Conservation Corner

by Troy Pearse, Conservation Committee Chairperson

Conservation@BVFF.com

The last few years, BVFF has been working at the Diane Moore Nature Center. It has been a great match for our club mission of fly fishing access, education, and conservation--and the more time our members spend there, the more they love it.

The 2 ½ mile section of river between the New York Canal Diversion Dam and Barber Dam is different from the rest of the river. Much of it resides in the Barber Pool, which is a wildlife preserve on the outskirts of the City of Boise with very little public access. And while IDF&G regularly stocks 30,000 trout a year on the Boise River below Barber Park, they rarely stock the river above that. But even though the river hasn't been stocked, 

rainbow trout and whitefish have established a wild population that is doing well, and with the recent side channel restoration and trout habitat improvements at the Diane Moore Nature Center the wild trout population should continue to improve.

Every few years Idaho Fish and Game asks the public for input on their fishing regulations and fisheries management plan. Initially the club wanted to propose that IDF&G manage the reach for trophy-sized wild trout, which means… (Pick up reading here) that any trout under 20" would need to be released. However, after talking with IDFG fish biologists Art Butts and Tim D'Amico we learned that they did not think changing the regulations would meet the trophy trout size goals (and therefore IDFG wouldn't be willing to change them). Based on their feedback the club decided to focus on wild trout management in this section and proposed that the section of river have a reduced bag limit and be closed for spawning season.

The club conducted an angler survey to see if local anglers supported regulation changes for this stretch of river. We got a good number of responses from fly, lure and bait anglers with 94% of them supporting regulation changes. For more details, see this article on our Conservation Blog HERE.

The Owyhee drainage has had two great back-to-back snow years. Last year the reservoir was so low that it didn't fill, but this year is a different story. We had great carry-over in the reservoir and with all of the snow this season the reservoir is going to over-fill, which means the lower Owyhee river will get some much needed flushing flows.   Flushing flows are particularly important on the Owyhee because over time fine sediments have accumulated from dry side channel blowouts, which is hurting the bug habitat and trout spawning habitat. Figure-1 below shows the reservoir levels and you can see how much more water we have this year compared to last. 

The Owyhee Irrigation District has started ramping up flows and many are wondering how high they will go, and how long they will be too high to fish. To make an educated guess, let's take a look at the reservoir carryover, snowpack and flows from 2017 and 2019, which were the last 2 high water years.

Here is the snowpack graph for the upper Owyhee drainage.  (You can click on any graph to get a full-size version.)

• The snowpack this year is one of the highest on record (black-line), and is well above the snowpacks from 2017 and 2019 (yellow and green lines).
• The snowpack in 2023 (purple line) was impressive. We had a cool wet spring and the snow continued to accumulate in the mountains.
• 2022 had a meger snowpack and is shown in dark green for comparison.

Although the reservoir didn't fill last year,  it did come up 31 feet between mid-March and the end of June.  Right now the reservoir is 13 feet from full, and the snowpack potential for this year is very similar to last year, which means there could be an 18 extra feet of water to spill!  (Note: Reservoir fill rates aren't linear, so this isn't exactly accurate...but you get the point. There is a lot of extra water up in dem der hills! ) 

Comparing the current Owyhee reservoir level to 2017 and 2019 (the last 2 times we had high flows), you can see that the reservoir elevation this year is similar to 2017, and our runoff this year hasn't even started.  

Given that the Upper Owyhee drainage has significantly more snow this year than it did back in 2017, I would expect we will see flows at or above what was released in 2017.  Here is a look at spring flows from 2017, 2019, 2023 and so far in 2024. Hold onto your hats, I think we have some high water coming soon!

Don't worry about the fish getting blown downriver.  Unlike the Boise River which stays in bank until 7,000cfs and gets high river velocities, the Owyhee jumps out of bank around 2,000cfs, spreads out and the river velocity don't increase as much so trout have plenty of places to get out of the flow in the willows.

When the river comes down, fishing will be even better than before. The bug hatches will improve, and I expect we will have some crappie in the river to chase as well. There is no way to tell, but I think the high water might also help clean out the Saprolegnia fungus that has been infecting brown trout after they spawn. Keep yer fingers crossed!

