Irrigators in the Lemhi and Custer counties are asked to contact the Idaho Department of Fish and Game before they turn their water off, so measures to protect fish can be taken.
Irrigators who divert from rivers and streams for their crops are asked to call 208-756-6022 several days before they plan to shut their water off, Mike Demick with Fish and Game said. Irrigators are asked to ramp down their flows for several days before completely turning ditches off. The gradual decrease in flows stimulates fish to migrate out of the irrigation systems, he said.
Fish and Game personnel ask irrigators to leave a minimal flow of 1 cfs in their ditches to allow Fish and Game staffers to collect stranded fish. Fish and Game workers can turn head gates down the rest of the way after they collect any stranded fish, Demick said. Ag producers just need to ask for that to occur.
Fish and Game began reaching out to irrigators with this request six decades ago. A study that began in 2003 was designed to count fish as they were returned back to the river after being diverted into a ditch system. It showed up to 88 percent of all migrating juvenile Chinook salmon in the Lemhi River are diverted into at least one ditch system as they migrate to the ocean, Demick said. With this screening effort, all those fish are safely returned to the river.
Fish and Game personnel use screens to capture the wayward fish and return them to a river. More than 270 fish screens are in place now in irrigation systems in Idaho, helping save salmon, steelhead, trout, whitefish and other fish species.
October 08, 2020 at 05:20AM
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Irrigators asked to notify Fish and Game of shut-offs - Post Register
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