This decreases the peak flows and creates a more uniform year round flow in the lower portions of these streams. Instead of flowing through the stream channels, much of the water is spread out via a network of irrigation channels. The water is diverted as soon as it leaves the mountain ranges. The middle portions of Darby, Fox, Teton, and South Leigh Creeks are often completely dewatered, and the Teton River population is isolated from those that remain in the upper tributaries in the mountains. Under the law of unintended consequences, before we began to realize how interconnected everything is in nature, we changed the water flow patterns in the valley. It is much more difficult for trout to access the tributaries now. Others would spend their entire lives high up in the small tributaries. Historically, some fish would migrate to the river, then fight their way back up the tributaries-Teton Creek, South Leigh, Darby Creek, and Fox Creek-to spawn again where they were born. The young fry hide among the cobbles, gravel, and woody debris, where they are protected from the full force of the current. As the flow begins to slow and the turbulence decreases, the eggs begin to hatch and the fry migrate out to the stream edge habitat among the cobbles, banks, and bars. The female fans her powerful tail to make a nest in the gravel as males compete to fertilize the eggs. They migrate and spawn in tributaries during the high water in June. The cutthroats evolved in this snowmelt rhythm-high, high water, then low, low water on an annual cycle. The water flows strongly through the system, then slows at the end of the melt. They have evolved to the specific stream flow patterns natural to the Teton Valley, with a sharp peak in June as the snow melts high in the mountains. This beautiful, fighting fish can live up to 11 years. They are able to survive on smaller prey and adjust their size to the available food supply, making it possible to live in the food-poor tributaries that feed the Teton River. Because they evolved in waters that aren’t really productive, they make the most of their marginal habitat, aggressively eating any food that that comes by-including the offering of the dry fly fisherman. Prized by fishermen from around the world, the anglers who come here are willing to pay up to 50% more for the privilege of fishing for our cutthroat trout. In 2003, anglers on the Teton River sent direct expenditures of $700,000 into our economy. These fish are ancient, they are unique, and they are native. This scrappy, pioneering member of the salmon family found its way into our area past all obstacles and adapted. Once abundant, it is now largely limited to the South Fork of the Snake River and our own Teton River and its tributaries. It is the only indigenous trout in the Teton Watershed. Sixty chromosomes became 64 and a new subspecies came into being-one supremely adapted to our local environment: the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Sometime about 100,000 years ago here in our area, there was a split in trout evolution. This land is home to the cutthroat trout, one of the many incredible denizens of the South Leigh Wildlife Corridor, of which Earthfire is a part. It is with that hope that I publish this article once again as we work to save another part of the same corridor. I believe that once we know the damage we can wreak by taking essential habitat away from wild animals, most of us would choose to build or develop with other life in mind, leaving some land for the animals. I didn’t succeed, but hope springs eternal. Some 20 years ago, I wrote this article while trying to save part of a wildlife corridor in danger of being lost to development.
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