Oct. 27, 2025

Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust and Habitat Improvement Team announce more than $900,000 in awards for five conservation projects in Southeast Idaho

The awards will go toward stream restoration, wet meadow recovery, conservation easements, and wildlife habitat improvement.

POCATELLO — The Habitat Improvement Team (HIT) — a committee of natural resource, land management and tribal trustees — has awarded more than $900,000 to five conservation projects that will restore rivers and wetlands, enhance fish and wildlife habitat and protect open landscapes across southeast Idaho.

The awards were made through the Southeast Idaho Wildlife Mitigation Fund, an initiative started by Itafos Conda, LLC, to offset mine impacts to wildlife by funding habitat restoration and conservation.

Itafos Conda has provided approximately $2 million since 2017 to sustain the fund, and this marks the third round of conservation awards in that time. That investment has been leveraged to obtain additional state, federal and private dollars, for a total amount of $12.4 million invested into habitat restoration and conservation efforts.

In this most recent round, $900,000 from the fund attracted approximately $6.6 million in matching support — meaning that for every dollar invested by Itafos Conda, more than $6 was added by partners to expand the scope and impact of conservation projects.

Curtis Hendricks, southeast region habitat manager for Idaho Fish & Game, said he was “truly appreciative of the collaborative nature of the (HIT) and the sincere desire to produce wins for wildlife and wildlife habitat across the project area.”

Projects were selected based on 10 criteria, including proximity to the Husky 1 / North Dry Ridge Mine, ability to match funds, and impacts on habitat and wildlife. The full scoring matrix is available for review here.

This year’s projects include:

• Trout Unlimited & U.S. Forest Service – McCoy Creek Wet Meadow Restoration Project
  $75,000 awarded; $429,500 total project cost
  Restoring McCoy Creek’s natural wet meadow system by reconnecting the stream to its floodplain, encouraging beaver activity and creating multiple flow paths. The project will protect and restore up to 77 acres, improving resilience for Yellowstone cutthroat trout and riparian wildlife.
• Trout Unlimited – Blackfoot River Avian Mitigation and Habitat Enhancement
  $673,000 awarded; $1.12 million total project cost
  Enhancing Yellowstone cutthroat trout habitat above the Blackfoot Reservoir by restoring riparian vegetation, stabilizing streambanks and reconnecting the river to its floodplain. These improvements will reduce predation vulnerability and support long-term fish population resilience.
• Trout Unlimited – Cub River Habitat Restoration
  $52,800 awarded; $57,800 total project cost
  Designing restoration for 39 acres of Cub River property to reestablish a meandering channel, expand wetlands and restore riparian vegetation. The project will improve habitat for cutthroat trout, amphibians, birds and wetland wildlife while strengthening
  water quality and watershed health.
• Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust – Lanes Creek Conservation Easement
  $89,500 awarded; $5.85 million total project cost
  Protecting nearly 3,800 acres in the Blackfoot–Willow Creek Highlands priority area through a perpetual conservation easement. The property secures vital migratory routes, winter range and upland grassland habitat for species of greatest conservation need, including greater sage grouse and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse.
• Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust – Thunder Ridge Preserve Fee Title Disposition
  $35,400 awarded; $97,400 total project cost
  Maintaining permanent protection of the Thunder Ridge Preserve through a “protect-sell” model. SSLT will retain a conservation easement while transferring ownership to a private landowner, ensuring the property remains open and undeveloped while
  enhancing landscape connectivity in the Bear River watershed.

Hannah Murphy, the Southeast Idaho project manager for Trout Unlimited, expressed her gratitude for the funding and said she is looking forward to getting “boots on the ground.”

“This project has been years in the making with multiple stakeholders,” she said. “This conservation work would not be possible without their support.”

The fund was administered by Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust, which facilitates the application process but does not take part in award decisions.

Braden Lott, project manager of mining and reclamation for Itafos, said the process to select projects for funding was “well organized, transparent, and thorough.”

“Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust was so excited to have been a part of the HIT process,” said Heath Mann, executive director of Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust. “These projects show what’s possible when partners come together with a shared commitment to conservation. By leveraging local dollars to acquire matching funds, we’re not only protecting and improving open spaces today, we’re ensuring that fish, wildlife and working lands in southeast Idaho will thrive for generations to come.”

To learn more about the Southeast Idaho Wildlife Mitigation Fund and the projects it supports, visit: http://seidahomitigationfund.com/.

A herd of elk on Thunder Ridge Preserve in Southeast Idaho. (Photo courtesy of Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust)

A view of the McCoy Creek project area. (Photo courtesy of Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust)

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Media Contact: Carly Flandro, communications coordinator, Sagebrush Steppe Land Trust
carly@sagebrushlandtrust.org | (208) 317-4287here.

HIT 2024-2025 Applicant Executive Summaries

Executive Summary 

This project proposes the planning and design of a stream and riparian habitat restoration project on a 39-acre Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) property along the Cub River in Franklin County, Idaho. The site includes historically straightened and incised channel segments with disconnected floodplain and degraded riparian and wetland habitats. The project seeks to address these impairments through a restoration design that restores ecological function, improves habitat quality, and supports long-term resilience for native fish and wildlife species. 

Trout Unlimited will contract a qualified design firm to complete geomorphic and hydraulic assessments, wetland and vegetation surveys, and restoration designs that reestablish natural channel alignment, expand wetland extent, and promote native riparian vegetation. The final design will include drawings, cost estimates, and implementation guidance compatible with ITD’s mitigation objectives and be coordinated with the Parkinson Road bridge replacement. 

The desired future condition is a reconnected floodplain with a stable, meandering stream channel, complex in-stream habitat, and a diverse riparian corridor supporting native plants and improved water quality. This restoration will provide habitat for migratory Cutthroat Trout, including summer rearing, and overwintering, as well as improve conditions for other native fish, amphibians, migratory birds, and wetland-dependent wildlife. 

The project directly supports multiple conservation planning documents, including the Idaho State Wildlife Action Plan and the Bear River Watershed Conservation Area Plan. It will deliver long-term ecological benefits to the Bear River watershed by enhancing landscape connectivity, improving habitat processes, and preparing the site for future implementation funding. Monitoring during the design phase will document existing conditions and model projected outcomes, and all final deliverables will be shared with project partners and land managers. 

By improving the functionality of this mitigation site and integrating transportation and conservation goals, the project represents a collaborative and strategic approach to restoring habitat in a high-value landscape for fish and wildlife. 

Executive Summary 

The Mathews Lanes Creek project would serve to protect and connect 3,787 acres of valuable fish, wildlife, and traditional agricultural values by enacting a perpetual conservation easement with restrictions, terms, and ongoing monitoring efforts which protect and bolster vital conservation values. This property consists of a multitude of benefits to the community, county, and region of SE Idaho by preserving large scale land holdings which connect to several thousand acres of public land, including tributaries which support the Blackfoot River drainage. A perpetual conservation easement would support big game migratory routes and habitat, and would ensure the future protection of important winter range. Because this property is located in SSLT’s newly defined priority area, the Blackfoot – Willow Creek Highlands, a conservation easement of this size and significance would serve as a model for conservation minded practices to surrounding landowners, and further illustrate SSLT’s commitment to serving members of the farming and ranching community. The property has been awarded a grant through NRCS ACEP ALE GSS, signifying the importance of upland grassland habitat and responsible grazing practices supporting species such as Greater Sage Grouse and Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse. It is rare that a property of this magnitude, which supports the variety and number of Species of Greatest Conservation Need identified in the Idaho State Wildlife Action Plan 2023, presents the opportunity to be enrolled into a conservation easement. SSLT has a proven history of working with and supporting landowners with a mutual interest in conservation values, and implementing accredited land trust practices to responsibly initiate, close, and monitor conservation easements. These combined values, along with the property’s proximity to SSLT fee-owned property and historical sites such as The Oregon Trail, present a special chance to protect and promote open space, natural resources, wildlife conservation, and traditional working land partnerships in SE Idaho for generations in perpetuity. 

