Yampa Valley Stream Improvement Charitable Trust

Background Statement

The YVSICT was established in 1985. Over the course of 38 years, the YVSICT has worked with local, state and federal agencies to improve riparian habitat and improve cold water fisheries in NW Colorado. We have contributed over $1,500,000 to local streams and rivers and have removed car bodies and metal debris, stabilized banks, created structures and re-vegetated riparian areas to enhance our local waters, including the Yampa River within the City of Steamboat Springs. We have created public access to the Chuck Lewis State Wildlife Area and enhanced the banks of the river upstream from the Gilroy Bridge with the construction of 19 in-stream structures, boulder clusters, and bank stabilization. We partnered with the SSRC, CPW and TU to improve habitat for native cutthroat trout in Burgess Creek. In 2021 we completed the Pleasant Valley Project at the Hubbard Cabin on a section of water owned by the BLM. In 2024 we completed the Butcherknife Creek Project improving a stretch of the creek at the Steamboat Middle School campus in Strawberry Park. The YVSICT has contributed over $40,000 in scholarships to local high school students, as well as supported the outdoor classroom at the SSHS.