Beneath the cold, clear waters of the Bighorn River, a smooth brown trout flicks their tail, leaning headfirst into the current, hiding within the flowing green water grasses. Tiny flying insects are plentiful; they flutter above the surface, newborns freshly hatched and tasting the dry air for their first and last time in just one

After reading about historical river geomorphology, floating the Bighorn River, and generally paying attention to how our society functions, I have realized that we like our rivers like we like our people: straight. We construct enormous dams and place levees so that rivers like the Bighorn will no longer meander, increasing linear channelization and ignoring