PERMITTING

One of the things that makes doing a gravel augmentation difficult is figuring out how to get the needed permits and approvals.   Permitting for adding spawning gravel to a river has become increasingly complex as floodplain and water-quality requirements evolve.  Here is a general description of what we had to do for our recent Owyhee Gravel Augmentation.

Our two Boise River gravel augmentations gave us some experience in the process, but the process in Oregon is different, and the FEMA requirements are constantly changing.

1) Landowner Permission

The Owyhee river is on BLM land, so we needed to get permission from them for the augmentation. Initially this was straightforward because we had worked with Dan Thomas from the Vale BLM office on Owyhee trash cleanups. Later, when we came back for the final signature there was a new person in the role, and it took time to work through the permitting requirements to their satisfaction.

2) Floodplain / Planning & Zoning approval

Approval from the local P&Z department depends on the flood zone designation.  The Owyhee river is in an undeveloped area in Malheur County, OR and is designated as Zone A, which is less restrictive than a river in an urban area like the Boise River, but we still had to hire an engineering firm to show the augmentation would would not raise water levels beyond their local threshold.  Something that was expensive and took us a good year to figure out.

3) Joint Streamflow Permit 

We submitted a joint streamflow permit to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Oregon Department of State Lands and Oregon Department of Water Quality. The USAC was the lead permitting agency and coordinated discussions with the others, which took most of a year.

4) Clean Water Act §401 Water Quality Certification

Our project required a 401 Water Quality Certification to ensure we managed turbidity and other water-quality impacts. Our permit conditions included: Turbidity monitoring every 2 hours; Adjusting work pace based on turbidity test results; and Implementing Best Management Practices, such as sequencing/phasing the work so fine sediments could settle before moving to the next area.

FUNDING

In addition to submitting for permits we applied for several grants to help pay for the project.  Jon Fishback and Forrest Goodrum helped scope the project to figure out the costs and look for possible grants. In 2021 BVFF member Forrest Goodrum submitted for a Fly Fishers International Conservation grant, and we received $3,000 towards the project in August of 2022.  Luckily FFI was patient and understood the time it takes to get permitting in place!

In 2022 we submitted for an ODFW Steelhead Trout Enhancement Program $2,000 grant, which received that Fall. Unfortunately we had to turn it back in because of the delay in permitting.  After getting the permit we resubmitted and received it again, only have to turn it back in due to the project being delayed due to high water.  The third time was a charm and we received it for the third time in October, just in time! Phew!  My thanks to the STEP coordinator Marty Olsen for his help and patience. 

Earlier this year a group of BVFF volunteers (Troy Pearse, Brian Martin, Greg Hitchcock, Scott Lenz and Randy James) met on the Owyhee river to hash out the details of the augmentation. 100 cubic yards is a lot of gravel, and the big question we had to answer was how far it would go, and where in the river to put it. To give you an idea, at 6 inches deep, 100 cubic yards of gravel will cover about 5,400 square feet — roughly a 90-by-60-foot patch, about the size of two tennis courts side-by-side. That amount of gravel will support as many as 500 brown trout redds!

Brian hopped in the water and started checking depths and flows--looking for water that was between 9 inches and 2 ½ feet deep and moving at a slow walking speed of 1 - 2 mph. Once he had an area probed, he and Greg measured the area while Scott Lenz ran the calculations of how many yards of gravel would fit in each zone. That morning we were able to identify 4 zones in the run along the road below Sand Hollow Cr and an additional zone in the tailout below the Concrete Bridge, 1 mile downstream.

We had planned to do the gravel augmentation in late winter of 2024/2025 -- after any possible ice out and before spring runoff. But it was a good snow year and the irrigation district started releasing water early so we decided to delay until fall of 2025, after irrigation flows dropped for the season. That way we could accurately target gravel placement in the right water types, and make sure it was safe for volunteers to be in the river.

Jeanne Garcia sent out a news release for the project and Steve Dent from Channel 6 News showed up to cover the story. He flew a drone over the project, which was a great view of the gravel slinger in operation. One question it raised from people watching was the amount of dust in the air. Rest assured that we used clean/washed gravel--the slinger conveyor belt just shook off any last dust before throwing it. Here is a link to that news story.

We started staging the gravel in mid-October, a few days before the augmentation. Randy James met Troy at the side-road up to the staging area and we filled in some ruts to make it easier to get the big trucks up there. It took 7 dump truck loads from nearby gravel pits.

