More Progress on Saving Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in Yellowstone Lake

• February 16: Magic Valley Fly Fishers, Twin Falls (contact James Harper, paraadams@hotmail.com)
• March 8: Teton Valley Trout Unlimited (contact Boots Allen; boots@snakeriverangler.com)
• March 14: Ted Trueblood Trout Unlimited (contact John Ellsworth; johnsworth123@yahoo.com)

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Top Ten 2011 Trout and Salmon Stories in Idaho

As in past years Idaho Trout Unlimited wraps up 2011 with a ranking of the top ten stories, events and other things affecting trout and salmon in Idaho.

1.   For the third time in a decade the Bonneville Power Administration and NOAA Fisheries are found guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act with their biological opinion for managing the Federal Columbia River Power System.  Judge Redden directed these repeat offenders to again submit a new plan by January 2014 and do a better job protecting salmon.

2.   Weather conditions across Idaho — a long winter with above average snow — led to a protracted runoff and Idaho streams were full of water, benefiting the wild trout across the state as well as incrementally improving the migration conditions for juvenile salmon (smolts) as the migrate seaward.  Of course the migration conditions are good only until the smolts encounter the slackwater of the lower Snake River and have to run the gauntlet of Federal dams (see story 1).  With the long, slow melt in the spring and early summer the base flows of many mountain streams are in better condition than they have been in years.  And this may prove important if 2012 ends up a below average water year.

3. For the 1st time in 102 years some water flowed into the Big Wood River below Magic Reservoir after the irrigation season ended.  The Big Wood Canal Company (BWCC), in cooperation with the Wood River Land Trust, began releasing 15 cfs of  stored water to enhance the existing fishery below the dam. The additional 15 cfs into the historic Big Wood River channel is an attempt to maintain the seasonal fishery that exists there in “good water” years (years like this one).

4. The big news on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River is the first fish passage over Chester Dam since 1938.  A fish ladder has been constructed on Chester Dam as part of a hydroelectric project, which is being added on to the irrigation dam.  Two diversion canals have been screened to keep the fish in the river.  The fish ladder will be fully operational in 2012 upon completion of the hydroelectric project.  See video below.

5. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Jan. 29, ruled in favor of the Idaho Roadless Rule, a Federal rule that protects trout and salmon habitat on nearly nine million acres of U.S. Forest Service managed lands in Idaho.  The decision upholds the Idaho roadless rule that Trout Unlimited supported in negotiations with then Governor Jim Risch in late 2006 and through the rule adoption process in 2007 and 2008.

6. Long-time professional Virgil Moore was promoted to Director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in April.  Moore is the first fisheries biologist in the position who both studied and worked primarily in salmonid and cold water fisheries management through his career with IDFG, and through his career Virgil has played a key role in the wild trout fishing regulations on the South Fork Snake RIver and the South Fork Boise River.

7. Pierce Creek gets reconnected to South Fork Boise River this November thanks to a cooperative project of the Ted Trueblood Chapter, Boise National Forest, Mountain Home Highway District, Southwest Idaho Resource Advisory Committee, Boise Valley Fly Fishers, and all the TU members who donated to the project or participated in a first ever fly casting tournament.  Removing the culvert opens up two miles of spawning and rearing habitat to support southwest Idaho’s premiere blue ribbon trout fishery.

8. TU’s Boise-based science team, along with scientists from federal and state agencies and organizations, released a groundbreaking study on cimate change and potential effect on trout and salmon.   Published appropriately enough during the hottest time of the year - August 15 - the study found that  changing climate could reduce suitable trout habitat in the western U.S. by about 50 percent over the next 70 years, with some trout species experiencing greater declines than others.

9. TU announced in late November that it filed with the Portland Federal District Court its intent to withdraw from the long-standing litigation over the Snake River salmon as affected by the Federal Columbia River Power System.

“Without question, this litigation has been pivotal in obtaining improvements in dam operations and fish habitat that have helped slow the decline of wild salmon and steelhead,” said Chris Wood, TU’s president and CEO. “But slowing decline isn’t enough. We need to recover these remarkable fish, and one way to do that is to sit down with the people most affected by salmon recovery and work out an agreement that meets their economic needs while recovering these fish of enormous cultural, economic and ecologic value.”

10. The Ted Trueblood Chapter was honored with the Silver Trout award at the national Trout Unlimited meeting held in Bend, Oregon in September 2011.  The silver trout award is equivalent to second place, and this is second place among 360 chapters in the nation.

This is the second time in a decade the Trueblood Chapter has received such recognition. In 2002 the Chapter won the Gold Trout award, the top chapter in the nation.

The awards program noted the good work of the Trueblood Chapter, most recently the effort to replace the Pierce Creek culvert on the South Fork Boise River. The ongoing work in the lower Boise River, youth educational programs like Trout in the Classroom, the summer Trout Camp, and the October 2010 Trueblood Writer Series event with New York Times writer Timothy Egan were other examples cited in the award.

Conserving Native Fish, and Saving the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, in Yellowstone National Park

(See 1/24/2012 update here).

John Ellsworth will give presentations on saving the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout at Trout Unlimited chapter meetings in Idaho Falls and Pocatello.  The Idaho Falls meeting is January 11, 2012 and Pocatello will be on January 12.  John is the Vice President of the Idaho Council of Trout Unlimited and is coordinating the Idaho portion of the three state effort (ID, MT, WY) on the Yellowstone Lake cutthroat trout restoration efforts that have become a top priority for Trout Unlimited.

Native fish conservation is now a major emphasis in Yellowstone National Park. The native Yellowstone cutthroat trout population in Yellowstone Lake and its ecosystem is now reduced to less than 10% of its historic population due primarily to depredation by illegally introduced lake trout in Yellowstone Lake. There are literally hundreds of thousands of lake trout estimated in the system now, and each one consumes an average of 41 native cutthroat trout annually!

The National Park Service has accelerated and augmented their efforts to suppress lake trout populations by employing commercial gill and trap netting. Hydro-acoustic telemetry tagging and tracking of lake trout in Yellowstone Lake began in summer 2011 in order to determine lake trout movements and spawning beds locations.

Under a proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Yellowstone National Park, a coalition team of representatives from Trout Unlimited (ID, WY, and MT Councils and chapters as well as TU national), the National Parks Conservation Association, the US Geological Survey, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, is working to conserve the park’s native fish and save the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. This work is part of the TU National Leadership Council Western Native Trout Workgroup.

The coalition’s main goal is to raise funds to support Yellowstone National Park’s efforts to conserve native fish and save the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Trout Unlimited Idaho Council and Chapters have raised significant funds already, but much more are needed.  Opportunities and options for individual and group donations to help support these efforts will be described and made available after the presentations.

If you can’t make it to one of John’s presentations, or just don’t want to wait to help save the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout in our nation’s first and most beloved National Park, please consider making a donation now. You can send a check made out to: Idaho Council of Trout Unlimited, P.O. Box 1971, Boise, ID 83701 (write “Save the Yellowstone Cutthroats” on the memo line of the check).  Suggested donation levels are tied to prices of the specific equipment needed to complete the telemetry tracking research: $400 (buys one standard hydro-acoustic telemetry tag), $700 (buys one depth-recording hydro-acoustic telemetry tag), and $1,400 (buys one signal receiver), but of course any amount you can afford to donate is deeply appreciated!  For further information, contact John Ellsworth, Vice President of Idaho Council of Trout Unlimited, at johnsworth123 at yahoo dot com.  Thank you in advance for helping us “Save the Yellowstone Cutthroats”!