BVFF has been working with the Boise Flood District on ways to improve woody cover for trout on the Boise River. As part of that, they allow us to manage the wood in the side channel where we have done our gravel augmentations. Last Fall, volunteers helped clear some downed trees and secure some bundles of smaller wood in the channel to give young fish protection over the winter. We have done this over the past few years and continue to try new approaches. This last year Brian Martin led a team that secured some small woody bundles with some hemp rope, and they stayed much better, and as a BONUS it racked up a pile of small wood which makes for excellent cover for trout. Way to go Brian and Team!

One problem we have had in the side channel is when flows get low in the Fall, the public will push rocks into the entry to make it easy to cross to fish below the diversion dam. This reduces inflows to the side channel to the point brown trout have stopped using it to spawn.

A couple of years ago a small tree washed into the entry and the public repositioned it to make a crossing, which prevented rocks from blocking the side channel inlet. I would like to see if we can do something similar with a tree that washed into our side channel this spring.  Our agreement with the Flood District allows us to repurpose wood that has naturally floated into the side channel, as long as it doesn’t pose a flood risk.  This new log would make a good temporary crossing at the inlet to the side channel.  If we add the crossing log, we would also need to remove it next spring, before flows come up (hopefully--stashing it above the high water mark for use the following year).

If you are interested in helping with this project, please reach out to me at conservation@bvff.com.