The Lemhi River meanders for 60 miles through a big valley in this quiet corner of Eastern Idaho before it flows into the Salmon River.
Here, local ranchers have been working closely with fish experts and conservation professionals for more than 25 years to improve fish habitat for ESA-listed Snake River chinook salmon and steelhead, migrating fish that travel more than 800 miles from here to the Pacific Ocean.
Even before the fish were protected under the Endangered Species Act in the early 1990s, Lemhi ranchers wanted to do their part to save the fish.
“I used to go down to catch salmon all the time,” says Don Olson, a Lemhi rancher who’s been involved since the beginning. “It was a big deal when we was kids. We used to come down to this pool here, and the salmon would lodge in here, and man you’d ride 'em and chase 'em, and do all kinds of fun stuff.”
Over the last 25 years, Lemhi ranchers have teamed up with state and federal agencies to create primo spawning and rearing habitat for the fish. Major milestones include:
• 130 conservation projects and counting.
• Minimum stream flows for fish passage at L-6, the main Lemhi River diversion.
• Preserving working lands and open space forever — nearly 30,000 acres of prime spawning areas protected via conservation easements.
• Over 50 miles of riparian fencing.
• Restoring water flows to 12 tributary streams, opening up 50-plus miles of spawning habitat for Chinook salmon and 40-plus miles of spawning habitat for steelhead.
• Installing 110-plus fish screens at irrigation diversions to keep juvenile fish in the river.
• Brokering 50-plus water transactions that restored water to tributary streams and the main Lemhi River.
• Dozens of water efficiency projects to save water for fish, increase crop yields and reduce labor.
• Replacing 75-plus-year-old irrigation diversions with fish-friendly weirs.
All this, while ensuring that working ranches remain working for the local tax base and economy.
Major funding from the Bonneville Power Administration, Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, Natural Resources Conservation Service, conservation organizations, Bureau of Reclamation, Idaho Fish and Game and many others has been instrumental for the conservation investments. At least an estimated $75 million has been invested in conservation projects basin-wide.
Everything starts with the cooperation between ranchers in the valley and conservation professionals who coordinate projects.
All of the conservation work is voluntary. With 90% of the spawning habitat located on private lands, cooperation with landowners is vital.
Leadore, Idaho, rancher Merrill Beyeler was an early adopter, signing a large conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy in 2010 to protect fish habitat and keep the 2,300-acre family ranch in production as a working ranch.
“Things that people would have thought 10-15 years ago impossible, no way it could be done, have been done,” Beyeler says. “Look back to 2010, there was some talk, people were rolling their eyes, how could you possibly re-connect the tributaries to the Lemhi, when the water for those tributaries is essential for ag? And we found a path. And we have not compromised agriculture.”
That’s been a key guiding principle of the Lemhi conservation work since Day 1. Work to improve fish habitat must also enhance the ranch.
“That’s how we approach all of our projects. It needs to benefit both,” said Jeff Diluccia, a fish biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in Salmon. “Using that approach is multiple, sustainable use, whereas ag is key to this valley, so we have to protect those interests. We can make it work for both, we’ve seen that time and time again.”
The Link LonkFebruary 06, 2021 at 01:30AM
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Ranchers improve fish habitat via 25-year partnership | Livestock | capitalpress.com - Capital Press
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