Trout Stream & Habitat Improvement Projects
2006 - 2007
Teton Creek Trout
Habitat Restoration Project (ID), Awarded To Friends Of The Teton River
Total Project Costs: $168,350
Friends of the Teton River will increase Yellowstone Cutthroat
Trout populations in Teton Creek, a critical spawning tributary, by
stabilizing and restoring streambanks, improving water quality and
enhancing spawning habitat. Project will stabilize the headcut in Teton
Creek and 1,250 linear feet of associated eroding streambank will be
restored. Project design will create sustainable fish habitat, reduce
sedimentation, maintain stable banks, increase riparian vegetation and
dissipate the effects of flood events. The project will facilitate the
recovery of native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in Teton Creek. Project
partners include local landowners, the Teton Creek Sub-watershed
committee, Trout Unlimited and various government agencies.
Gros Ventre
River Research Project (WY), Awarded To Trout Unlimited - Wyoming Water
Project
Total Project Costs: $191,000
The Gros Ventre River Research Project will determine the movement
patterns and habitat preferences of native cutthroat, non-native
rainbow, and hybrid rainbow-cutthroat trout in the lower Gros Ventre
River and irrigation ditch environments. The project is designed to
answer uncertainties related to limiting factors for native Snake River
fine-spotted cutthroat trout, a sensitive species, including the
presence of non-native rainbow and hybrid rainbow-cutthroat trout, and
the dewatering of a section of the lower river. The research, which will
be complied in technical reports, will help resource agencies and Trout
Unlimited to prioritize restoration activities in the lower Gros Ventre
River. Project partners include Grand Teton National Park, the National
Park Service's Water Rights Branch and Wyoming Game & Fish Department.
Monitoring
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (ID), Awarded To Teton Regional Land Trust
Total Project Costs: $12,093
The Teton Regional Land Trust plans to establish a monitoring
program to track spawning habitat use in the Lower Teton Creek
Watershed, a vital habitat for the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
Project will allow Teton Regional Land Trust to adaptively manage
conservation easement lands with key spawning habitat in order to
maintain persistence of the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the
Lower Teton Creek Watershed, and inform future restoration efforts.
Project partners include private landowners and community volunteers.
Yellowstone
Cutthroat Trout Evaluation (ID & WY), Awarded To Henry's Fork Foundation
Total Project Costs: $58,200
The Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Restoration and Population
Evaluation project will focus on evaluating the restoration potential of
sites in the Henry's Fork and Sinks drainages for reestablishing
Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations. The project will also
genetically evaluate the remaining untested Yellowstone cutthroat trout
population and characteristics. Finally, the project will survey certain
stream lengths within the Henry's Fork and Sinks drainages that have not
been addressed to date. Project partners include all applicable state
and federal agencies in the drainages.
Circle Hook
Caught Trout Mortality Rates (ID), Awarded To Idaho Department Of Fish
And Game
Total Project Costs: $32,506
The Idaho Department of Game and Fish will investigate bait hooking
mortality rates for wild Yellowstone cutthroat trout and rainbow trout
when using circle hooks versus traditional hook types in river systems.
Project will quantify the risk of allowing bait fishing in streams
supporting native trout fisheries when captured using flies, lures,
traditional J hooks with bait, and circle hooks with bait. Implicit in
wild trout fisheries is the survival of fish released after capture.
Gear types often affect survival of released trout. This project will
enhance wild trout populations managed with special fishing regulations
by helping managers institute appropriate gear restrictions. Project
partners include local landowners and students.
LaBarge
Colorado River Restoration Project (WY), Awarded To Wyoming Game And
Fish Department
Total Project Costs: $135,000
The LaBarge Restoration Project will renovate a fish migration
barrier that was constructed to prevent the upstream movement of
non-native salmonids. Fish were discovered to be moving either through
or over the barrier in 2006, hence jeopardizing six years worth of
effort to restore this drainage to native fish species. Barrier
modifications will fully block upstream fish migration over or through
the barrier and ensure its long-term integrity and functionality in
order to improve native Colorado River cutthroat trout populations.
