Upper Cub River ARRA Reconnection Project: Rebuilding Migratory Life Histories in Bear River Bonneville Cutthroat Trout

In 2009 Trout Unlimited (TU) received a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to reconnect habitat to benefit Bonneville cutthroat in the Bear River watershed in Idaho. The project was located on the Cub River, a tributary to the Bear River near Preston, ID, which historically provided spawning and rearing habitat for migratory BCT. We installed fish screens at a large irrigation diversion to prevent entrainment and mortality of fish in an irrigation canal. This was one of three reconnection projects that, taken together, have reconnected over 20 miles of tributary spawning and rearing habitat to main stem overwintering habitat in the Bear River. Project partners included the USFWS, PacifiCorp Energy, and the local irrigation company. The ARRA grant was the keystone funding for the project, with additional funds provided by PacifiCorp Energy and TU and in-kind support from the irrigation company, and provided us with the capacity to complete two reconnection projects simultaneously rather than needing to develop them consecutively. The project was completed successfully within the requisite one-year project period, despite significant design and engineering challenges. Post-project monitoring has documented the recolonization of the reconnected habitat and regular use of the restored migration corridor.