Cottonwood Creek in Franklin County, Idaho, is a critical spawning tributary for fluvial Bear River Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT), and biologists believe that it is one of only two such tributaries accessible to fluvial BCT that occupy the Bear River between Oneida Narrows Reservoir and Grace Dam. The Cleveland Irrigation Ditch diversion structure near the mouth of Cottonwood Creek has functioned as a seasonal barrier to fish migrations in Cottonwood Creek, blocking upstream movement and entraining downstream migrants in the diversion canal during irrigation season. In 2005 Trout Unlimited partnered with the Cleveland Irrigation Ditch Company (CIDC), the Bear River Environmental Coordination Committee (ECC), Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to retrofit the existing diversion structure to accommodate upstream fish passage and to install a fish screen to prevent downstream fish entrainment in the irrigation canal. The project was completed in April 2007, just in time for the 2007 spawning season.
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During construction |
Completed screen and wheel |