January 2025 - 16

A LOOK BACK
An overview of stream restoration and wetland pond creation on Medicine Lodge Creek. (Photo courtesy of East Yellowstone Chapter of Trout Unlimited)
Medicine Lodge restoration
Work on Medicine Lodge Creek has
improved habitat for fish and wildlife
By Laura Burckhardt
R
estoration efforts at a stream in northwest
Wyoming nearly seven years ago
continue to pay off. In 2017, the
Wyoming Game and Fish Department
restored a 1-mile section of Medicine
Lodge Creek between the Medicine Lodge
State Archaeological Site Headquarters to the
end of the Medicine Lodge Wildlife Habitat
Management Area. The restoration reduced
bank erosion and flooding, improved aquatic
habitat for fish and amphibians and provided
16 | January 2025
fish passage for brown trout at two irrigation
diversions.
This section of Medicine Lodge Creek
had significant bank erosion and channel
movement for more than 40 years. Prior to
the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission
purchasing this property, Medicine Lodge
Creek was scraped and channelized as part of
the maintenance of two irrigation diversion
dams. Those modifications caused Medicine
Lodge Creek to become unstable and unravel,
and resulted in extreme bank erosion and
channel movement. From 2009-16, the creek
moved about 240 feet across the floodplain.
This resulted in lost fish and wildlife habitat,
agricultural fields and recreation areas in the
state archaeological site, which is managed by
Wyoming State Parks. The channel was wide
and shallow with steep, eroding banks and
little fish habitat. In addition, the upstream
diversion was a fish passage barrier that prevented
brown trout from reaching pristine
spawning areas.
The restoration used natural design
methodologies to rebuild the stream channel.
During construction, the channel was

January 2025

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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
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