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Home / Projects / Bison Range Reach
Current · Environmental RestorationJocko River Bison Range Reach Restoration
The Bison Range Reach is the gateway for migratory fish moving among the Jocko, Flathead and Clark Fork rivers, and a cold-water refuge when the Flathead warms in summer. About 65 percent of the reach was channelized behind rip-rap levees and cut off from its floodplain.
Before and after
Before: channelized (illustration)
After: restored channel (illustration)
Sample On the live site this slider uses DEWR’s historic and construction photos. These panels are illustrations, not photographs of the project.
The project
The project builds about 14,300 linear feet of new Jocko River channel along a historical alignment in the former floodplain, returns about 12,000 feet of the existing channel to upland, wetland and riparian habitat, and is expected to create more than 30 acres of new wetland. The goal is cooler water, more varied fish habitat, less downstream sediment and a more diverse floodplain plant community, benefiting both ecological and cultural resources.