As the reservoir gets close to filling they divert some water through the Dam Ring Gate Spillway, which locals call the "Glory Hole". If you haven't seen it, it's worth taking a drive up to see. Here is a little more info about it.  

On March 9, the BOD and Officers submitted to IDFG a proposed fishing regulation change that impacts the Boise River reach from the Diversion Dam below Lucky Peak Reservoir downriver to the Barber Dam.

This unique section of the main Boise River holds both wild rainbow trout and whitefish and is not regularly stocked with hatchery fish. We are excited to be involved in the conservation of this fishery for anglers of all types.

Here are links to the Wild Trout Proposal and the BVFF Angler Survey:

BVFFWildTroutProposalToIDFG.pdf

BVFFAnglerSurvey.xlsx

BVFF’s Redd Count and Mapping project wrapped up at the end of December. The club did 7 day-floats from Willow Lane (in mid-Garden City) down to Star to count and mark redds. Thanks to Johnny Rogers, George Butts, Jeff Jones and Klaus Kissman for their help. We delivered a few updates to the Flood District’s Redd-Map as well as discussed the possibility of repurposing a few downed trees into side channels for trout habitat.  We are grateful to have such great partners who care about protecting and improving trout habitat in the Boise River.

Figure-1 shows a high level map of the larger redd-zones we are tracking on the Boise River.  For more details about BVFF’s “Redd Protection Program” with the Flood District, see this conservation blog article. 

One thing I was looking for this year was how much new gravel the high spring flows stirred up. From what we observed, new gravel recruited from last spring’s high water was primarily deposited at “high water locations”, which are out of the water during the low flows of winter and unavailable for brown trout to spawn in November and December, but, this gravel will be available for rainbow trout to spawn when the flows come back up in the spring.  We did see some changes to the river from high water which impacted brown trout spawning, including:

• Behind Lake Harbor a new gravel bar popped up in the middle of the river and the brown trout found it!
  
  
• A large spawning area behind Expo Idaho experienced shifts in a gravel-flat which impacted water depth and velocity—reducing the number of redds there this year;
  
  
• A 200-foot-long gravel island above Glenwood Bridge that used to have brown trout redds washed away and didn’t have any redds this year, but…there was new gravel accumulation nearby that did;
  
  
• Below Glenwood Bridge a run-riffle-run that had redds in the tail-out between them is now a single long run with no redds.
  
  
• The entry to New Dry Creek diversion was dewatered for a repair, which made a redd-zone unavailable this year. But the good news is once the project is complete there will be some “leftover gravel” there that brown trout will be able to use next year.
  
  
• In the side channel where BVFF did our gravel augmentation last year, most of our gravel was moved to the lower half of the side channel and left at higher water locations that are out of the water now but will be available to rainbow trout in the spring. The number of brown trout redds in the side channel was down this year as gravel in one redd-zone was washed away.

Although there were changes to the river from high-water, the majority of the larger redd zones were active this year with an increase in the number of smaller spawning sites that just had 1 or 2 redds (which are not on this map). Overall we saw slightly fewer redds this year but we know that there was some late spawning this year and and it is possible that we missed some redds that were in new locations. And, as described above, there were some changes to several of the larger redd-zones in the main channel this year that resulted in fewer redds at those sites. I also feel like we are getting more accurate at our redd counts and avoiding some areas of current-scour that we may have mistakenly counted as a redd in previous years.    

Below Glenwood bridge the Boise river splits into 2 channels that flow around Eagle Island, as shown in the photo below. The north channel has many more small twists and turns than the south channel, which causes the river to drop more gravel and improves trout spawning habitat there, resulting in more spawning activity (which you can see by how many redd-zones the north channel has on the map). The amount of water entering the north channel varies from year-to-year depending on cobble accumulations at the head of Eagle Island. Table-2 shows the flows in November of 2022 vs 2023 and you can see how the north channel got more water this year, which made more spawning habitat available to the brown trout and is likely the reason we saw more spawning activity in the north channel this year. Brown trout are known to migrate to find spawning habitat and based on the redd counts the last 2 years it looks like some of them may have decided to spawn in the north channel this year because of the favorable conditions.