Project partners include Trout Unlimited, Central Utah Projects, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
Stop Aquatic
Hitchhikers In The Snake (WY), Awarded To Snake River Fund
Total Project Costs: $21,800
The Snake River Fund plans to protect and improve native
fine-spotted cutthroat trout populations and their habitat by preventing
the introduction and spread of non-native aquatic species into the Snake
River. This project will provide preventative dip stations at boat and
angler access points to the Snake River, as well as educational
materials and a large permanent river side display explaining the threat
of invasive species to the trout population, proper use of the dip
station and other methods of prevention. Project partners include the
Bridger-Teton National Forest, the Federation of Fly Fishers and the
local chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Benewah Creek
Channeland Enhancement (ID), Awarded to the Coeur D'Alene Tribe
Total Project Costs: $147,000
The Coeur D'Alene Tribe will restore 4,630 feet of stream channel in
Benewah Creek as part of a larger effort to restore 3.2 miles of
critical mainstem habitat. This project will complete the restoration
work through stream channel filling and the re-establishment of native
riparian forests and wetland plant communities. This restoration work
will promote long-term channel stability, optimize fish migration,
improve instream habitat for at risk westslope cutthroat trout, and
increase wetland habitats. Project partners include the Bonneville Power
Administration, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and the
University of Idaho.
Rehabilitation of Flat Creek II (WY), Awarded to the Town of Jackson
Total Project Costs: $155,261
The Town of Jackson will continue to implement stream improvements
to reduce icing and winter flooding that adversely affect native
cutthroat trout populations in Flat Creek. The project will install 21
in-stream structures such as logs and boulders, to narrow and deepen the
channel in priority reaches, and slow water velocities and reduce
turbulence, create more pool-riffle areas, restore riparian vegetation,
and improve stream-bed conditions to promote native trout spawning and
incubation. This project is part of a larger effort to rehabilitate the
Flat Creek basin and improve water quality and fish habitat along the
entire length of the river. Project partners include Teton Conservation
District and private landowners.
Cutthroat
Trout Data from the Snake River (WY), Awarded to the USGS Northern Rocky
Mountain Science Center
Total Project Costs: $285,500
The USGS will collect new information about the distribution,
abundance, and movement of the finespotted Snake River cutthroat trout
below Jackson Lake Dam and determine the effects of discharge, sediment
accumulation, and off-channel habitat on cutthroat trout recruitment and
survival. Data collected will be used to develop new insights into the
management of this portion of the Snake River and potential for
restoring some elements of ecosystem function that have been lost since
the construction of Jackson Lake Dam. Project partners include the
National Park Service, Montana State University, Utah State University,
Wyoming Game and Fish, US Bureau of Reclamation, and the Teton
Conservation District.
Yellowstone
River Streamflow Restoration (MT), Awarded to the Montana Water Trust
Total Project Costs: $77,244
The Montana Water Trust will restore flows in chronically dewatered
tributaries to the Yellowstone River in the Paradise Valley and Shields
River Valley. This project will monitor and manage Montana Water Trust's
current instream flow project on Mill Creek, a tributary to the Upper
Yellowstone, as well as, identify, prioritize, and implement additional
projects that enhance flows in dewatered reaches of the Upper
Yellowstone. Low flows have been identified as limiting factors for
Yellowstone cutthroat trout and other fish. By using voluntary,
incentive-based contracts to transfer consumptive (irrigation) water
rights to instream flow, Montana Water Trust will restore aquatic
habitat and provide connectivity for native trout. Project partners
include Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, the Upper Shields Watershed
Association, and the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Basin Group.
Distribution,
Abundance, and Movement of Native Cutthroat Trout, Awarded to the USGS
Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, MT
Total Project Costs: $285,700
The USGS will work with Grand Teton National Park to collect new
information about the distribution, abundance, and movement of the
fine-spotted Snake River cutthroat trout, a "species of special concern"
below Jackson Lake Dam and determine the effects of discharge, sediment
accumulation, and off-channel habitat on cutthroat trout recruitment and
survival. These data will be used to develop new insights into the
management of this portion of the Snake River and potential for restoring
some elements of ecosystem function that have been lost since the
construction of Jackson Lake Dam. The hydrology of the upper Snake River
is partly determined by releases from Jackson Lake Dam. The dam is
managed primarily to meet agricultural needs so it will be important to
involve the landowners in the project. Understanding the effects of
flow-release strategies on the abundance and distribution of this
species requires a thorough understanding of the relationships between
the physical processes of the river and the current distribution of the
trout, which this project will provide.
