The Importance Of Tributary Connectivity

The Big Wood, Little Wood, and Camas Creek Watersheds combined are 2,137,696 acres. As water falls in the form of rain or snow over these acres, it slowly makes it’s way down to the Big Wood River and Camas Creeks into Magic Reservoir. Below Magic Reservoir, it joins the Little Wood Rivers, and they all drain together toward the Malad River and eventually out to the Snake River.

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The water that makes it into the Big and Little Wood Rivers from the acres of watershed do so via tributaries. These little streams, babbling brooks, and charming creeks flow from mountain tops and across valley bottoms to feed the main river systems.

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A key way to increase the overall health of our watershed and fishery along with our water supply is to restore and reconnect these tributaries. Restoring tributaries improves water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and groundwater. Reconnecting tributaries with the river systems they are meant to feed enables fish and other aquatic species to access smaller streams with rich supplies of nutrients. The Wood River Land Trust works on tributaries by removing unnatural barriers and restoring stream health. As we face increasing climate-related changes to our fisheries, tributary connectivity will provide critical to maintaining overall health. Tributaries are generally cooler than the main river, so as our water temperatures rise, tributaries offer refuge to fish populations. As we see increased flooding - whether from rain on snow events, or from rapid spring warming, tributaries allow fish to get out of flooded rivers. The more miles of tributaries we can connect, the more options that fish have to escape these and other climate related fishery changes. One of our most recent projects has been to restore and reconnect Rock Creek with the Big Wood River, with the help of our partners The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, and University of Idaho. By removing barriers to the Rock Creek tributary, we were able to reconnect an additional 26,146 acres to the Big Wood Watershed that had been disconnected!