The Spread Creek Fish Passage Project needs your help! TU is working on a collaborative project with Grand Teton National Park, the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and many additional partners to ensure that migratory Snake River cutthroat trout will continue to be able to move freely between the Snake River and Spread Creek and its headwaters tributaries, while also ensuring that historic water rights to area ranches are upheld.

In 2010, the Spread Creek dam, an obsolete, crumbling diversion dam for irrigation located just outside of Grand Teton National Park on Bridger-Teton National Forest lands was removed by a partnership effort led by TU's Wyoming Water Project, opening up over 50 miles of Spread Creek to migratory Snake River cutthroat trout for the first time in over 50 years. Since the dam was removed and replaced with a fish passage-friendly diversion structure and new water delivery system, project partners have documented successful fish movement through the new diversion, but have also documented fish entrained in the Spread Creek irrigation system. In addition, the highly unstable nature of Spread Creek has posed a significant challenge to irrigators relying on the diversion for water, and has damaged irrigation infrastructure. Phase 2 of the Spread Creek Fish Passage project will prevent future losses of migratory cutthroat trout to the Spread Creek system by installing a fish screen that returns entrained fish to Spread Creek, and will also stabilize Spread Creek's channel, banks, and irrigation diversion for water users and the public. We are currently fundraising for the $1.3M project construction budget with a goal of implementing the project in fall 2020. Donations of any size are appreciated and helpful to the effort, because we often need private "matching" funds to secure larger federal and state grants.

Project partners to date for both phases include the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole One Fly / National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Knobloch Foundation, Marine Ventures Foundation, Moosehead Ranch, Orvis, Snake River Fund, Teton Conservation District, Triangle X Ranch, US Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Geological Survey, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resources Trust. Learn more at: https://arcg.is/DPvyy #5.