Many of the brown trout redds on the Boise River are close to the bank where the river has recruited gravel, like the redds shown in the photo below. Because of this, water flows are a big factor in what bankside spawning habitat is available to brown trout in the winter.  Low winter flows dewater some side channels and as water levels go down the river recedes from the banks where much of the spawning gravels are located.

In the 1980s and 90s, Idaho Fish and Game worked to establish minimum winter flows in the Boise River which significantly improved the wild trout populations because it brought water levels up and improved access to trout spawning and rearing habitat. When we have good reservoir carryover conditions (like this winter) the Boise river typically runs around 270cfs - 280cfs at the Glenwood Bridge gauge during the winter but in drought years that drops to around 210cfs or even lower, which dewaters the banks more. IDFG has some water rights in Lucky Peak and has been investigating increasing the minimum winter flows to 300cfs to improve trout spawning and over-wintering habitat which would be a great improvement for the wild trout on the Boise river and I would love to see it happen—even if it only happened on years when we have a good reservoir carryover.

Last week I got the opportunity to help Tim D’Amico, Idaho Fish and Game fisheries biologist, with a trout fry (electro-fishing) survey on the Boise River side channel where BVFF has been working on trout habitat improvements (see this Conservation Blog article for details). We surveyed the same 3 spots as last year--one at the top, one mid-channel and one in the lower section. The total fry numbers were down compared to last year, but that was mainly because the tree across the channel at the lower site where we had found so many trout fry last year had pushed downstream and we only found a couple of trout in that zone. The fisheries biologist said that was one of the limitations of their fry survey--that changes to the river can impact the productivity of a sample site. (See this Conservation Blog article for more information about last year's fry survey.)

One of the habitat improvements we did on the side channel last February was to place a tree root-wad in the upper section, with the assistance of the flood district’s excavator. This year’s high runoff flows scoured out a good hole there and we found both fry and 1–2-year-old brown and rainbow trout holding around the root-wad. Seeing the age 1-2 trout is extremely exciting because it is a good indicator that our side channel habitat improvements are helping trout over-winter survival, which IDFG tells us is the bottleneck for improving recruitment from fry into adulthood.

I passed along photos and kudos to the flood district and will be working with the new flood district manager, Mark Zirschky, to identify other downed trees that can be possibly be repurposed/placed in other locations to improve trout habitat during their winter operations. This opportunity to improve woody cover in the Boise River is extremely important and I am grateful for their forward thinking and willingness to help protect and improve trout habitat in the Boise River. (See this Conservation Blog article for more information on this awesome project!)

I had been concerned that the high flows from the early release of water in April would be a problem because it occurred so close to brown trout fry-out (when the fry leave their redd/nest), but we found lots of brown trout fry indicating that the side channel and woody cover was a good place of refuge from the high flows. So far, I haven't seen any brown trout redds in our side channel this Fall, but I have seen some in the main river. During the survey we found one large (20") brown trout at the end of the side channel, who appears to be staged to spawn. Last year most of the spawning in the side channel happened in December, so I am hopeful we will see some redds soon.

BVFF will start floating the Boise river this week to document brown trout spawning and update the redd-zone map for the flood district so they can avoid the redds during their winter maintenance. The high spring flows recruited new gravel from the river-banks and it will be very interesting to see where we find brown trout spawning this year.

In December I will be participating in a trout fry survey at the Diane Moore Nature Center side channel (the same place we did our snorkel survey this summer). Flows are down significantly in that side channel, but there are some deep pools and lots of woody cover. The total number of trout fry we saw in that side channel last summer was amazing, and there is lots of good woody cover for them, so I expect we will see an increase in the adult population of trout there over the next few years. For more information about this successful side channel restoration, see this Conservation Blog article.

REDD NOVEMBER

November is peak spawning time for Brown Trout on the Owyhee and Boise River. Please watch for redds as you wade and avoid walking through them. Browns like to build their redds in 1-3 feet of slower moving water and love tail-outs and next to gravel banks. Here is a look at brown trout redds on the Boise River and a short YouTube video on how to spot redds when you are wading.