The night before the augmentation, Brian and Troy placed some milk-jug buoys at each gravel-zone to give the slinger operator a target to shoot at. The next morning, ODFW fish biologist Dave Banks reviewed the proposed augmentation zones and made some adjustments, including recommending placing more gravel in the uppermost zone so that when the gravel starts shifting downstream it would repopulate the areas below #SmartMoveDave!

This was the first time we have used a gravel slinger, and we were all excited to see it in action. It certainly beats hauling the gravel to the river in wheelbarrows! The next morning, Matthew and Randy, the slinger and front end loader operators from CMCI showed up and we hashed out a plan for loading and slinging the gravel.

Scott Lenz had worked out a a traffic control plan and put together a team of BVFF volunteers to manage traffic around the slinger and loader operation and to keep the road clear of gravel.  The 2-way radios that George Butts brought made that much easier, given there is no cell service in the area. Thanks to Dave Asker, John Shrum, Joe DeSousa, Randy James, Greg Evans, George Butts, Mike Stahl, Steve Conrad, Tim Opp and Keith Gerard.

It was a beautiful, fall day, and soon the gravel was in the air! The gravel slinger was like a gatling gun, rapid-firing gravel rounds into the river. Here is a link to a video of the slinger in action! GravelSlingerVideo.mp4 . The operator, Matthew, laid down a test stripe of gravel and then paused while Jeff Jones tested gravel depths to see how close we were to the desired 6 inches. During the pause, Klaus Kissman, Mike Wiedenfeld and I collected our first water samples 100 feet upstream and downstream of the activity and tested them for turbidity, a requirement of our DEQ 401 Water Quality permit. 

Jeff relayed the gravel depths to Matthew and he adjusted his timing to get a bit thicker layer and resumed throwing gravel. The slinger worked better than we could have imagined, throwing a truck-load of gravel into the river every 20 minutes and the reload cycles gave time for any stirred-up sediment to settle, keeping water quality well within the tolerances required by our DEQ 401 permit.

BVFF volunteers managed traffic around the slinger and loader operation and kept the road cleared of gravel--sweeping and shoveling any spilled gravel into wheelbarrows so we could reload it into the slinger to make sure we got as much gravel into the river as possible. 

The morning flew by and the next thing we knew George Butts and Phil Toscos from Sunroc (now Suncor) showed up with lunch. Sunroc/Suncor has been very supportive of our gravel augmentations, donating gravel for our 2 Boise River gravel augmentations and giving us a significant discount on the gravel for this project. What awesome partners! Thanks for lunch, Phil!

As we neared the top of the Sand Hollow run we paused operation, as we wanted to make sure to reserve enough gravel to do the tail-out below the Concrete Bridge as tail-outs are prime locations for brown trout to spawn. Once we got down to the last truck-load of gravel we headed downstream and filled the tail-out with gravel.

To ensure we didn't scoop up dirt and threw only clean gravel, the loader operator had left a layer of gravel at the staging area. BVFF volunteers looked at that and saw more potential brown trout redds and they sprung into action-- working with Randy to carefully scoop extra gravel and then shoveling what they could into the HUGE loader bucket. Their hard work resulted in being able to come back upstream and lay down a "bonus zone" right below the riffle. Nice Job Guys!

This has been a long and complex project and couldn't have happened without the partnership with ODFW, especially Malheur District Fish Biologists Dave Banks and Kirk Handley.  Project funding came from grants from Fly Fishers International, ODFW’s Salmon Trout Enhancement Program, the Snake River Waterkeeper, and the generous donations by Sunroc/Suncor and CMCI. BVFF funding came through an Idaho Gives campaign led by Brian Martin and Deborah DeSousa; a "Greenbacks For Redds" club fund raiser; raffling a beautiful custom knife made by Mike Okamura; and funds raised at our yearly Fly Fishing Expo. 

I want to give a special shout-out to all of the volunteers who make BVFF's yearly Fly Fishing Expo happen, which is the main fund-raising engine for BVFF's Fly Fishing Education, Conservation, and Access projects. The expo committee has been hard at work getting the 2026 Expo ready and I encourage you to volunteer [ADD LINK]

Brown trout are fall spawners and generally spawn from October through mid-December on the Owyhee. ODFW has been doing fall spawning surveys for many years and will track redd counts in the new gravel. We expect some brown trout will find the new gravel and make redds there this fall, and that use will increase over the next 5 years. ODFW also does summer electrofishing surveys but it will take several years before the new brown trout from this gravel will show up as adults.

