Coal Creek (WY) Fish Screen

Coal Creek is a tributary to the Smiths Fork of the Bear River. Each spring, adult Bonneville cutthroat trout migrate upstream from the Smiths Fork and the mainstem Bear River to spawn in Coal Creek. After spawning the adults immediately return to mainstem habitats downstream, but the creek then provides critical juvenile rearing habitat for the young fish. After 1 to 2 years, juveniles move downstream to mainstem habitats to take advantage of abundant food supplies and warmer winter water temperatures to grow. After 4 to 5 years, the fish reach sexual maturity and return to Coal Creek to spawn, completing their migratory life history cycle. Unfortunately, the late spring/early summer outmigrations of both juvenile fish and post-spawn adults often coincide with the onset of irrigation season, and many fish are entrained and ultimately killed in Coal Creek’s only irrigation canal, located near its confluence with the Smiths Fork. In 2007 TU’s Bear River Native Program teamed up with TU’s Wyoming Water Project and local partners to initiate the installation of a fish screen at the Coal Creek irrigation diversion. The screen will be installed during the Fall of 2008, and will prevent fish entrainment in the canal and facilitate upstream migrations into Coal Creek spawning and rearing habitats.