In February, Boise Valley Fly Fishers added 15 cubic yards of gravel to a side channel on the Lower Boise River located by the New Dry Creek diversion below Glenwood Bridge. Thanks to our awesome volunteers (Ray Arguello, Tim Opp, Dwane May, Guy Beaudine, Jose' DeSousa, Mike Stahl, Klaus Kissman, George Butts , Scott Lenz , Russ Dodd, Johnny Rogers, Jeff Jones, Troy Pearse and Dennis Fomin) who stuck with the project thru several delays and complications.
Two years ago we added 15 cubic yards of gravel but spread it out in 3 locations on the side channel. That worked well as a way to seed the channel with spawning gravel and since then we have seen a significant increase in trout spawning. The gravel has slowly been working its way down the side channel and Mother Nature has been sorting and depositing it in productive locations for trout to use. This time we decided to add all of the gravel at the top both to refresh the gravel in a location that rainbows like to spawn and to give Mother Nature more building materials to move downstream.
In addition to adding spawning gravel we also worked with fish habitat restoration experts at BioAnalysts and Idaho Fish and Game to improve the woody cover on the side channel to give trout fry refuge after they hatch. Idaho Fish and Game tells us that having this woody cover is the key to helping trout fry survive into adulthood.
One issue we have had during the low water fall and winter is keeping good flows coming into the side channel because the public throws rocks and logs across the top in order to cross, which reduces inflows.Brown Trout
need sufficient flows to spawn in Fall and their nests/redds need those flows continued through the winter to oxygenate the eggs. This year the Boise Flood District placed some large boulders near the top of the side channel that can be used as steps to cross--let’s hope the public uses them.
A BIG Thank You to our project partners: To Sunroc for donating the gravel again and to Boise Flood District 10 for their assistance moving it into the side channel.
A special thanks to those people who bought Greenbacks to support our gravel augmentation projects (Robert Boatright, Dennis Moore, Larry Hill, Scott Lentz, Kent Christensen, Tim Hall, Terry Burton, Klaus Kissman, Jack Trushel, Johnny Rogers, Bob Hurley, Brad Stewart, Ray Arguello, Mike Stahl, John Slovick, Jason Hansen, Tim Opp, Guy Beaudine, Jim Kazakoff, George Butts, Brian Martin, Troy Pearse, Ron Gambassi, James Murry, Joel Peterson, Ralph Stark, and Joe Barberio). We are still working to raise money for the Owyhee Gravel Augmentation. If you are interested in helping please consider buying a $25 Greenback at the BVFF Store.
Newspaper Stories about the project can be found at:
Idaho Press
Capital Press
Idaho Statesman (March 15)
KTVB Channel 7 News
