Fox Creek
Fox Creek Stream Restoration and Channel Migration Easement Site
Program
Stream and Wetland Mitigation
Watershed
Lower Yellowstone
Montana Freshwater Partners worked with the Montana Land Reliance and a private landowner to place the very first channel migration easement (CME) on the Yellowstone River just west of Sidney, MT, protecting 90-acres of floodplain habitat.
Restoration Techniques
Low-Tech Process Based Restoration Structures
Native Vegetation Planting
Channel Migration Easement
CMEs are a special type of conservation easement that protect a river’s ability to migrate naturally across the floodplain so the important processes of erosion and sediment deposition can continue. In addition to the easement, Montana Freshwater Partners worked with the landowner to restore a small stream within the property that provides important backwater habitat for native fish when the Yellowstone River is high.
Prior to restoration, the stream was plugged with an earthen dam, disconnecting it from the river. Restoration treatments involved removing the plug and recontouring the stream channel, as well as planting hundreds of native trees and shrubs and installing a series of beaver-dam analogs.
Ecosystem Benefits
Restored Hydrology
Improved Instream Habitat
Protected Riverbank
Project Partners
acres of floodplain protected
Our Projects
We work across Montana to restore and protect our state’s precious water resources.
