The Lower Encampment River Partnership: A Model for Multiple River Users

The Encampment River flows north from the Continental Divide in Colorado into the Sierra Madre Range in southeastern Wyoming.   As the river exits the mountains, it flows through a wide valley dominated by irrigated hay meadows and cottonwood galleries.  The lower Encampment River has unstable reaches with excessive bank erosion, channel degradation and aggradation.  The legacy effects of historic tie drives, mining, and land use have led to the present-day channel and riparian habitat conditions. Today, the effects of beetle kill in forested headwaters, climatic extremes, and altered stream flows may exacerbate channel instability.  Over the last 5 years, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Trout Unlimited, and Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District have partnered to lead concentrated efforts for improving stream habitat, bank stability, riparian corridors, water delivery, and fish passage throughout the lower watershed.  To date, the partnership has restored over one mile of river and riparian corridor, replaced two cobble push-up dams with fish-friendly diversion structures, and nurtured relationships with landowners.  Over the next five years, the partnership aims to restore additional river miles, replace cobble push-up dams, reconnect habitats for wild trout, create riparian pastures, and further strengthen relationships with local businesses, water users, landowners, and anglers.