Boise – (March 30, 2022) – Boise River Flood Control District #10 received a Certificate of Appreciation plaque from the Boise Valley Fly Fishers and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for working together on a cooperative conservation project to identify, mark and avoid brown trout redds in the Boise River during Flood #10’s 2021-22 winter maintenance work.
Brown trout spawn in the fall. Boise Valley Fly Fishers club volunteers went out to identify the redds (trout nests) in the fall prior to the beginning of Flood #10’s winter maintenance work, and they marked the locations digitally with GPS units.
BVFF volunteers marked approximately 200 redds over 16 miles of the Boise River, from Willow Lane Park in Boise to Star.
Flood #10 District Manager Mike Dimmick and Troy Pearse with Boise Valley Fly Fishers met with winter maintenance contractors to discuss where to watch for the pin flags in various parts of the Boise River channel where winter maintenance was planned.
“We are here to thank you,” said Pearse, Conservation Director of the Boise Valley Fly Fishers. “We felt it was a successful project because they missed 99 percent of the redds by knowing where they were. Flood #10’s contractors were super conscientious, and they bent over backwards to make sure they didn’t harm the redds while doing winter maintenance work.
“It was a real win-win to avoid the redds, it didn’t cost any additional money. It’s been a great partnership,” he said.
Art Butts, Southwest regional fishery manager for IDFG, complimented Flood #10 officials for working closer with fishing interests to ensure the brown trout redds were not harmed.
“There are a lot of stakeholders who use the Boise River,” Butts noted. “Fish and wildlife are very important to them.”
IDFG officials and Flood #10 officials receive phone calls from concerned members of the public when they see heavy equipment doing winter maintenance work in the river. Now they can tell people that great care is being taken to prevent any damage to fish or wildlife as well as protect private and public property.
“We really appreciate the partnership with Flood #10 and the Boise River Fly Fishers,” Butts said. “We’ve come a long ways in the last 10 years when it comes to managing the Boise River in a sustainable way.”
During the winter, Flood #10 removes hazard trees, snags and debris from portions of the Boise River to remove restrictions that could cause flooding during high water and spring runoff. The maintenance work also is done to reduce damage to private and public property in the Boise River corridor.
The work is performed under permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Idaho Department of Water Resources, and Memorandum of Understanding from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
