The mccoy creek wet meadow restoration project is a trout unlimited and caribou targhee national forest project to improve habitat for yellowstone cutthroat trout and other native species through…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $120,000 Project Grant to Trout Unlimited, Inc. under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (CFDA 15.686) program. The grant will fund the McCoy Creek Wet Meadow Restoration Project, a 2.1-mile stream restoration initiative on public lands managed by the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The project aims to improve habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout and other native species by reconnecting the stream to its historic floodplain, enhancing wet meadow habitat, and increasing overall habitat complexity. Key activities include elevating riffles, narrowing the channel, adding large woody debris, and securing/expanding 77 acres of wet meadow habitat. The project, which runs from July 2024 to September 2027, will be implemented by Trout Unlimited in partnership with the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. As the parent organization of Trout Unlimited, 21 Schrems West Michigan will provide administrative and project management support as a sub-awardee.

The mccoy creek wet meadow restoration project is a trout unlimited and caribou targhee national forest project to improve habitat for yellowstone cutthroat trout and other native species through wet meadow restoration and floodplain reconnection on 2.1 miles of degraded stream. The activities that degraded this site to a single thread incised channel began in the 1800S and include beaver trapping settling livestock grazing HAY production and placer mining. These activities ended in the 1990S when the land was acquired by ctnf but the project site has been unable to recover on its own. We believe this section of mccoy creek can be restored to conditions more representative of how IT functioned prior to the 1800S by promoting wet meadow development and floodplain processes to address incision. The project is necessary to bring the creek back to a stable landform by elevating the streambed and reconnecting IT to the historic floodplain creating more areas of inundation. The project design uses a combination of processbased and more traditional stream restoration techniques to restore floodplain connectivity encourage multiple flow paths increase habitat complexity and enhance beaver activity. The creation of more complex habitat will result in greater resiliency and productivity of fish populations. The project will improve habitat conditions for adfluvial and resident yellowstone cutthroat and all species that benefit from riparian wetlands. The project will elevate riffles narrow the channel and add roughness via large wood. Large wood will serve to trap sediment aggrade the channel and provide diverse habitat. The project will secure and enhance the existing 34 acres of wet meadow habitat and add up to 43 additional acres. Juvenile rearing habitat which is currently limited in the mccoy creek system will increase dramatically in the project area. High flow refuge habitat which is lacking in much of the 28 miles of upstream habitat will become established. The project area will once again become a wet meadow complex sustained by natural floodplain processes and will result.