Looks like Orvis has fallen for the matching funds restoration model, and who can blame them? (Joe Flyfisher (not his real name) donates $50; Orvis and Fish & Wildlife Fund each match that amount, so Joe’s impact on the project is tripled. Good, eh?)
It was a big hit when they exceeded their goals by raising better than $120,000 for McCloud Redband Trout recovery, and they’re making it work in the Penobscot River Dam Removal project.
Now they’re using the same formula to help restore Teton Creek — an important Cutthroat trout tributary in Southern Idaho:
Historically, YCT flourished in Teton Creek, using the mountain tributary to spawn. However, more than a mile of the creek has been completely altered from its natural state, with little viable habitat, no holding water and no spawning grounds.
Over the past 40 years, Teton Creek has been highly degraded by in-stream dredging and illegal channelization by developers. Since the destabilization, a “domino effect” has ensued, with bank loss and erosion occurring in up and downstream directions. Landowners are losing over a foot of bank to the creek each year. This unstable creek section threatens the viability of one of the last remaining fluvial populations of YCT in the Teton Basin.
I’ve seen the “little viable habitat, no holding water and no spawning grounds” thing on Trout Creek, and hope for better for Teton Creek.
Want to provide happier habitat for Yellowstone Cutthroats? Go here.
Or buy a dog bed (Wally the Wonderdog is accepting donations of furniture for his sausage-shaped carcass), and Orvis will allow you to round up the purchase price to the next dollar, with the difference going to support Teton Creek.
Buy a dog bed, save a trout.
Hell, there’s even an informative YouTube video (apparently nothing happens anymore that doesn’t appear on YouTube). Sadly, it doesn’t involve bikinis or a Rolling Stones soundtrack (Orvis will get the hang of this video stuff someday), but it is short:
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