Once covering large portions of Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, the Bonneville cutthroats range has been reduced to a fraction of what it once was. Only a few relict populations remain with one of the largest sustainable populations located in Bear Lake, immediately adjacent to southeast Idaho's Bear Lake NWR. To facilitate passage to their primary spawning habitat, a fish ladder was constructed from Bear Lake to the historic St. Charles Creek channel passing through the refuge. Unfortunately, changes to the historic system through development of an irrigation infrastructure, provided multiple channels for the trout to access, many of which led to an artificial outlet from the system.

To counteract this problem, the refuge began working with a local community based working group, sponsored by Idaho Fish & Game, to develop creative solutions to this complex problem. Through nearly 2 years of discussion with local community members, local government entities, and agency personnel, it was determined that any restoration efforts should be watershed based, and provide multiple benefits for fisheries, irrigation, water quality, and wetlands. To follow this template, the St. Charles Creek working group developed a multi-stage strategy to restore the entire watershed, accomplished through a series of grant applications to complete smaller elements of the project. While the strategy will eventually include, restoration of the lower riparian corridor, restoration of wetlands on private and Federal lands, and improvements to the local irrigation infrastructure, it will begin with development of the St. Charles Creek fish passageway on Bear Lake NWR.

During July, 2004, the Service developed a partnership with Ducks unlimited and adjacent landowners, Glen, Monte, and Wayne Transtrum, to develop a 14,000 ft fish passageway with two screened water diversion structures. Unanimously sponsored by the St. Charles Creek Working Group, a grant application for $250,000 was submitted to the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act (FRIMA) Committee. The application was successfully funded on August 10, 2004, with partner alliances, such as Ducks Unlimited/Trout Unlimited; Idaho Fish and Game/Utah Division of Wildlife Resources; St. Charles Creek Irrigation Company/Bear Lake Watch; and local community sponsorship directly responsible for funding success.

Development of the passageway is intended to eliminate loss of Bonneville cutthroat trout in the larger irrigation system; primarily by allowing only one route of passage to St. Charles Creek. Additional project benefits include wetlands restoration on Federal and private lands, increased water retention and irrigation efficiency on a portion of the St. Charles Creek Irrigation Company, and enhanced water quality through filtration and isolation of St. Charles Creek water prior to entering Bear Lake. Project construction is slated to begin in early December, 2004, and using the old cliché, the project will result in a win:win:win:win for fish, wetlands, irrigation, and water quality improvement. However, it is important to note that the most important benefit of the entire project is bringing a local community together, to find common ground, and solve a complex, but shared problem.