Birch Creek is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
, accessed April 2, 2021 northeastward-flowing
stream
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
originating on the western slope of the
Bear River Range in
Franklin County, Idaho, United States. Its mouth is at the confluence with
Mink Creek about northwest of
Preston, Idaho. In turn, Mink Creek flows southwest to its confluence with the
Bear River and, from there, its flows terminate in the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
.
Ecology
Birch Creek hosts
Bonneville cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii utah''), a
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of
cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...
native to tributaries of the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...
, and one of 14 or so recognized subspecies of cutthroat trout native to the western United States. In addition to increased drought, Bonneville cutthroat are threatened by introduced non-native trout species through predation, competition, and hybridization. The instream and riparian degradation of Birch Creek is associated with decades of heavy cattle grazing pressure, removal of
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
(''Castor canadensis''), and encroachment of pinyon and juniper forests. Channel incision has lowered the water table and reduced floodplain connectivity, which has further adversely affected the condition of the riparian areas which is critical habitat for a variety of aquatic and riparian obligate species particularly
greater sage-grouse (''Centrocercus urophasianus''). A project to restore beaver to the creek led by Idaho rancher Jay Wilde and Utah State University watershed scientist, that began with reduced riparian grazing pressure, construction of beaver dam analogues, and then followed by translocation of beaver to the stream has increased cutthroat trout abundance ten-fold.
See also
*
Bear River Range
*
Bear River
References
{{reflist
External links
Idaho Rancher Jay Wilde restores beaver to Birch Creek Educational Video (12 minutes)
*
Bear River (Great Salt Lake)
*
Tributaries of the Great Salt Lake