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Trout Unlimited, Inc.

Design-Build Projects

McMillen as a consultant for Trout Unlimited have worked together with state and federal agencies, landowners, irrigators, private corporations, and other resource conservation groups to reconnect tributaries and restore degraded stream habitats to benefit native Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) in the Bear River watershed in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Projects included fish passage restoration, tributary reconnection, streambank stabilization and riparian revegetation, and fish population and water quality monitoring. For these projects McMillen utilizes alternative energy sources such as solar panels or mechanical energy systems. Solar panel designs store energy in (kW) batteries that are used to power the screen cleaning device. In the mechanical energy design, rotary drum(s) are installed in the waterway to operate the screen cleaning system.

BCT, like most subspecies of inland native trout, have suffered severe declines over the past century. Much of the remaining BCT life history diversity occurs in the Bear River watershed which supports the healthiest remaining migratory populations and comprises the last large river and lake habitat still available to the subspecies. Unfortunately, irrigation diversions in both Bear River and Bear Lake tributaries block upstream spawning migrations, entrain downstream migrants in irrigation canals, poor water quality and impaired riparian conditions have degraded aquatic habitats throughout the watershed. As a result, many historically important spawning tributaries and mainstream habitats are currently inaccessible or uninhabitable for BCT.

McMillen has completed over 20 structures within the last two years for Trout Unlimited which restored migration corridors, repaired degraded riparian and aquatic habitats, improved water quality, and restored adfluvial spawning migrations.

"Trout Unlimited could not be more pleased with the work that we have completed in partnership with McMillen, LLC. The Bear River Native Trout Program is a non-for-profit, grant funded, conservation effort. As such, we are always constrained by inflexible and limited budgets. We can never afford cost overruns and seldom accommodate delays. We always walk the line between restoring fish populations and stream habitats while not interfering in any way with water use. In working with McMillen we have been extremely successful in achieving our mission of improving coldwater fisheries while at the same time providing a benefit for local agricultural communities and irrigation companies. We look forward to continuing this productive partnership."