Lifeblood: Muddy Creek’s Revival

Lifeblood | A film by Trout Unlimited

For decades, TU and partners such as the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming Game and Fish, and the Little Snake River Conservation District have been restoring vital habitat for Colorado River cutthroat trout in Muddy Creek, which is part of the Little Snake Basin. More recently, their efforts have included low-tech, process-based restoration and the installation of man-made beaver dams.

The basin is home to four native fish species and is a focus area for TU. Through a feat of Western water engineering, the Little Snake Basin serves as both a headwater for the Upper Colorado River Basin and provides source water for the city of Cheyenne, which is outside the watershed.

These structures restore resilience and natural hydrologic function to Colorado River tributaries, slowing down flows and allowing the water to spread across the floodplain, increasing seasonal water storage, and raising the streambed. This simple approach to stream restoration influences a range of hydraulic, geomorphic, and hydrologic processes, and helps achieve restoration goals.   

Additionally, TU’s national partnership with the BLM and funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made it possible to hire multiple crews from the Wyoming Conservation Corps and host high school and college aged students through our TU Expeditions program to learn about careers in conservation and the incredible amount of work it takes to restore our watersheds.

Seeing the success of these efforts, corporate and philanthropic partners like Microsoft, the Water Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation joined forces with TU to expand watershed restoration work, culminating into the revival of a historic watershed formerly used by Tribal Nations and emigrants along the Overland Trail.

Lifeblood is a story about how we are all connected to our water supply in the West – even in the most unlikely of places.