Voices from the River: Teaming up for conservation

Christina Barrineau of Wyoming Game and Fish talks to students from Encampment Elementary School as part of efforts of the ongoing project to foster river stewardship on the North Platte and Encampment rivers in Wyoming. Jeff Streeter/Trout Unlimited

By Brett Prettyman

There is nothing better than being able to cross something off a long to-do list and feeling good about how it was accomplished.

Such was the case in 2017 for three people working together to restore aquatic habitat in the North Platte and Encampment rivers and their tributaries in south central Wyoming.

The team of Christina Barrineau of Wyoming Game and Fish, Joe Parsons of the Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Conservation District and Jeff Streeter, serving as the North Platte River Water Project Manager for Trout Unlimited, formed a collaboration to do the work and started in 2011.

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Coon Creek, located in the Medicine Bow National Forest, is a tributary to the East Fork for the Encampment, and one of the 12 removed barriers. The sit was constructed in the 1980s to measure stream flows pre- and post-timber harvest. After data collection, the infrastructure was abandoned and, over time, spring runoff and ice flows took a toll. Al the matertial was removed from the forest and disposed of in a landfill about 40 miles from the site.

Last year the trio completed the Big Creek Fish Passage Project, one of many on the list they created for restoration efforts. Big Creek holds wild populations of rainbow, brown and brook trout and native white suckers and longnose dace. As a tributary to the North Platte River, Big Creek is also traditional spawning habit for browns and rainbows.

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Coon Creek after the cleanup. Jeff Streeter/Trout Unlimited

A concrete dam spanning the creek is located on private land just 500 feet downstream from the Forest Service Boundary. The partners opened 60 miles of the creek above the dam on Forest Service and private lands by building a grouted rock ramp on the downstream side of the dam to make it easier for fish to move upstream. Rocks were also placed along the ramp to provide resting areas for fish on the move.

“This reconnect will benefit the entire sub-watershed on both public and private land,” Streeter said.

The collaborative project drew the attention of others in the community and has been nominated by the U.S. Forest Service award recognizing Aquatic Recreational Accomplishment as part of the National Rise To The Future Watershed Resources Awards program. The award will be presented later this year.

This is not the first, nor will it be the last, project to be completed in the North Platte River Valley.

Watch a side-by-side video of before and after restoration work on the Cherokee/Wagoner Reconnect and the Odd Fellow Habitat Enhancement. Both are Encampment River projects.

Since they started, the team, according to the Forest Service nomination letter, has:

— Reconnected more than 109 miles of wild trout habitat by removing 12 barriers.

— Restored more than 12,000 linear feet of river channel.

— Planted thousands of willows and other native shrubs.

— Raised $3.5 million for stream restoration, fish passage, and riparian enhancements.

— Provided numerous stream restoration and watershed health educational opportunities for students and adults throughout the valley.

— Monitored 11 projects to gage success and better understand river dynamics.

Others also noticed the work and soon joined in the effort.

After an 8-mile habitat reconnection on the East Fork of the Encampment River was completed in 2011, requests were made for private landowners to sign up for restoration work to be done on their property.

Only one landowner agreed, but others signed up after seeing the value of the work, leading to an even more comprehensive restoration effort. The partners have worked on 12 projects on private land and four projects on public land.

According to the nomination letter, a total of 86 miles of stream habitat on the forest are now accessible to fish.

The work will continue in 2018 with plans to restore over 3,500 linear feet of channel on the North Platte and Encampment Rivers; the team’s most ambitious year yet. Plans to reconnect the Encampment River with the North Platte for the first time in over 90 years are in the works. It takes the entire team to get a project of this size off the ground.

Landowners, water users, agencies, and funders must come together and realize the importance of reconnecting fisheries. For that to happen we have to engage everyone, we have to tell the story of the Encampment River. This story is told best by Christina, Joe and Jeff.

Brett Prettyman is the Intermountain Communications Director for Trout Unlimited. His based out of Salt Lake City and can be reached at bprettyman@tu.org