Brown trout redds will be harder to identify the first year, as the clean gravel makes it difficult to see where the trout have been digging. If you are out at the Owyhee in the next couple of months, we encourage you to stop and check out the new gravel and report back if you spot any trout on it. Viewing from the elevated roadway or bridge is the best approach, and polarized sunglasses are a must! Post a photo to BVFF's Facebook page or email us at conservation@bvff.com along with any comments about where you saw the fish. We will compile all of the reports and share them with ODFW to help guide their December redd surveys. And please remember to avoid wading through gravel spawning areas this time of year, and avoid harassing the spawning fish. We want all the baby trout we can get!

OUR SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE WHO
HELPED FUND THIS GRAVEL AUGMENTATION

FAQ

1. Why did you choose this location?

ODFW's annual fall spawning surveys show that the lower reaches of the Owyhee River have limited spawning activity. By increasing spawning habitat the brown trout population will (hopefully) improve.

We worked with ODFW to select the site. ODFW has seen no spawning activity in this section of river, even though it has the right depth and flow velocity. By adding smaller gravels, it should be perfect spawning habitat. If you build it, they will come.

Proximity to the road allows us to use a gravel slinger to get the large amount gravel into the river with minimal water impact.

2. Will the gravel shift downstream?

Based on observations of our Boise river gravel augmentation, we expect this gravel will stay in place until river flows exceed 4,000cfs.  The club is working with Biomark on tracking gravel movement using PIT tags. You can read more about that in this Conservation Blog Article.

3. How do you know if the project is a success?

ODFW does annual fall spawning (redd) counts and will be monitoring for changes. They also will monitor the adult trout population using electrofishing.

4. How long will it take for brown trout to utilize the new gravel?

We expect some brown trout will use the gravel to spawn this fall, and that use will increase over the next 5 years.  Rainbow trout spawn in late spring and will also be able to use the gravel for spawning. 

5. What size is the gravel being added?

Gravel is clean/washed round river gravel ranging from 1/2" to 2" in diameter. We added approximately 6 inches of gravel.

6. What permission and permits were required?

We submitted a Joint Stream Alteration permit to the Oregon Army Corps of Engineers, Department of State Lands, and the Department of Water Quality.  To submit the permits we needed permission from the landowner (BLM) and approval from Malheur County Planning and Zoning.  DEQ required that we monitor water turbidity every 2 hours and adjust the pace of the project if there was too much sediment.  For more info on the process, see this Conservation Blog Article.

One question we have asked ourselves about the two gravel augmentations we have done on a side channel of the Boise River (in 2000 and 2003), is how long the gravel we added has stayed in the side channel. To help answer that question, as well as determine if another gravel augmentation on the Owyhee River would be worthwhile, we designed a "Gravel Tracking Project", led by BVFF member (and retired geologist) Jeff Jones. Jeff investigated several methods for tracking gravel movement and met with people from local company Biomark, who specialize in tracking fish with small PIT tags. Working with engineer Nick Porter from Biomark, we designed a study to use PIT tags to track gravel movement. Jeff led some "rock parties" where BVFF volunteers drilled small holes in 200 pieces of gravel and epoxyed in the small PIT tags.

Yesterday, a small team of BVFF volunteers placed 144 pieces of tagged gravel into 4 study plots at different gravel depths. Over the next 5 years we plan to scan for those tags each fall to see how long they stay in place. If enough gravel stays in place, and ODFW's fall spawning surveys show brown trout are using the gravel for spawning, then the club will start working on a second gravel augmentation.

The club is working with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and Ada County on a plan to place the remaining tagged pieces of gravel into our side channel. If all goes well we hope to do that before flows increase in the spring.

Thanks to our volunteers who helped tag and place the rocks. And a special thanks to Nick and Biomark who have been very generous with their time and use of equipment to do this study. We couldn't have done it without them.

#CoolScienceStuff

Setting up a Study Plot

Troy and Ken setting the depth of the flow-meter.

Pete and Jeff placing a piece of gravel 4 inches below the surface.

Nick Porter from Biomark scanning to make sure we can detect the tagged gravel.

Pete and Mike drilling gravel for PIT tags

 

The Gravel Gang

Here is the News Release done by volunteer Jeanne Garcia

OwyheeNewsReelase.pdf

Jeff Jones hosted a "Rock Party" on September 20 as part of the upcoming Owyhee River gravel augmentation project.  Volunteers drilled and embedded pit tags in gravel samples, which will be used to track gravel movement in the river to learn more about the movement behavior, and the longevity of the deposited gravel for use in the trout redds.