Side channel habitat is one of the most important factors for a healthy wild trout population. They provide good spawning habitat for adult trout and more importantly good rearing habitat for young trout—the reduced flows in the side channel are much easier for the young trout to handle than the main river and the side channel’s extra bankside woody-cover gives young trout a place to hide from birds and other predators. Side channels that flow year-round are the most important because they provide shelter during the winter which is critical for young trout to survive into adulthood.

The Boise River through town is an urban tailwater river which over time has reduced its side channel habitat and has become a limiting factor for wild trout reproduction. Idaho Fish and Game does trout fry surveys in the Fall that show the Boise River has a healthy population of wild rainbow and brown trout. And their surveys show that trout fry populations are 7-10 times higher in the side channels than the main river. Unfortunately, there are very few side channels on the Boise River that flow in the winter.

A SUCCESSFUL SIDE CHANNEL RESTORATION

Two years ago the Intermountain Bird Observatory led a Boise River side channel restoration project at the Diane Moore Nature Center, which is located a couple of miles downstream of Lucky Peak Dam—above Barber Dam. The side channel was engineered to provide good habitat for fish and wildlife including plenty of woody cover for small fish to seek shelter.

BVFF got involved in the Diane Moore Nature Center side channel project in 2022 and helped design and install Trout Habitat signs along the side channel, followed by building an Angler Access at the site. BVFF has been thrilled to be involved in this project because it supports all three of our mission goals: Fly Fishing Conservation, Access, and Education.

The first spring the side channel had water (2022) there was limited trout spawning observed, likely because Boise River flows came up late. And in the second season (2023) we had high spring flows making it impossible to see if trout were spawning there. This summer while walking the side channel we saw small “minnow-sized” fish but were not able to identify them. So, we decided to stick our heads underwater to see what we would find! Our goal was to see how trout are using the new side channel and get an idea on numbers and distribution.

A snorkel survey is a standard way to count trout fry. We talked with Tracy Hillman, Senior Ecologist at BioAnalysts who specializes in trout habitat restoration, and he talked us through the process and gave us a great document on how to do a snorkel survey. August 29th, volunteers from Boise Valley Fly Fishers (Troy Pearse, Klaus Kissman and Dennis Moore) did a fry snorkel survey in the new side channel at the Diane Moore Nature Center. Even though it was summer, we wriggled into wetsuits to protect us from the extended cold-water exposure and debris in the water. We started at the bottom and had 2 people snorkel upstream side-by-side counting the fish they saw. This was our first snorkel survey and we didn’t know what to expect, but we were flabbergasted when we went underwater and started seeing rainbow trout fry everywhere! The side channel is about 0.4 miles long and we snorkeled sections from the bottom to the top—covering about 3/4 of the total length—counting over 2,000 trout fry which were evenly distributed throughout the side channel!

A large part of the success of this side channel is the extra effort made to add woody-cover: There are numerous downed trees and log-piles in the side channel which give the trout fry a good place to seek shelter. Observing the trout fry underwater was a great way to see this as many of the fry were tucked under pieces of wood in the water with some large pods of trout fry by logjams.

The vast majority of trout in this stretch of water are wild, as Idaho Fish and Game does not actively stock this section of river. We are excited about the potential of the side channel to increase the population of wild rainbow trout in this section of the Boise River, which is isolated between two dams: Barber Dam below and the New York Canal Diversion Dam above.

The side channel has restricted inflows in the winter but talking with Greg Kalteneker (who lead the side channel project), the side channel was designed to connect with groundwater and last winter the water station installed on the side channel showed it flowed at 1cfs - 3cfs. Hopefully that will be enough inflow to keep it from freezing. We plan to check it a few times this winter to see how it is flowing and if it is icing over.