Executive Summary 

The Thunder Ridge Preserve Fee-Title Disposition Project aims to maintain a high level of conservation protection at the SSLT owned Thunder Ridge property while increasing connectivity and enhancing the protected lands in the area. Thunder Ridge presents a unique opportunity for enhanced connectivity of protected land in the Bear Lake area as the north end of the property borders BLM lands and the south end of the property abuts additional properties in CE (not held by SSLT). This project would promote private landownership while enhancing the protected land in the Bear River region. 

SSLT believes it will serve the organization best and the conservation goals of this property to transfer the property to a private owner and hold a conservation easement on the property. This is a “protect-sell” model that would maintain the protection of this land while providing a landowner the opportunity to better manage and utilize the potential grazing or open resources on the property. Given its location as a priority area in the Bear River watershed, a “highly sensitive area” in the Bear Lake County Comprehensive Plan and being in a highly desirable and develop-able area, the funding of this project would 1) enhance the connectivity of protected lands in this area and 2) allow SSLT to reallocate some of its funding and expertise to other conservation projects to expand the benefit of protected land across the region. 

Executive Summary 

The Blackfoot River, historically abundant with Yellowstone cutthroat trout, has experienced significant declines in fish size and abundance since the 1960s. While fishery management interventions in the 1990s sparked some population recovery, critical habitat limitations- especially from riparian degradation and avian predation- continue to hinder full recovery. In response, Trout Unlimited, in partnership with Itafos Conda, aims to improve overall riparian conditions on the Blackfoot River with this Project above the Blackfoot Reservoir. 

This Project focuses on degraded areas characterized by poor riparian vegetation, low hydraulic diversity, disconnected floodplains, and limited cover for Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The Project’s goals are centered on enhancing habitat conditions for all life stages of Yellowstone cutthroat trout through comprehensive stream and floodplain restoration. Specific objectives include reestablishing native riparian vegetation, installing instream structures to improve channel complexity and scour pools, enhancing floodplain connectivity, stabilizing streambanks, and improving spring channel habitat. These interventions aim to increase survival, reduce predation vulnerability, and support long-term resilience of Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations in the Upper Blackfoot watershed. 

Executive Summary 

This project seeks to bring this portion of McCoy Creek back to its full ecological potential.  While most of the McCoy drainage consists of narrow valleys, higher gradients, and large cobble to small boulder substrates, the restoration site consists of large valley width, low gradient, and gravel substrate indicative of a productive depositional area. The restoration site has the potential to be an anastomosing, multiple-channel system with ecosystem values of 88-97 compared to the present degraded, single thread system with ecosystem values of 12-27 (Figure 2., Cluer and Thorne (2013)). 

Recent high flow events in 1997 and 2011 have demonstrated the ability of this unstable system to change abruptly.  Beaver-induced progress has occurred under relative low flow years since 2011. However, beaver activity has not resulted in stable floodplain reconnection, so future high flow events are largely confined within the channel and are likely to destroy these isolated dams, erode the channel, and set this section of stream back to a single thread.  

The activities that degraded this site to a single thread channel span more than a century.  Degradation began with beaver trapping in the early 1800s, followed by the arrival of settlers and livestock grazing. These settlers continued the removal of beaver and ranched and hayed this land until the 1990s, when it was acquired by CTNF. Further degradation and destruction resulted from the discovery of gold in the canyon and associated placer mining.  These actions contributed to the decline of the system to what it is today, and what many accept as normal.   

This section of McCoy Creek can be restored a similar function as prior to the 1800s by promoting wet meadow development and floodplain processes to address incision. The project is necessary to bring the creek back to a stable landform by elevating and reconnecting the creek to its floodplain, creating more areas of inundation. The project design uses techniques that will encourage multiple flow paths, increase habitat complexity, and enhance beaver activity. The creation of more complex habitat will result in greater resiliency and productivity of fish populations. 

The project will improve habitat conditions for adfluvial and resident Yellowstone cutthroat and all species that benefit from riparian wetlands.  The project will secure and enhance the existing 34 acres of wet meadow habitat and add up to 43 additional acres. Juvenile rearing and high flow refuge habitat, both limited in the drainage, will increase dramatically.