Stream Restoration for Wildlife Habitat Uses WHIP

Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

The Yellowstone cutthroat trout, a true Montana native, will now have a beautiful new spawning channel thanks to a successful collaborative effort involving two Park County ranches, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).

The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is one of two cutthroat subspecies in Montana. This colorful trout has a golden coloration and larger, more widely distributed spots on its sides than the westslope cutthroat trout. The Yellowstone cutthroat, as the name implies, is native to the Yellowstone River drainage of southwest and south central Montana. It is considered a Montana Species of Special Concern by the FWP. Much of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout spawning habitat in tributaries of the upper Yellowstone River has been lost to stream channelization and irrigation withdrawals that dewater the streams before spawning and egg incubation are completed in July and August.

Spawning Habitat Restoration

The PMD Ranch LLC (Bill and Emma Joy Dana) and the Nelson Ranch (Roger Nelson) were interested in giving something back to the natural resources they enjoy so much. These ranchers decided to collaborate on a project to restore a small unnamed spring creek to provide optimum spawning habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat. The creek originates from three individual springs on the Nelson Ranch and runs through the PMD Ranch until it joins the Yellowstone River. The “creek” was functioning as a ditch and had been channelized long ago to drain a wet meadow. The entire area was marginal habitat for fish and wildlife and provided few grazing benefits.

The FWP and NRCS met with the two landowners and quickly realized they had a real opportunity to provide the technical and financial assistance required to make this dream a reality. The group developed a conservation plan that included total channel reconstruction for the entire spring creek (4,909 feet), construction of a wetland complex, fencing the riparian area and wetland complex (12,367 feet), providing off-site livestock water, and developing a hardened water gap to provide livestock water. Additionally, the project aimed to improve stream flows in the Yellowstone River by improving irrigation efficiency on 74 acres of irrigated land by converting from flood irrigation to highly efficient sprinkler irrigation. The total estimated cost for the improvements was more than $207,300.

Once the large-scale conservation plan was developed, the next major hurdle was to offset the restoration costs. Neither landowner could afford to cover the bill on their own, so they sought cost-share assistance. NRCS provided $58,600 through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and $53,200 through the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. The FWP provided $42,000 through the Future Fisheries Program and the landowners paid for the remainder.

The landowners chose to hire an NRCS-certified Technical Service Provider (TSP) to design the stream channel and wetland complex in order to expedite the project implementation. The TSP provided all design, construction supervision, and project coordination. By spring of 2006, the channel and wetland restoration were complete.

Project Benefits Fishery and Wildlife

Now that the habitat has been restored, FWP will “seed” the stream with fertilized Yellowstone cutthroat trout eggs during the spring spawning season to imprint the fish to the stream. These fish will return in subsequent years to spawn and provide the Yellowstone River with a flush of new fish.

The project will yield significant numbers of Yellowstone cutthroat to the Yellowstone River system as well as providing high quality habitat for countless numbers of ducks, geese, and deer. Without the partnership effort, including NRCS, FWP, the TSP, contractors, and the landowners, this project would never have happened.

For More Information

To find out more about how to make your production agriculture operation more wildlife-friendly, contact your local NRCS field office.

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Stream Restoration for Wildlife Habitat: Park County, Montana (PDF; 556 KB)

Tony Rolfes (NRCS), Ron Hoagland (NRCS), and Andy Dana (Landowner) overlook the channelized creek.

Newly restored creek (May 2006).

Newly constructed shallow wetland unit.

Hardened water gap at end of spring creek.

Filling drain ditches.

New creek in construction.