A major fishery restoration project is underway on the Salt River northwest of Afton, an area known to Star Valley residents as Clark’s Barn.
Funded through donations, Trout Unlimited is coordinating an extensive project that will restore the river channels, strengthen the banks and build fish habitat.
“It’s called the Salt River, Clark’s Barn, Fish Passage and Restoration Project,” Tanner Belknap, Trout Unlimited Salt River Watershed Manager said. “We’re restoring about one mile of Salt River at the first mile of the access easement”
The project will address the loss of fish habitat as the river has changed over the years.
“Essentially, what we’re doing is addressing some of the issues that started a very long time ago when extensive willow removal happened along the majority of the Salt River,” Belknap explained. “So, on this mile stretch, there’s not a single willow touching the river anymore, and the river is eroded and gotten wider and wider, it’s very shallow, wide, and sediment laden. There’s very little cover for trout.”
Belknap cautioned, “It’s also allowing for a lot more sunlight and heat exchange with the air, so it’s warming up the water.
The plans call for improving the channel with bank stabilization work.
“We’re coming in and narrowing the river back up by importing a lot of material. We’re also stabilizing outside banks using large logs with root wads, and then planting a lot of willows and other riparian vegetation to restore that bank stability and improve trout habitat and cover and shade.”
The project comes with support. “We have a lot of partners in these projects with the initial seed funding to get the designs done came through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department,” Belknap noted.
With the Game and Fish backed designs Belknap advised that further funding came for the project. “Once we had those designs, we applied for a lot of grants to fund the actual construction of the project,” he said. “Our partners there include Wyoming Wildlife Natural Resource Trust, Jackson Hole One Fly, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Trout and Salmon Foundation, the Star Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Jackson Hole chapter of Trout Unlimited.”
He noted further contributions that included, “Simplot donating all the trees and root wads that we’re using on the banks”
Belknap said contractors have been working at the site in August. “We’ve got two different local contractors working on the project, providing materials and building fence, and then we have another nearby contractor from Idaho doing a lot of the construction on the bank work and, rebuilding the diversion.”
In addition, individual property owners are assisting. “We have two extremely, thoughtful landowners who really care about improving the river and the resource, and also reducing land loss and getting some of that land back here.
He said the project will also help with local irrigation efforts. “We also have some irrigators there on the diversion who are excited to get that diversion replaced, and currently, they have to go on the river and put in logs, and planks, and tarps to get enough water into the ditch, just because the diversion isn’t constructed in a way where they can just turn the head gate, to get enough flow,” he said. We’’ll be rebuilding that diversion so that they can just go out there, not have to get in the river, and get as much water as they need into the ditch.” He added, “That will allow for better fish passage.
With the improvements come water temperatures more conducive to quality fish habitat. “In the summer months, Clark’s Barn is one of the coldest, if not probably the coldest stretch of the Salt River. This fish really try to move upstream into there to seek out that thermal refuge when the water temps get warm. When we have those planks across the river, it prevents the fish from getting up there. So, it’s a win for the fish and should be a win for the irrigators as well.”
The projects scheduled for completion mid September. “It should all be done by September 15 so that’s the start of our brown trout spawn enclosure in the Salt River,” Belknap said. “They might continue some work outside of the water after that date.”
Asked to summarize the entire project, Belknap concluded, “We’re improving about one mile of trout habitat on the Salt River, reducing bank erosion and improving fish passage to the upstream tributaries,” he said. “It’s called, ‘the Salt River, Clark’s Barn Fish Passage and Restoration Project.’”
