Contact: Nick Gann, Rocky Mountain Communications Director, nick.gann@tu.org
Earlier today, Trout Unlimited released a new film, “Horses and Highwater: Restoring Tincup Creek,” documenting the restoration of the Salt River Watershed and the people who made this incredible project come to life.
Located in northwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho, the Salt is a blue-ribbon fishery for native Snake River cutthroat trout and wild brown trout. However, its health has been compromised by degraded and fragmented fish habitat, rapid development in riparian areas, impaired water quality, and dewatering.
“At its heart, Horses and Highwater is a conservation film, but it’s also about community, character, love for the land, and dogged Western determination to find a way to get things done,” said Tanner Belknap, Salt River Project Manager for Trout Unlimited (TU). “The ongoing restoration efforts at Tincup Creek exemplify the incredible partnership between Trout Unlimited and Caribou-Targhee National Forest – among many other partners like Wyoming Conservation Corps crews, grazing permitees, and volunteers – to bring these projects to life.”
Featured in the film are two Tincup Creek stream restoration projects, both of which aimed to reconnect sections of Tincup Creek to its floodplain. The film focuses on the North Fork Tincup Creek Process-Based Restoration Project, completed in 2024. This project used teams of draft horses and Wyoming Conservation Corps crews to install log structures in the creek to capture cobble and sediment mobilized during runoff and raise the elevation of the streambed to improve floodplain connectivity.
“The draft horses worked under the guidance of Creed Harwood and Daryl Woolstenhulme – two life-long horsemen – who helped complete this invaluable work with the Wyoming Conservation Corps.,” said Belknap. “We could not have done this without any of these partners.”
Elevating the stream will reconnect it to its floodplain to improve stream function, reduce erosion, and improve habitat conditions. These efforts will enhance riparian conditions and habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout, northern leatherside chub, boreal toad, western pearl shell mussels, and bluehead suckers – all of which are native species with special management emphasis. The film also pays homage to the first major TU and Caribou-Targhee National Forest restoration project on Tincup Creek, completed in 2019, which fully restored 5 miles of Tincup along the dirt road section of the creek.
“Tincup has always been a special place for me. Over the last 20 years, I’ve discovered that Tincup supports an unrivaled and unique diversity of native aquatic biota. It’s like looking back in time at what a native fishery should look like,” said Corey Lyman, Forest Fisheries Biologist at Caribou-Targhee National Forest. “However, throughout the years we’ve noticed the unraveling of streambanks and channel degradation and the impending loss of large wet meadow complexes. Trout Unlimited continues to be a key partner with the Forest Service and has supported over 7 miles of restoration on Tincup Creek to benefit native fish.”
Belknap was hired in 2022 to develop a conservation community and expand TU’s restoration efforts in the Salt River watershed. He also helped spearhead the newly formed Salt River Watershed Group, which was supported through two Bureau of Reclamation grants totaling $300,000, and is comprised of representatives from the Star Valley Conservation District, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Idaho Fish and Game, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Numerous other agencies, local stakeholder groups, and members of the public have been actively engaged in the group.
“Conservation doesn’t happen in a vacuum,” said Belknap. “It takes a lot of collaboration across state lines and budgets to restore our rural public lands and waters. Because of this, we’re incredibly thankful for our Keystone Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, which continues to help fund restoration work on the Salt River’s tributaries.”
Based on the successful track record of engaging the local community and bringing multiple projects to fruition in the Salt River Watershed, the Natural Resources Conservation Service awarded TU more than $14 million for stream restoration, grazing management, and agricultural infrastructure (diversions) projects in the Wyoming portion of the watershed through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program.
“Federal conservation investments, like the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, have an enormous impact for this watershed,” said Belknap. “Between the jobs they create to construct restoration projects, and benefits to the fishery and water quality, funding for the Salt River provides incredible benefits to the Star Valley economy and community for years to come.”
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Trout Unlimited is the nation’s oldest and largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization dedicated to caring for and recovering America’s rivers and streams so our children can experience the joy of wild and native trout and salmon. Across the country, TU brings to bear local, regional and national grassroots organizing, durable partnerships, science-backed policy muscle, and legal firepower on behalf of trout and salmon fisheries, healthy waters and vibrant communities.