The Park County Farm Bureau Federation treated its members to its annual banquet at the end of October. The banquet is traditionally timed to the last days of harvest season.

Farmers from across the Big Horn Basin dropped in for a prime rib dinner and a presentation on the water conservation efforts of the Powell-Clarks Fork Conservation District. 

The district is part of a consortium of government organizations and nonprofits that are studying water issues over 273,000 acres of irrigated farmland in Park County. 

The area’s irrigation network — which starts with Buffalo Bill Dam and extends through a series of canals, laterals and ditches — provides water to $63.5 million in crop sales and $36.7 million in livestock sales. 

“It’s pretty valuable,” said Ann Trosper, manager for the Powell-Clarks Fork Conservation District.

Trosper was joined by Carmen McIntyre, watershed coordinator for the district. They discussed the challenges of Shoshone River sediment and changing land use, as the population of Park County grows and new subdivisions are constructed to house the influx. 

“We are seeing rapid growth and loss of farmlands to subdivisions,” said Trosper. 

Sediment issues have also come to the forefront, stemming from a permitted repair on the Willwood Dam in 2016. The action led to a deluge of sediment flowing down the Shoshone, with widespread impacts on aquatic wildlife. 

“It got a boatload of attention,” Trosper said. 

Matt Mead, who was governor of Wyoming at the time, got involved and three teams were set up to address the sediment issues. One team dealt with the immediate cleanup of the river, a second group is looking at operations at the dam and the third group, which McIntyre chairs, has been studying sediment flows into the river and how they can be mitigated. 

McIntyre explained that Willwood Working Group 3, as it’s called, is composed of a number of partners whose coordination over the past few years has been commendable.

“It really speaks to the dedication of our partners in this process and trying to come together to make things happen to address sediment loading in the watershed,” McIntyre said. 

She touched upon a few of the group’s larger projects, including beaver dam analogs — man-made structures designed to mimic the effects of beaver dams. They’ve been built along Sulphur Creek, with the permission of participating landowners. 

The structures “will promote reestablishment of woody vegetation, to save live stream banks in these areas and also help regulate flows a little bit more,” McIntyre explained. 

Working Group 3 has also initiated a study on an abandoned bentonite mine west of Cody, which was reclaimed in the 1990s according to the regulations and practices of that time. The study area will determine best practices for establishing vegetation and helping control sediment flows off the mine, which the group believes are significant. 

The group is also pursuing an application for funding for a Level 1 watershed study through the National Resource Conservation Service. The application is co-sponsored by the Wyoming Water Development Office. 

If funding is approved, the study will pay for design and technical assistance to look at drainages in the upper portion of the Shoshone River. The Powell-Clarks Fork Conservation District will work with producers and landowners interested in range and water improvements. The goal is to accelerate efforts to reduce sediment loading to the river, and improve fisheries and irrigation improvements. 

Trosper also discussed the district’s small acreage outreach efforts to better educate new landowners in the area on their irrigation rights and responsibilities. 

“Wow, we are growing — times ten. That has some good and some bad,” Trosper explained. 

They held a class in October that was well attended by landowners interested in learning more about the topic, and future classes are planned as the interest was quite high, Trosper said. 

The Park County Farm Bureau Federation is part of a state and national organization with close to 6 million member families. It’s a grassroots agricultural organization, financed through membership dues, that provides advocacy and support for issues impacting farmers and ranchers.