IDFG Historical Fish Stocking Records

A SIDE CHANNEL OPPORTUNITY

As good as the trout population is on the Boise River, it is not reaching its full potential. One of the best things we can do for the Boise River wild trout population is increase the number of side channels that have year-round flow for trout spawning and rearing. BVFF is working with Idaho Fish and Game to restore winter flows to two side channels behind Expo Idaho that were cut-off from winter flows after Snowmageddon in 2017. Idaho Fish and Game will be on-site at these side channels this Fall when Boise Rivers flows drop. They will be documenting the side channel dewatering and evaluating possible trout-fry stranding, including possibly rescuing stranded trout fry and moving them to the main river. BVFF is volunteering to assist them. Stay tuned for more details and sign up if you are interested. The current estimate for flow-reductions on the Boise river is the morning of Monday October 15th, but that time could change.

UPDATE 10/5/2023: The Boise River dropped earlier than expected. IDFG sampled the side channels and identified several pools with stranded trout fry and thousands of minnows.  They electrofished a couple of pools and rescued several dozen trout fry. We will help them monitor the pools over the winter to see if they ice-over and IDFG may electrofish them in the spring to evaluate overwinter survival.   

I spent the day at the Diane Moore Nature Center and Barber Pool with Brian Martin and Dennis Moore, reviewing the side channel and evaluating trout spawning habitat in the Barber Pool. We even did a little fishing!

When we arrived at 9am there were PMD Spinners, trico spinners and some caddis on the water, and there were a couple of anglers out fishing below the NYC Diversion Dam. We did a little seining and found good numbers of mayfly nymphs, some green netspinning caddis and a cranefly larva.

At the current flow of 630cfs, the water was up to the bottom stone on our Angler Access and it was easy to get down to the river.  The new side channel is doing well and was widened a bit from the high flows. The banks are very sandy, making the side channel bottom sandy in areas but we found several areas with spawning size gravels. The high water moved the woody debris around, but there is still excellent woody cover and we saw trout fry scattered throughout the side channel.

Floating down into the Barber Pool, we found 4 areas that had large deposits of gravel that look to be great trout spawning habitat. Once you get into the Barber Pool the water velocity slows down considerably and deepens. There is some bank-side woody cover that is available to fish at the current flows of 630cfs, but it may be out of the water in the winter. Water clarity in this section is much better than in town and you can see 6-8 feet.

There are 2 mandatory portages on the float from the Diane Moore Nature Center to Barber Park. The first is Barber Dam, which you portage on river right. There is a set of landscape timber stairs and then a long, but well developed portage trail around the dam site. The second is Eckert Diversion, which you also portage on the right. That portage trail is much rougher with boulders and tree roots to navigate through. Definitely best for smaller, lighter craft such as a canoe or kayak.

This Fall we will be wrapping up our angler access project, including adding hillside retaining along the path; Filling in the lower stone steps with roadmix; and Installing signage. Stay tuned for more details.

Troy Pearse
Conservation Director
Boise Valley Flyfishers
conservation@bvff.com

Ada County Parks & Waterways Master Plan Focus Group

Executive Summary of BVFF Positions

For the Focus Group Representatives

March 7 and 8, 2023

Key Messages to Convey

A. BVFF is a non-profit, member organization that promotes fly fishing through our core missions of:

• Access

• Education

• Conservation

B. Overarching Position:

Add fishing to the Ada County Parks & Waterways Master Plan as a major recreational activity and consider the impact to fish and anglers when making changes to the master plan, including prioritizing protecting and improving fish habitat that will improve fishing in the Boise River and other public waterways within Ada County

C. Reflect in the Ada County Parks & Waterways Master Plan:

“PROTECT, PRESERVE, AND DEVELOP FISH HABITAT AND ANGLER PUBLIC ACCESS TO ALL PUBLIC WATERWAYS WITHIN ADA COUNTY”

BVFF Specific Requests to be Included in the Master Plan of Ada County Parks & Waterways:

A. Protect wild trout in the DMNC/Barber Pool area by supporting catch and release regulations/size limitations, placing monofilament collectors to protect bald eagle and other wildlife, and providing wild fish habitat protection and enhancement. Also, provide and maintain public restrooms.

