Medicine Lodge Creek to Receive Improvements
Written by Andrew-Rossi on May 24, 2017
A section of Medicine Lodge Creek near Hyattville is slated to receive some much-needed improvements this summer.
Aquatic Habitat Biologist Laura Burckhardt said the project will involve nearly a mile of stream from the Medicine Lodge State Archeological Site Headquarters downstream to the end of Medicine Lodge Wildlife Habitat Management Area.
Burckhardt said this section of Medicine Lodge Creek has experienced significant bank erosion and channel movement over the last 40 years. The channel is currently wide and shallow with steep eroding banks and very little fish habitat, and an upstream diversion means that fish cannot get to all the pools and other habitats they need to thrive.
She says that in 2016, up to 120 feet of channel movement and bank erosion was measured – which resulted in 2,458 tons, or 122 dump truck loads of sediment being removed from public lands. Burckhardt points out that a natural rate of channel movement should be measured in inches, not feet.
In coordination with other agencies, the Game and Fish Department plans to repair the channel degradation across this section of stream. Construction is scheduled to begin in August and is anticipated to take up to six weeks to complete.
