The still water, foreground, holds the overflow from the river, where trout are living outside of the channel. Behind, the river flows in its original channel. The water from the pool will be pushed back into the flowing channel.
Landowners confronted with loss of riverbank area are able to work with groups like Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust (WWNRT) and Trout Unlimited (TU) in order to save their land. Greg Ryan, owner of the Ryan Ranch, has lost about 200 feet of land since his banks showed serious signs of erosion in 2010.
Jeff Streeter, North Platte River Water Project Manager with TU, has worked in conjunction with WWNRT, Wyoming Game and Fish, Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District and the landowner to gather funding in order to solve some of these issues. According to Streeter, engineered projects allow landowners to preserve their hay meadows and potentially acres of land. With stable banks, energy is redirected back into the river and erosion problems lessened. The path is returned closer to where it was previous to 2010.
At Ryan Ranch, a project known as the Ryan Project is underway with an approximate completion date of mid-October. Timely, in part, because of trout reproduction that occurs at the end of October. According to Will Ryan, coordination overseer and landowner, before work began the North Platte was turning at almost a 90 degree angle on the Ryan Ranch, causing water to spill over into a still water pool. Trout are living in this still pool and need to be redirected. "Yesterday (Sept. 10) we diverted it to go to our new channel that we dug, and this (the eroded area) has been filled in," Will said.
"The bank stresses created by this much flow are really almost difficult to calculate. We've got to be very certain that everything is correct," Streeter said. "When we talk about that, we're talking about engineered elevations in between two tenths of one foot."
Streeter said that the projects are successful due to careful calculations of three elements: profile, which is basically the slope; pattern, or the aerial view of the river and dimension, the width of channels, benches and banks.
According to Streeter, this is one of the largest projects of this type taking place in the Valley. Bank stabilization and barrier removal projects taking place this fall on the Encampment River are much smaller and less involved, given that the flow is one-fifth what the North Platte contains.
"The goal is not to prevent flooding because you want the river to be able to dissipate its energy onto the flood plane," Will said. "Except through town," Streeter added.
"We're going to accomplish a stable channel, Greg is going to be able to get back some of his land," Streeter said. "With a stable channel we are going to make it safer for boaters, provide better trout habitat, and demonstrate an example on how engineered projects might last longer than projects that are not engineered, that are taken on by the landowner without design."
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