B. Maintain the Barber Park to Ann Morrison Park reach for unskilled water users and improve/provide the services necessary to protect the river corridor from the negative impacts of heavy traffic by: Partnering with Boise City and BVFF to add educational signage at access points for anti-litter, provide trash bags at all access points, provide restrooms along the corridor with signage as to location, provide trash receptacles at all takeout locations, and place monofilament collectors at fishing access points. In addition, partner with Boise City, IDF&G, BVFF and other organizations to repair and protect riparian areas and improve fish habitat through protection and management of side channels, promoting woody cover, providing spawning gravel, and increasing winter flows.

C. Oppose expansion of any unskilled water craft and removal of wild fish habitat or woody cover from Ann Morrison Park downriver to Ada County Line. If expansion is done, it should be for skilled water users only - Place warning signage at any access points stating that this section of river is for SKILLED BOATERS ONLY and is dangerous to unskilled water users

D. Along the Snake River corridor, support the development of a Regional Park and provide anti-litter signage, trash receptacles and mono collectors

E. Support wild trout habitat including year-round side channels, woody cover, spawning gravel, and increased winter flows in the Boise River to improve fish habitat for spawning and rearing for higher recruitment of fry

F. BVFF would like to partner with Ada County on preventing and cleaning up litter in the river by:

1. Leveraging anti-litter signs from the Diane Moore Nature Center (BVFF developed with IDFG) to major access points, such as Barber Park

2. Work with BVFF to add mono collectors in key locations where mono is a problem, such as at Barber Park where steelhead are released

3. Encourage organizations to join the Living Lands Adopt-a-River program. Support BVFF adding an Adopt-A-River sign on the Boise River downstream of Garden City Limits

Areas of Concern:

A. Increase in motorized jetboat use on the river at Eagle Island State Park into the Boise reach which is hazardous to fishers

B. The conversion of Eagle Island State Park to an Ada County Regional park might include increased unskilled floater access. Any conversion from State Park to County Park that negatively impacts trout habitat is opposed by BVFF

C. Rampant trash in the Swan Falls area. Also, monofilament line being left behind by anglers. This is a raptor nesting area, and they might use the monofilament in their nests creating an entanglement hazard

D. Boise River winter flows are too low to support side channel spawning and rearing habitat

E. Fishing is not listed as a major recreation activity in the current master plan. According to the Outdoor Industry Organization, nationally fishing is the third most popular outdoor activity, after jogging and hiking.

(https://outdoorindustry.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2021-Outdoor-Participation-Trends-Report.pdf) and we expect that fishing may rank even higher in Idaho. The Boise River through town is a blue ribbon trout stream that is gaining national attention through fishing magazines. Idaho Tourism data shows that fishing is one of the top activities for tourists at twice the national rate

F. The Eagle Island (including Eagle Island State Park) north and south channels are premium trout spawning and rearing habitat and should be left in their natural wild state

Go to BVFF.com for more information about our organization.

Thank You for inviting us to participate!

BVFF Board of Directors

Members from the Boise Valley Fly Fishers Board of Directors attended Flood District 10's Retirement Celebration for Mike Dimmick.  Bill Clayton, Chairman of the Flood Department's Board recognized Mike for his efforts to join transform the Flood District and connect with the community, including calling out his work with Boise Valley Fly Fishers.  Mike has been instrumental in our two Boise River gravel augmentations, both in planning the activity and helping us wade through the permitting process as well as coordinating the effort with the Flood District's winter maintenance cycle so we could utilize their heavy machinery to move the gravel into the river. 

After the first gravel augmentation we asked Mike if the excavator driver knew how to identify and avoid brown trout spawning redds/nests. Mike said no, but they would like to be able to do that, if we could show them how.  From that we developed our Boise River Brown Trout Redd Protection Program which provides the flood district's excavator driver maps of the locations of the redds which they have been able to use to avoid the spawning zones.  

As a token of our gratitude for all of Mike's help, the BVFF Board of Directors presented Mike with a handmade fishing net with his name engraved along with a Lifetime Membership to the club.  For more information about Mike's work at the flood district, see this article in the Capital Press .

BVFF is already working with the new District Manager, Mark Zirschky, who is very supportive of our efforts and wants to continue working with Boise Valley Fly Fishers on Trout Habitat Improvement and Protection on the Boise River.

(Steve Stuebner Photo)