Private Ranch Fish Habitat Restoration

   This private ranch (confidential client) is a magnificent flyfishing ranch with a spring-fed stream near the Wind River Mountains in central Wyoming. Through years of excessive grazing and trampling by cattle, the fragile spring creek had become overly wide and covered with fine sediment. These land use practices filled in all of the pools, smothered the spawning beds with sediment, and destroyed cover habitat for adult trout. As a result, the spring creek fishery was virtually non-existent despite the excellent quality of water supplying the system from numerous springs.

     Confluence was asked to examine the system to determine whether anything could be done to develop a fishery in the spring creek. After completing a thorough evaluation of the factors limiting the fishery, a plan was developed to restore the stream. The plan included the removal of sediment from the stream bed and the creation of pools and spawning riffles. In addition, grazing was halted within the riparian corridor to allow the soils to stabilize and encourage the growth of shrubs such as willows and dogwood.

     Construction was completed in stages over several years until nearly 3 miles of channel had been restored. The stream now supports breeding populations of rainbow, brown, and Green River cutthroat trout. The result of these improvements has been the creation of a trophy fishery. A typical day on the spring creek will yield numerous 18- to 22-inch fish with the occasional lunker up to 27 inches!