GREEN RIVER — Hillary Walrath, Wyoming restoration program manager for Trout Unlimited, outlined the nonprofit’s work and highlighted local projects at the Green River Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday.
Walrath said the organization began in the 1950s in Michigan as a volunteer group with a mission to protect, reconnect, restore and sustain cold water fisheries across North America. She said over the past seven decades, Trout Unlimited has protected more than 10 million acres of watersheds nationwide, restored more than 500 miles of streams and reconnected close to 700 miles of rivers and streams. The group has more than 400 chapters nationally.
In Wyoming, Trout Unlimited has 12 staff members and 12 volunteer chapters, with work focused on the western half of the state, where most cold water trout habitat is found. Walrath and her husband, Nick, both work as Green River Basin project managers.
Green River Basin Projects
Walrath said a 2023 project at Scott’s Bottom Nature Area stabilized an eroding bank that was sending thousands of tons of sediment down river and threatening the bridge to the park. Crews reshaped the channel and armored the bank with root wads, which she said handles water velocity better than concrete and provides fish with a habitat.
On Little Mountain, Trout Unlimited partnered with the Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming Game and Fish Department to replace a culvert washed out in a flash flood at the Sage Creek and Trout Creek confluence. The new culvert handles twice the flow and allows fish passage. The project also added more than 100 beaver dam analog structures, restoring natural fish habitat.
On the Henry’s Fork, Walrath said she has worked with more than a dozen ranchers on irrigation diversions. Trout Unlimited has completed 15 permanent rock structures that allow fish passage and has reconnected about 50 miles of river.
At Muddy Creek, the group fitted about 1,000 heifers with satellite-based virtual fence collars. Walrath said the collars cost about $90 each, including a service subscription, and the project will continue for two more years.
Funding
Walrath said Trout Unlimited along Game and Fish applied in 2024 for Bureau of Reclamation drought funding through two applications. For the main stem of the Green River, the request was a little over $2 million and the tributaries request was close to $13 million. Both were awarded in 2025, but a federal funding freeze delayed them until agreements were finalized this August.
Planned work includes a second phase at Scotts Bottom Park, bank stabilization near the Flaming Gorge Riverview area and replacement of a Fontenelle Creek culvert on the highway.
In the Classroom
Walrath said Expedition Academy in Green River is among the local schools taking part in Trout in the Classroom. Science teacher Dan Parsons is involved with the program there. Through the program, Trout Unlimited, Wyoming Game and Fish and the group’s state council place fish tanks in classrooms, where students raise trout from eggs to fry.
In the spring, students work then work with WGFD to release the fish in designated areas. Walrath said students learn about the trout life cycle and the role the fish play in the ecosystem.