Fox Creek
Watershed Restoration Project (ID), Awarded to the Teton Regional Land
Trust
Total Project Costs: $130,900
The Teton Regional Land Trust and local partners propose to restore
portions of Fox Creek and associated wetlands on private lands to
improve wetlands, riparian areas and stream channels in order to reduce
sedimentation and improve cover for spawning Yellowstone cutthroat
trout. Fox Creek is one of the three remaining Yellowstone cutthroat
trout spawning tributaries in the Upper Teton River. Newly contoured
ponds and wetlands along Fox Creek will be planted with woody and
herbaceous vegetation for improving water quality and riparian habitat.
In the past, the Yellowstone cutthroat trout have declined in population
due to poor quality habitat and competition from non-native trout
species. This project will help restore critical habitat for
re-establishing and strengthening their populations.
Lower Henry's
Fork Otolith Microchemistry Project (ID), Awarded to Henry's Fork
Foundation, Idaho
Total Project Costs: $66,900
The Henry's Fork Foundation, working with the University of Idaho,
will utilize otolith microchemistry to gain a better understanding of
trout life history and movement patterns in the Lower Henry's Fork from
Ashton Dam to north Fork of the Teton River to better understand
spawning, rearing and migration patterns. By collecting this information
in this part of the lower Henry's Fork, this project's potential
management implications include flow management, diversion screening,
hydropower project licensing, angling opportunities, and land use
planning. The twenty-two miles of mainstem Henry's Fork in this area is
under intense and steadily increasing pressure from water users, land
development, one of the most rapidly developing cities in the country
(Rexburg) and the angling public, yet little is known about the trout
populations in this area. This project will assist in identifying the
location and originating source of the trout that inhabit this stretch
of river.
Lower Gros
Ventre River Fish Barrier and Water Use Report, Awarded to Trout
Unlimited, Idaho City, ID
Total Project Costs: $9,883
Trout Unlimited will develop a systematic and coordinated report on
all possible fish migration barriers and entrainment issues. This report
will provide a general overview of water use in the Lower Gros Ventre
River between lower Slide Lake and the confluence with the Snake River,
to help identify additional research needs. Much information exists, but
it is in scattered locations among various agencies. This project will
enable Trout Unlimited to compile and systematize the information in
order to identify information and research gaps for future native trout
management.
Badger Creek
Diversion Project, Awarded to the Friends of the Teton River
Total Project Costs: $290,531
The Friends of the Teton River will remove significant barriers to
native Yellowstone cutthroat trout migration and reduce entrainment
potential in diversion ditches by reconstructing the current irrigation
infrastructure to enhance fish passage from headwaters to valley floor.
Badger Creek is one of four Teton River tributaries that contain native
Yellowstone cutthroat trout without the presence of non-native
competitors. This project will help increase the potential for resident
cutthroat trout to move downstream from tributary headwaters. The
applicant will be working with local landowner irrigators, the Idaho
Department of Fish and Wildlife and Idaho Trout Unlimited. Key project
deliverables will be a reconstructed splitter diversion, fish screens, a
fish ladder and new headgates.
One Fly-NFWF
Conservation Outreach-II, Awarded to Net The Big One Designs
Total Project Costs: $6,000
Net The Big One Designs will maintain and enhance an innovative,
informative and visually exciting website on behalf of both the Jackson
Hole One Fly Foundation (JHOFF) and the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation (NFWF) to describe the conservation grants partnership
program and the annual JHOFF event; will update and publish information
on the JHOFF event, conservation grants program partnership, and
descriptions of funded stream habitat improvement grant projects
to date and update information and otherwise service the website as
needed through 2009.
For more information, contact: Krystyna Wolniakowski,
wolniakowski@nfwf.org,
503-417-8700 extension 6005. |
