Creating Miracles in the Desert: Restoring Dixie Creek Film

For decades, cattle grazed the vegetation growing alongside Dixie Creek continuously throughout the summer. A stream that once supported Nevada’s native cutthroat trout, was reduced to a trickle in the bottom of a deep gully. In 1991, the Elko District of the Bureau of Land Management built some fences around Dixie Creek so the livestock grazing in the area could be managed. Within just a few years, the plants that grow naturally along streams came back. After about ten years, these streamside plant communities were robust enough to attract beaver. The beaver built dams which captured and slowed stream flows, ultimately creating a landscape full of water and wildlife even during recent periods of severe drought. This film interviews stakeholders of this special place in Nevada to show how a recovered stream can benefit a wide range of interests and offer hope for a better future.

The story of Dixie Creek’s recovery was produced by Reno based production company, Little Wild. Music Copyright: MB01GNDP5MQD4FY

The wetland and riparian habitat formed by waterways like Dixie Creek—the “green ribbons” of sagebrush country—are hotspots of biodiversity in the mostly arid Intermountain West. Research by the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) shows that these areas are important for both sage grouse and migratory birds, and in many landscapes, extensively intermingled with sagebrush to create comprehensive habitat for all wildlife. Mesic and riparian areas are often located on private lands owned by the same ranchers who also manage the sagebrush on public lands. The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is helping improve riparian and wet meadow habitats on private lands by providing technical and financial assistance to private landowners. Through its Working Lands for Wildlife effort, NRCS is teaming up with landowners and partners across sagebrush country to protect and restore vulnerable riparian areas and wet meadows. They seek win-win solutions to target voluntary, incentive-based conservation that improves agricultural productivity and wildlife habitat. Learn more about their efforts here.

IWJV’s partnership with the Bureau of Land Management that works closely with the NRCS is called Partnering to Conserve Sagebrush Rangelands. This effort is working to expand the conservation practices being implemented on private lands onto the public estate. The conservation practices depicted on Dixie Creek sustain these scarce water resources and are paramount to proactively conserving the sagebrush working lands in the West. Water 4, a complementary effort led by the IWJV, works to conserve these areas for agriculture, birds, wildlife, and native fish, as well as for ecosystem services like groundwater recharge and overall landscape resiliency in ways that matter to people and communities. Learn more about the Water 4 approach via this factsheet.

The IWJV, BLM and NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife supported the creation of this film.