Happy Holidays,
I started at the top of 2025 as the new Idaho State Director. This year has been a bit of a rollercoaster with a shifting landscape for the work we do at Trout Unlimited. At the start of the year when federal funding was paused for a bit things felt uncertain, but what I’ve found is that Idaho’s TU Team stayed steadfast; keeping work moving forward undaunted by the shifts in funding, in agency personnel, in attitudes and outlooks. At the tail end of the year, looking back I feel a lot of pride in TU – our adaptability, ingenuity, and commitment to fish and healthy waterways. I feel more optimistic and inspired about the future of our work at the close of 2025 than ever before.
Here’s a quick review of what got done this year and where focus will be in the upcoming year.
This year the Idaho conservation and restoration team:
- Installed 154 log structures containing 1,170 logs.
- Built 203 beaver dam analogs in streams.
- Restored 6 miles of stream habitat and nearly 18 acres of floodplain.
- Ran 9 monitoring projects and assessed over a thousand culverts for fish passage.
- Planted over 1,500 plants.
- Taught about fish and habitat to thousands of children and adults.
- Coordinated two robust watershed collaboratives on the SF Boise and on the Priest River in their process of building restoration plans for these critical basins.
- Signed agreements new multi-year, well-funded agreements with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Bureau of Land Management.
Our Policy efforts focused on:
- Protecting federal lands through advocacy efforts and meetings with Idaho’s influential Congress members and their staff.
- Meeting with state legislators to serve as a voice for fish in a time when water instream is becoming more threatened and uncertain.
- Some of the big threats to Idaho’s waterways including mining proposals, large water right claims, and supporting the Chapters when able on local issues.
Looking forward into 2026:
- Restoration: With 26 individual stream projects on the docket for implementation next year, the team will continue to get meaningful work done on the ground improving habitat and reconnecting waterways across Idaho.
- Aquatic Connection: We are coordinating across Idaho to assess fish barriers in priority geographies to help better guide project identification increasing benefit for trout and salmon.
- Communications: Improving our communication about the important work that the Idaho team is doing and the challenges that our trout and salmon populations are facing is high priority for Idaho.
- Federal Policy: On federal policy we will stay committed to fighting for keeping federal lands federal, Roadless Areas roadless, and the Clean Water Act meaningful.
- State Water Policy: On a state level we will be expanding our presence in the Upper Snake and increasing coordination across the entire Snake Basin as pressure on our water resources continue to mount.
This year has been challenging, but also offered an opportunity for growth, evolution, and gratitude that has not been missed. The Idaho Team is grateful for your support, efforts, and partnership in our shared goals of caring for streams and rivers so that future generations can also experience the joy of wild trout and salmon. We appreciate all that you do and look forward to continuing in this meaningful work alongside you in 2026.
Happy New Year from Team Idaho TU (some of whom are shown below on their way to fish the Portneuf River)!
