Submitted by shauna_sherard on Wed, 2016-09-21 06:30 30 Days Of Public Lands Vote Up Down +24 + BLOG CPurves PHOTO02.jpg By Cathy Purves I recently had one of those ah-ha moments confirming that science, recreation, and public lands management efforts work. This summer I participated in a field tour in southwest Wyoming with a mix of Trout Unlimited staff, agency biologists and other partners, all interested in protecting a gem of a public landscape currently going through the decision making process that helps define how public lands are used from time to time. BLOG CPurves PHOTO01.jpg This country wasn’t new to me—in 1979, fresh out of college, I started my career in this corner of the state. Back then, my working periphery stretched from Flaming Gorge Reservoir along the Wyoming-Utah border north along the Green River to Fontenelle Reservoir. As a fisheries technician, I conducted creel surveys, assisted in gillnetting expeditions, and inventoried dozens of tiny hidden meandering streams. Decades later, as a Trout Unlimited staffer, I initiated the Greater Little Mountain campaign to protect these public land assets, which included these native trout streams, carpeted expanses of rich big game habitat crucial to winter survival, and prime recreational opportunities pursued by locals and nonlocal enthusiasts. On this particular day our destination was a restoration project near the headwaters of Red Creek. From my backseat view, I was startled to recall that I’d been here before, long ago. My landscape memory kicked in as we snaked up a narrow shrub- and rock-infested drainage. It was like I was back in 1979. Still difficult to access and most definitely off the beaten path—each bend in the road heightened my excitement as our access up the drainage of Red Creek narrowed. We eventually abandoned the vehicle and hiked on foot after reaching an impassable draw, and as we hiked up the old rutted road, the memory of this tiny stream corridor became my comfortable companion and a smile spread across my face. I now vividly recall spending a hot summer day or two in 1979 inventorying Red Creek for fish. Then it was a little known stream to Wyoming Game & Fish and we set out to find out whether fish were present and if so, what kind. There were fish—in fact, trout, native Colorado River cutthroat trout. Just a few but present in all their color and tucked back under the channel, keeping cool in those hidden pools of refuge. I’m not sure why this particular stream project stayed in my mind. Perhaps young, naïve, new to this vast continuous landscape of public lands, I was astounded that fish lived in these remote little fast-moving streams that were, in places, no deeper than a few inches. As we walked back to the truck, I realized the importance of the work we did back in the 20th century to ensure that Red Creek would be an important protected resource for these native trout. Over the years, and more recently, staff from Trout Unlimited, Wyoming Game & Fish, BLM, and volunteers from the local Trout Unlimited chapter have tirelessly worked to maintain tributaries such as this--planting trees and shrubs, fencing off sensitive habitat from elk and cattle. It tickles me that so long ago, a young woman worked on this native trout project, never expecting to revisit it 30-odd years later to witness a public lands protection success and to be involved in its long-term continued protection. I need public lands and so do millions of others. We depend on them for so many virtues, and their role in Wyoming’s economy should never be underestimated. As a user of public lands, your voice is instrumental. We can have this wild backcountry managed to protect these renewable resources we so love and, with careful planning, we can also make sure that energy development gets its place at the table as well. All done responsibly, all done for our future.