Each rock has a unique ID which will be used to record its initial location in the stream, and subsequent measured location to track its movement.

The gravel movement or depletion over time will be used to determine if/when refresh augmentations will be required to sustain the gravel available for use for trout redds in that location.

Rockers:   (top) Troy Pearse, Joe Sousa, (bottom) Michael Liebig, Pete Rockwell, Jim Kazakoff

Fall is coming quick, and as water flows drop it is a good time to clean up the river to get rid of floater trash and fishing line. Several organizations are planning river cleanups this Fall. Johnny Rogers, our #LeaveItBetter lead, is working on setting up BVFF's Fall river cleanup. We may end up joining BREN or a different cleanup. Watch your email for an event announcement in the near future. If you can, please support the organizations that are working hard to take care of the Boise River and #LeaveItBetter . 

In the meantime, don't for get to #FillTheNet. We would love it if you would post a #FillTheNet photo to our BVFF Facebook Group Page, to help encourage others to do the same. Or email it to conservation@bvff.com and we'll be glad to post it for you.

• Boise River Enhancement Network (BREN)'s  "‘Your Mother Doesn’t Work Here’ Annual Boise River Clean Up" is set for Saturday September 20th.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Idaho Rivers United End of Float Season Clean-Up - September 14, 2025
  
  
  
  
• VICE Outdoors is planning a Fall Cleanup on Saturday, November 8th. Cleaning up when the river is at winter flows makes it easier to get trash out of the river. Monitor their Facebook page to sign up: Boise River Fly Fishing with Vice Outdoors

After 5 years of planning, the Owyhee Augmentation Project is about to happen! After finally getting our permits last winter we thought we were a GO, but the project got delayed due to unexpected high water flows. But we have heard from the Owyhee Irrigation District that flows on the Owyhee are scheduled to drop on October 15th so we will be doing our gravel augmentation the following week--Thursday, October 23rd, which gets it in the river in time for brown trout to use it for spawning this season. The Monday - Wednesday before we will be doing site prep and working with Sunroc/Suncore to stage the gravel.

Our Conservation Team took advantage of the extra time this summer to make some improvements to the plan. One of the big questions about the gravel augmentations that BVFF and TU have done on the Boise River in the past is how long the gravel stays in place. Club member Jeff Jones (a retired geologist) devised a plan to track how the gravel moves downstream during high spring flows. Jeff and I met with scientists from local company Biomark, who specializes in PIT tags for tracking fish. We tested drilling into samples of the gravel and adding a (2mm by 12mm long) PIT tag and then tested to show we could detect them in a bucket of gravel (you can see more about that at this Conservation Blog article). Reviewing the results with biomark scientists Nick Porter and Jake Cryer, they designed a plan to seed tagged gravel in a study plot, to prevent tag interferrence. We plan to tag around 150 pieces of gravel of several sizes classes and place them in 4 different study plots of different depths and velocities of water. #CoolScienceStuff

Each Fall we will use a portable PIT tag reader (that looks a lot like a big metal detector) to sweep the area to identify the locations of the tagged gravel. If, after 5 years, the gravel is staying in place well enough and brown trout are utilizing it for spawning, then we would like to do another gravel augmentation.   I personally predict SUCCESS! , based on my observations on the Boise River-- brown trout are very good at finding and using new gravel. And I believe that the gravel will stay in place much better than on the Boise river because of the lower gradient of the Owyhee and less frequent episodes of high flows.

ODFW has conducted fall spawning surveys on the Owyhee for many years and has data on spawning numbers (here is an earlier Conservation Blog that talks more about that). That data shows no spawning activity in the area we plan to add gravel. Hopefully that will change this Fall! Given the brown trout population is much smaller in the lower sections of the river it will take time for the brown trout to fully utilize all the gravel, but I am hopeful that in 5 years we will look down from the road above and see wall-to-wall brown trout spawning, like many of the prime spawning runs in the river above.

This summer, Jeff and I also met with professor Andy Tranmer at the University of Idaho Water Research Center, who specializes in sediment transport in rivers. In addition to tracking gravel movement he recommended we track fine sediments. We are building some sediment traps based on the design of one of his PhD students, Nicole Hucke (THANKS Andy and Nicole!). The sediment traps are PVC tubes with gravel-filled fine mesh bags inside that we will bury next to the tagged gravel. Each year when we the study area with a portable PIT tag reader we will pull the mesh bags and measure the sediments accumulated in the different study plots. This will give some insights into finer sediment accumulations that could be impacting aquatic invertebrates (BUGS!).

