Utah Trout Unlimited

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Utah Trout Unlimited The Utah Council and Chapters of TU work to make fishing and habitat better in our state.

There are two dimensions to Trout Unlimited's work in Utah: (1) our volunteer arm, which includes approximately 1500 members and active chapters in Logan, Ogden, Salt Lake, Park City, and Vernal, and (2) professional staff that includes top notch biologists and attorneys with expertise in water law and policy.

Meet one of Utah’s native trout.Colorado River Cutthroat Trout are native to Utah’s portion of the Colorado River Basin,...
10/01/2026

Meet one of Utah’s native trout.

Colorado River Cutthroat Trout are native to Utah’s portion of the Colorado River Basin, including streams throughout the Green River drainage, where they have persisted for thousands of years.

Today many Colorado Cutthroat populations persist in small, isolated headwater streams. Habitat loss and degradation, barriers to movement, and competition and hybridization with nonnative trout have all contributed to declines across their historical range.

In Utah decades of conservation work have focused on protecting remaining populations, restoring and reconnecting habitat, reducing threats from nonnative trout, and returning Colorado Cutthroat to waters where they had disappeared.

These fish are an important part of Utah’s native trout heritage and a reminder of what so much of our habitat work is ultimately for.

Meet the people behind the rivers.This summer, Marina Dunlop joined the Trout Unlimited Utah team through the Jeremy Bro...
09/30/2026

Meet the people behind the rivers.

This summer, Marina Dunlop joined the Trout Unlimited Utah team through the Jeremy Brooks Memorial Internship.

A senior at Cal Poly Humboldt studying Rangeland Resource Sciences with an emphasis in Natural Resource Sciences, Marina spent her summer working alongside our project managers to implement and monitor restoration projects across the Wasatch Front and beyond.

From building and repairing Beaver Dam Analogs and planting willows to analyzing monitoring data and supporting project planning, Marina jumped into just about every side of the work.

We’re grateful for everything Marina contributed to the TU Utah team this summer and excited to see where her career in conservation takes her next.

Swipe through to meet Marina and learn a little more about what brought her to conservation.

09/26/2026

Last year, Trout Unlimited and our partners removed and replaced a culvert that had prevented upstream fish passage into North Eden Creek. Before the old crossing was removed, fisheries biologists captured Bear River Cutthroat from the isolated section of stream, collected measurements, and safely relocated the fish to Bear Lake.

The new crossing restores access to more than 10 miles of stream habitat, allowing native cutthroat to once again move upstream from Bear Lake to spawn, while their young can eventually migrate downstream to support the wild population in the lake.

Projects like this are about more than replacing a culvert. They are about reconnecting a watershed and restoring a migration that had been interrupted for generations.

This project was made possible through collaboration among Trout Unlimited, our partners, local landowners, and the community. Thank you to everyone who helped reconnect North Eden Creek.

USFWS National Fish Passage and Partners Programs, Western Native Trout Initiative, Resources Legacy Foundation, Utah’s Watershed Restoration Initiative  

In late 2024, the Yellow Lake Fire burned more than 33,000 acres across the Provo and Duchesne River watersheds. Along p...
08/28/2026

In late 2024, the Yellow Lake Fire burned more than 33,000 acres across the Provo and Duchesne River watersheds. Along portions of Soapstone Creek, the fire burned with such severity that much of the surrounding vegetation was lost, leaving exposed soil, unstable streambanks, and a landscape increasingly vulnerable to erosion.

This year, Trout Unlimited staff, chapter members, partners, and volunteers have been working to help one mile of Soapstone Creek and its tributaries recover.

The approach is intentionally simple. Native grasses and wildflowers are being seeded across exposed soils, willows are being planted along streambanks, and Beaver Dam Analogues are being built within the channel. Together, these treatments help stabilize soil, reconnect water with the valley bottom, capture sediment, reduce erosion, and create conditions where vegetation and natural stream processes can begin to recover.

Over four work days, that effort has added up to 650 volunteer hours, 43 completed Beaver Dam Analogues, three rock rundowns, and 350 pounds of native seed spread across the project area.

What happens along Soapstone Creek also matters downstream. The creek flows directly into the Upper Provo River, a Trout Unlimited Priority Water and home to native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout and Mountain Whitefish. Helping stabilize the landscape and keep sediment on site reduces the potential for ash, sediment, and increased runoff from the burned area to impact water quality and aquatic habitat farther downstream.

Wildfire can transform a watershed quickly. Recovery takes time. The goal here isn’t to rebuild the stream ourselves. It’s to help restore the processes that allow the watershed to recover on its own.

Healthy rivers don’t happen overnight. Sometimes they begin with planting a single willow.Earlier this month, more than ...
08/19/2026

Healthy rivers don’t happen overnight. Sometimes they begin with planting a single willow.

Earlier this month, more than 60 volunteers joined Trout Unlimited at Liberty Spring Creek to help plant willows along this important spring-fed tributary of the North Fork Ogden River.

Years ago, much of the streamside vegetation had been removed, leaving the creek with less shade, warmer water, and streambanks that were more vulnerable to erosion.

Today, thanks to a partnership with the landowners at Argyle Acres and thoughtful grazing management, the stream has the opportunity to recover naturally. Planting willows helps speed that recovery along.

As these willows grow, they’ll stabilize streambanks, provide shade that keeps water cool, create habitat for fish and wildlife, and lay the foundation for natural processes like beaver activity and large woody debris. Healthy riparian areas also help filter runoff and improve water quality downstream.

This volunteer day was organized by Trout Unlimited seasonal technician and Jeremy Brooks Memorial Scholarship recipient Marina Dunlop, who coordinated more than 60 volunteers to help plant nearly 300 yards of stream bank. Seeing so many young people spend a day restoring a stream is a reminder that conservation isn’t just about the places we care for, it’s about inspiring the next generation of stewards, too.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered their time, and to the Argyle family for partnering with us to restore Liberty Spring Creek.



Photo credit: Jessica Reynolds, Weber River Partnership

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