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| Huff Creek |
Lincoln County, Wyoming |
Primary Project Type: Instream Restoration
Secondary Type: Riparian Restoration |
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Grazing practices in the Huff Creek drainage in the mid-1900s severely degraded ... |
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Primary Problem: Loss of Fish Habitat
Secondary Problem: Overgrazing |
| Main Restoration Action(s): Grazing management, Habitat enhancement |
| Native Fish Focus: N/A |
Is this project part of a watershed scale restoration? No
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| Project Dates: 1976 to 1993 |
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Initial Monitoring: 1976 – 1978
Restoration Implementation: 1981 – 1983
Follow-up Monitoring: 1984 - 1993 |
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Lead Agency:
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
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| Project Location:
Located in west central Wyoming approximately 30 miles south of Afton, Huff Creek originates in the Sublette Range near the Wyoming-Idaho state line and flows north to join Coal Creek, a major tributary of the Thomas Fork River. The Huff Creek drainage is only 11 sq miles and contains easily eroded sedimentary formations. Watershed elevation ranges from 6,415 ft to 9,066 ft.
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Project Description:
In the project area, Huff Creek flows through a steep-sided, u-shaped canyon to join Coal Creek. Above the project area the drainage opens up into a grass and sagebrush basin bounded by alluvial fans and steep slopes. Fed by springs, Huff Creek is perennial in the canyon but becomes intermittent about a mile upstream from the canyon. Huff Lake, a shallow pond of several acres, lies at the head of the drainage. Stream discharge varies seasonally and is unaffected by diversions or impoundments. Peak flows occur in May and June during runoff. Average annual flow is 6 cfs, bank-full flood (2-year occurrence) is approximately 65 cfs, and a low frequency flood (100-year occurrence) is approximately 326 cfs. Summers are hot and dry and the riparian zone is desert-like, containing sagebrush, rabbit brush, sedges, and various grasses and forbs. Willow shoots are sporadic, and there are no trees or large shrubs. Aspen and various conifers occur in the upper elevations.
Aerial photos from 1940 indicate Huff Creek was a stable stream with a healthy beaver population and abundant riparian vegetation. During the 1950s, Huff Creek and Huff Lake supported healthy fish populations. In subsequent years, livestock overgrazing and extensive use of herbicides eliminated streamside willows and resulted in severe fish habitat degradation. Natural eutrophication extirpated trout from Huff Lake, and the Bear River cutthroat trout fishery steadily declined. By 1978 the species was classified as a “sensitive species” in Wyoming. Factors negatively affecting fish habitat included overgrazed riparian vegetation, severe bank erosion, excessive siltation, a wide and shallow channel, and unnaturally high summer water temperatures.
To examine the impacts of grazing on the riparian area of Huff Creek, the Bureau of Land Management erected a two-acre cattle and sheep exclosure in 1976 and a 38-acre exclosure in 1978. Beginning in 1978, modifications in management practices also were employed to reduce the effect of cattle and sheep grazing on sensitive riparian areas. |
| Project Goals: The Huff Creek Restoration Project was a cooperative project between Wyoming Game and Fish (WGF) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The goal of the project was to increase Bear River cutthroat trout abundance through modified habitat management practices and improved instream habitat. |
| Project Methods:
After implementation of the BLM Habitat Management Plan and subsequent changes in livestock grazing patterns, instream structures were installed in Huff Creek by WGF to improve instream habitat. During 1981 – 1983, a WGF construction crew installed 36 low-profile wooden plunges, nine rock plunges, seven wire trash catchers, a wooden double deflector, a rock deflector, 14 small rock grade controls, and 3,760 ft of rock bank revetments. All structures were built in the lower two-thirds of the large exclosure. A backhoe and dump truck aided in the construction, but some rock revetments were placed by hand where banks were inaccessible to heavy equipment. Rocks were obtained from a small alluvial fan just upstream from the large exclosure. BLM also installed several wire and fence post trash catchers just above the small exclosure.
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Beaver were once abundant in the Huff Creek drainage, but damage to the riparian... |
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Pictured here is one of 36 low-profile wooden plunges installed in Huff Creek by... |
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| Monitoring Data and Collection
Methods: Monitoring sites were established to evaluate the effectiveness of grazing management practices and instream habitat improvement structures. Habitat evaluations were conducted at six sites and studies of fish population estimates were conducting using electrofishing techniques.
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| Was this project effective
and how was this determined? The grazing system (rest early, graze late) implemented in 1978 improved riparian vegetation in the project area. Restricting cattle to the upper basin reduced grazing along lower Huff Creek and allowed better growth of streamside plants. Grazing inside the exclosures was greatly reduced by the fencing and improved management practices such as herding, but there was some grazing by trespass cattle. Once grazing was reduced, streamside vegetation grew denser, and the stream narrowed as vegetation encroached on the channel. This vegetation trapped silt, built up banks, and significantly reduced sediment loads to the stream. In addition, plunge structures effectively provided deep water habitat for fish and banks treated with rock riprap generally became stable.
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(Before) Severe bank erosion was a significant problem along Huff Creek prior to... |
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(After) This photograph depicts a wooden plunge on Huff Creek seven years after ... |
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| Confounding Effects/Additional
Information: Unusual floods during the mid-1980s and exceptional drought during 1977 and 1987–1989 had mixed results on habitat quality. Cover for Bear River cutthroat trout initially increased after restoration activities but later decreased during drought. After three years of severe drought, however, habitat quality in 1989 was still significantly better than pretreatment conditions. |
| Project
Specs (all specs are estimates): |
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| For more information on this project
contact: |
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Allen Binns, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Email: Allen.Binns@wgf.state.wy.us
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| This information
was collected by: Michelle White |
| Project last updated on: 5/1/2007 |
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