You can hear more about these projects at our September and October club meetings. In September, Biomark will be giving a presentation on how PIT tags are being used to track salmon and steelhead (and GRAVEL!) in Idaho, and in October, ODFW Fish Biologists Dave Banks and Kirk Handley will be giving a presentation on the Owyhee River, including some details about our augmentation and hopefully some early insights on their recent brown trout tagging and relocation study.

This has been a complicated project that has taken the club 5 years to put together. It couldn't have happened without volunteers who helped with the many aspects, and the generous funding and donations by many. My thanks to the O SubTeam who has helped with logistics on the final leg of this project: Scott Lenz, Randy James, Greg Hitchcock, Brian Martin, Kent Christensen, and Jeff Jones. And to Forrest Goodrum and Jon Fishback who helped with the initial project phase. There will be some volunteering opportunities posted on our BVFF Events page and emailed out to club members. Some of the areas we need help with are listed below.

For more information on this project, check out our previous conservation blog posts:

• Owyhee River Gravel Augmentation Study: 
• Owyhee River Gravel Augmentation: 
• Owyhee River Gravel Augmentation Update: 
• Owyhee Gravel Augmentation Date Set: 
• Tracking Gravel Migration: 

VOLUNTEERS

1. Jeff Jones needs help drilling gravel and inserting PIT tags. Contact him if you are interested and have experience with a hammer drill. 208.317-1488. Our thanks to Pete Rockwell and and Scott Cheser who have volunteered to help, and to Linda Butts who is helping Jeff sew the mesh bags for the sediment traps.
   
   
2. Identifying and marking the final gravel augmentation zones earlier in the week.
   
   
3. Traffic Control the day of the augmentation.
   
   
4. Gravel Cleanup Crew.
   
   
5.  Water Turbidity monitoring during the project--needed for our water quality permit. If you have experience with a turbidity meter and can help, please reach out to me at conservation@bvff.com.
   
   
6. Ongoing Augmentation Zone Monitoring. When fishing the O, we would like club members to take a few minutes and document observations below Sand Hollow creek. Report if you see any spawning fish this Fall (BONUS POINTS if you can see if there is a yellow floy tag in their dorsal fin--indicating they are one of ODFW's tagged/relocated fish), or any blowouts at Sand Hollow creek. Please post pictures and comments to our BVFF group Facebook Page (or email me at conservation@bvff.com).  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the partners who are helping us with this project.

Funding for the project provided by:

• Grants and donations from FFI, ODFW and the Snake River Waterkeeper, and Boise Valley Fly Fishers
  
  
• BVFF's 2023 Idaho Gives campaign (lead by Brian Martin and Deborah DeSousa)
  
  
• Everyone who bought a "Greenback For Redds"
  
  
• Suroc/Suncore is providing the gravel at a reduced price
  
  
• Biomark is donating PIT tags and letting us borrow PIT tag scanners/readers
  
  
• Dave Banks and Kirk Handley from ODFW, who helped us design the project
  
  
• The Malheur county BLM who has supported the project. permitting and is letting us stage the gravel at the site
  
  
• Owyhee River Ranch who is helping with gravel staging site prep.

 

The natural process for smaller sediments is for the river to move them downstream during spring runoff events. As gravels get swept downstream, they are replaced by new gravels from upstream. Dams, such as Lucky Peak, interrupt this process and prevent new upstream gravels from entering the river. Over time this leads to a loss of the smaller gravels that trout need to spawn.

To improve trout spawning habitat, both Trout Unlimited and Boise Valley Fly Fishers have done gravel augmentations on the Boise River. BVFF’s two gravel augmentations in 2021 and 2023 were done in a side channel between Glenwood bridge and the head of Eagle Island. Over the last several years we have monitored the side channel and can tell that the gravel has moved from its original location, but it is impossible to know where it went. We have observed new gravel accumulations in the lower end of the side channel that we think are from our augmentation, but there is no way to know for sure.

Here are some Conservation Blog entries with information about those augmentations, plus observations of the gravel migration.

BVFF 2020 Augmentation

Side Channel Gravel Refresh 2023

TU Gravel Augmentations

Where Did The Gravel Go?

