Welcome to the end of 2016 and our 8th Annual Idaho Trout Unlimited’s ten trout tales, or stories affecting trout, salmon and steelhead and their watersheds in Idaho. You can find the previous top ten stories for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.
- Simon Says. US District Court Judge Michael Simon ruled in May 2016 that the 2014 Biological Opinion on the Federal Columbia River dams violates the Endangered Species Act for failing to protect ESA-listed salmon and steelhead runs. Later in the year the judge approved a timeline for the federal agencies to launch a new Environmental Impact Statement process that will take up to five years to complete. Public open house events were held around the region in November and December.
- Bear River Narrows Dam is still dead. In 2015 the staff for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recommended in an EIS that the license be denied for the Bear Rivers Narrows dam. In June 2016 the FERC issued an official order (.pdf) denying the application for a federal hydropower license.
- Henry’s Fork Challenges. As stated by the Henry’s Fork Foundation, “this was a year of unprecedented strain on fish populations and fishing opportunities. The Henry’s Fork watershed was not immune. The double whammy of early runoff and drier-than-normal conditions has robbed fish of sustained flows of cold water that they need. As we learn how to work with these challenges across western states, forging and sharing best practices watershed to watershed, your commitment to one of the world’s greatest fly-fishing streams is needed more than ever.”
- Arrowrock Intact, for now. In May, the US Army Corps of Engineers stunned the Idaho Water Resource Board by walking away from a proposal to rebuild and raise Arrowrock Dam another 70 feet, adding to the already 348 foot tall structure and flooding more miles of free flowing, trout friendly waters in the South Fork Boise River and Middle Fork Boise River. The additional backwater would convert the bull trout habitat to more seasonal slack water. While the Corps determined the project has less than a 1:1 cost benefit ratio don’t count out attempts in the future to come up with a way to increase the reservoir.
- Water Sustainability Policy. In November the Idaho Water Resource Board adopted a water sustainability policy (.pdf), an amendment to the state’s Comprehensive Water Resources Plan. Thanks to efforts of many gourds and individuals including the Trout Unlimited Idaho Water Project Office the policy was strengthened and more balanced about multiple uses of water. A prime example is the May 2016 draft policy makes no reference to fish whereas the adopted policy is does, and is better for it.
- Hunters and anglers support public lands. A joint hearing at the Idaho Legislature in February was staged to hear from a couple of lawmakers from the state of Utah who visited Boise to pitch the Idaho Legislature on the Utah efforts to wrest control of public lands managed by federal government
Full house of opposition to state takeover of public lands.
agencies with civil service professionals and turn the lands over to an uncertain future of state management until the next fiscal crisis occurs, where the lands would be vulnerable to sale and privatization. The majority of people in the seats were there in opposition to this talk about transfer of public lands to the states. Social media had churned through the weekend to get hunters, anglers, outdoors enthusiasts and conservation interests to show up for the hearing. That there was no mingling among the crowd and legislators before the hearing indicated this was largely a Boise crowd who were there to show opposition to the land transfer ideas. - Suction Dredge Mining. The long-running, sometimes contentious topic of suction dredge mining of Idaho waters for “recreational” or commercial purposes continued it chronic presence in the state. But some clearing of the issue appears to be happening, not unlike the shutting off of dredge discharge into a stream leads to a clearing of the waters. First, the Idaho Legislature heard testimony on House Bill 510 in February and after three hours hearing from supporters and opponents of the bill (Trout Unlimited was well represented among the opponents), voted to hold the bill in committee where it died for the session. Later in the year the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest issued a decision to allow for recreational dredge mining in the South Fork Clearwater River and a couple other streams under limited and strict conditions. This decision at least provides an outlet for people at an appropriate time and place. Finally late in the year the Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement and fine of an individual for violation of the Clean Water Act for conducting dredge mining activities without the proper permits. We hope this issue can continue to be dealt with the rational approach demonstrated in 2016.
- eDNA. Use of eDNA is transforming aquatic assessment to be able to reach greater geographic areas to detect presence or absence of species. Some interesting information about it can be found on this Forest Service web page.
- Pole Creek restoration. … enjoy this video!
- Fish Handling. Angler awareness about the effects of how fish are handled as part of a catch and release fishery (or variations like slot limits etc.) is leading to a burgeoning movement to raise awareness about fish handling practices. See for example the keepemwet.org website. Some progress was made on this topic with the early 2016 publication for the fishing rules. See information about that at this story.