Grand Teton Picnic. The white paper published by POWJH dives into the details about the 50-year ecological decline and water quality concerns of Fish Creek.
Coming up next? Lee will present the plan to the Board of Teton County Commissioners in the fall, and will likely also take it to Town Council as well. While questions remain about the conditions of the headwaters in Teton Village, Lee maintains that there is plenty of information to begin restoration projects while monitoring continues.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Lee said. “It’s going to take a while, it’s going to take collaboration, it’s going to take being neighborly.”
