ROCK SPRINGS - It was around 1990 on Little Mountain south of Rock Springs when hunters, anglers and state game officials became concerned with declining cutthroat trout populations in Currant Creek, the mountain's major watershed.

Officials were also concerned with the poor recruitment of mule deer into the South Rock Springs herd, which Game and Fish Department biologists attributed to low-quality birthing and fawn-rearing habitat.

Fast forward nearly two decades, and you'll find Little Mountain's ecosystem is now brimming with mule deer and elk. Currant Creek and its streams are supporting a thriving population of Colorado River cutthroat trout.

It didn't happen by accident.

Since 1990, the Little Mountain area south of Rock Springs has benefited from nearly $2.2 million in collaborative, landscape-scale, on-the-ground habitat restoration projects funded by 16 private groups and federal and state agencies.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has spent an additional $350,000 to improve wildlife habitat as well.

"It's been pretty amazing what we've been able to do out there," said Kevin Spence, a wildlife biologist with the Game and Fish Department's Green River office.

"We've spent an enormous amount of volunteer time with on-the-ground projects and a pretty big chunk of change out there … and it's paid off," he said on a recent tour of Little Mountain.

The projects have generally aimed to implement habitat improvements that address the restoration of ecological relationships, primarily through watershed management, he said.

As part of the work, Spence said, more than 57,000 acres of sagebrush grassland, aspen, juniper and riparian areas on the mountain have been treated using prescribed burns over the past decade. The burns promote the new growth of healthy and diverse vegetation.

A total of 216 instream habitat and grade control structures have been constructed on Currant Creek, Trout Creek, Red Creek and Little Red Creek to improve stream habitat, according to agency data.

Range improvements and grazing management practices such as fencing, water development and pasture rotation have been implemented on some 214,000 acres within three grazing allotments on Little Mountain to help improve riparian areas.

Additionally, hundreds of young willow, aspen and other riparian shrubs have been planted by volunteers; 35 acres of conifer-encroached aspen was clear cut; conservation easements with nearby landowners were secured; and miles of fencing has been rehabilitated.

Spence said mule deer fawn/doe ratios for the South Rock Springs herd have greatly improved since 1992, which saw an average of 45 fawns/100 does.

Spence said the average annual mule deer fawn/doe ratio between 1997 and 2007 improved to 79 fawns/100 does, suggesting the landscape-level habitat improvements are contributing to healthier does and better fawn production.

He also noted that the Colorado River cutthroat trout population in the Jane's Meadow area of Currant Creek - the site of a lot of the riparian/watershed work - has recovered from an estimated seven fish per mile of creek in 1990 to 213 cutthroat trout per mile in 2006.

"In the late 1980s, it was pretty rough and unstable along a lot of Currant Creek, and now the vegetation is back, the banks have been laid back, and the restored riparian flood plain areas are well on their way to stabilization," Spence said.

"And we're seeing a lot more beaver activity on Lower Sage Creek, which is one of the key economic species," he said.

Contact southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino at (307) 875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com