© 2024 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions

Wyoming Wildlife And Natural Resource Fund Gives $150,000 Boost To Crow Creek Revival

Courtesy of Crow Creek Revival

Restoring a critical source of water in Cheyenne has been the goal of many in the area for several years. And that revival effort for Crow Creek just got another significant boost in funding.

The Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund is the latest organization to throw its support behind an effort to revitalize the southeast Wyoming stream.

Cheyenne was built around Crow Creek, which provides the city with water. Over the years, the once winding waterway was straightened out to reduce the risk of flooding.

Members of the Crow Creek Revival effort in Cheyenne say this was misguided. Dena Egenhoff with the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities said that straightening diminished the quality of the streambank and water.

"Right now, the stream itself is really wide," Egenhoff said. "It's really shallow. It has increased water temperatures. It has a lot of sediment deposits that are going into it. And it really has limited habitat for aquatic life and other animals."

The Wildlife and Natural Resource Fund committed $150,000 to improve a .6-mile stream segment between two roads outside of Cheyenne. The fund joins several other private, nonprofit and governmental groups supporting the revival.

"To actually have boots on the ground, to fix that stream, is between $700,000 to a million dollars," Egenhoff said. "So that's a lot of money."

So far, the revival effort has raised $800,000 for this segment of the creek, thanks to the Wildlife and Natural Resource Fund and other contributions.

Other partners include the Nature Conservancy and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality among others.

Egenhoff said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, construction and restoration could begin this year.

Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Jeff Victor, at jvictor@uwyo.edu.

Jeff is a part-time reporter for Wyoming Public Media, as well as the owner and editor of the Laramie Reporter, a free online news source providing in-depth and investigative coverage of local events and trends.
Related Content