Ovid Creek Fish Screen

Ovid Creek is a tributary that joins the Bear River immediately downstream from the Bear Lake Outlet Canal. The Creek currently supports a robust population of resident Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) in upstream reaches, and historically supported fluvial BCT spawning. However, the few remaining large migratory fish have been adversely impacted by irrigation diversions and seasonal dewatering in the stream. Local ranchers continue to observe the occasional fluvial migrant from the Bear River during good run-off years. The Ovid Irrigation Company diversion canal traps and kills many resident BCT and an occasional fluvial migrant when irrigation diversion begins each summer.

The Ovid Irrigation Company, along with the Bear Lake Soil Conservation District and Trout Unlimited completed the construction of a fish screen at the Ovid Irrigation structure in November 2007. The new structure prevents BCT and other native fish species from being killed in the Ovid irrigation ditch during the irrigation season.