BOISE RIVER HIGH WATER AND TROUT HABITAT

We have been working on a gravel augmentation for the Owyhee River in Oregon to improve the trout spawning habitat in the lower section of the river which has much less spawning activity than the upper reaches. This project started back in 2022 and it has taken several years to obtain the necessary permitting. We have our permits and the augmentation is planned for this October. Here’s are a couple of conservation blog entries that talk about the initial Owyhee River Brown Trout Redd Location Study and our plans to do the augmentation.

Brown Trout Redd Location Study

Owyhee Augmentation Details

We have confidence that brown trout will adopt the gravel we add to the river, although it may take a few years before they utilize the entire augmentation area. But a big question everyone has is how long the gravel will stay in this location. Our observations on the Boise River is that the gravel we added stayed in place as long as flows stayed below 2,000cfs, and we expect a similar experience on the Owyhee. The Owyhee is a lower gradient river than the Boise and experiences fewer high water events. Here is a historical graph of Owyhee flows. You can see that flows only exceeded 2,000cfs 6 times in the last 25 years, with two of those being the last 2 years. Based on that, it’s likely that we won’t see another high water event for several years, so we are hopeful that will give the brown trout plenty of time to start using the gravel.

BVFF and ODFW are interested in determining how long our gravel stays in place. If it stays around long enough and is helping recover the brown trout population in the lower river, then we would try doing a second gravel augmentation. We have looked into different ways to track gravel migration and are investigating using radio PIT tags. We have met with local company Biomark, who is a leader in PIT tagging and tracking and is interested in partnering with us on studying gravel migration.

Club member Jeff Jones, a retired geologist, has been leading the project investigation. A few days ago, Jeff and I experimented with samples of ¾” gravel and were able to add a PIT tag as well as detect that tagged piece of gravel in a bucket full of gravel—a promising proof of concept! We are planning to tag 1,000 rocks and are looking for volunteers who are interested in helping cut the rock, add PIT tags and seal them with epoxy. Please reach out to us at conservation@bvff.com if you are interested in helping with this rock tagging project. We could use more small offset grinders to speed up the process of cutting the rock.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is studying brown trout movement in the Owyhee River.  ODFW Malheur District Fish Biologist, Dave Banks, told BVFF that the week of May 18th they tagged and relocated approximately 400 brown trout from the top third of the river to the lower river, between Snively Gulch and the Concrete Bridge (by the Owyhee River Ranch).

ODFW wants to see if those brown trout will stay in the lower section of the river, or if they will move back upstream.  ODFW is asking for angler's help by reporting any brown trout that have a tag attached by their dorsal fin at: https://myodfw.com/tagteam .  Some tags have a $50 reward, and those tags must be removed to collect the bounty. Non-reward tags can be left in place.  All fish must be released, as the fishing regs on the Owyhee require releasing all Brown trout.  ODFW plans to electro-fish the river in August to do an adult trout survey and to see where those tagged fish are located.

If you catch a tagged trout,
please post a photo to
BVFF’s Facebook Group Page

Brown trout are known to migrate upstream to find spawning habitat. In October, BVFF will be doing a gravel augmentation to improve trout spawning habitat in the lower Owyhee river, between the Concrete Bridge and Sand Hollow Cr.  Let's hope some of these relocated brown trout discover our gravel and decide to use it!  For more information about our gravel augmentation, see this conservation blog article.

#FillTheNet and #LeaveItBetter

Created in 1971, BVFF is the oldest fly-fishing club in the state of Idaho.  Two of our core missions are Conservation and Education.  Both are as important as they come, and the easiest of all to remember and take part in.

Our #FillTheNet program offers recognition to both members and non-members for taking part.  We want our rivers and lakes to remain clean and pristine for our fish and those that enjoy fishing.  No-one wants to go to the out of doors and see trash left anywhere other than in a trash can.  It only takes a moment to pick up after one’s self.  The problem is there are too many who are either careless, haven’t been taught differently, or don’t feel that way.  We, the fly-fishing community, are the police and garbage collectors of our beautiful outdoors.

When!  If you find and pick up anything that is not Natural to our environment, and you pick it up and carry it out for proper disposal, please, take a picture of it, in your net if able, or anywhere and post it to our Facebook Page with the caption #fillthenet!  I and many others will recognize you for your effort and you will be thanked with a chance to win some great SWAG at meetings.

https://boisevalleyflyfishers.wildapricot.org/Fill-The-Net-Program

Thank you in advance for your support.

George Butts

Board Member

#FillTheNet Coordinator

310-701-0101

GButtsflys@gmail.com