Silver Creek Preserve

Gliding across the water, settled into the seat of a canoe, it’s not hard to understand why years of work and collaboration have been dedicated to protecting Silver Creek—it is a magical place.

In no small part, the wonder of Silver Creek’s story comes from the people who came together to make it a reality. It started in 1976 when the local community urged The Nature Conservancy to purchase 479-acres then called the Sun Valley Ranch and create its flagship preserve, Silver Creek. This launched a landowner conservation effort along the stream to protect an additional 12,000-acres through conservation easements, making this one of the most successful stream conservation efforts ever undertaken for public benefit and a model for community-based conservation.

Over the last forty years TNC Idaho has expanded the Preserve to 881-acres and restored this high-desert spring creek to a thriving ecosystem for an abundance of wildlife including eagles, coyotes, bobcats, and moose. As many as 150 species of birds have been identified along the nature trail and its globally unique aquatic ecosystem features one of the highest densities of stream insects in North America.

TNC Idaho and our partners are working together to expand restoration efforts across the Silver Creek Watershed and its native fishery. We are developing science-based restoration projects in the system to restore stream function, enhance aquatic habitats and expand riparian buffers. Projects include improvements to channel conditions, hydrologic functions, fish habitat complexity, riparian buffers and floodplain connectivity.