North Platte River

The North Platte River has hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Photo by Sean Locke/iStockphoto.com
As part of an effort to provide additional recreational access along the North Platte River in southeastern Wyoming, The Conservation Fund worked with its partners to protect 275 acres along the famed Gray Reef reach, including over three-fourths of a mile of river frontage.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the stretches of the North Platte to experience beautiful scenery and some of the best fishing for rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout in the country. The 30-mile Gray Reef stretch is hailed as of one of the most productive passages of the North Platte River and considered by many to be the number one trout-fishing destination in the lower 48 states.
The Fund worked collaboratively with the Bureau of Land Management and the Wyoming Game & Fish Department to acquire this property and open it to walk-in public recreational access. This project was made possible with the support of the Wyoming Congressional delegation, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Natrona County Commissioners, the Wyoming Fly Casters, Trout Unlimited, and individual sportsmen.
