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.
The high water on the Boise this spring moved a lot of gravel and we expect to see Browns spawning throughout the river this Fall! If you are interested in participating in a Boise River Redd Mapping float later in November and December, please reach out to Troy Pearse at conservation@bvff.com. Volunteers should have good rowing skills as the water is skinny and there are downed trees to contend with. Float days will depend on weather conditions as we need sunny weather to see the redds.
OWYHEE GRAVEL AUGMENTATION
We have hired HDR Engineering in Boise to help us with the Floodplain Development Plan that Malheur County Planning and Zoning is requiring. We met with them last month and have a path forward—it will just take some time to calculate the hydrological impacts of adding the gravel. Many thanks to those who bought $Greenbacks to help fund this augmentation. If all goes well we will be adding gravel this Spring!
BOISE RIVER SIDE CHANNEL RESTORATION
BVFF has been working with IDFG on restoring year-round flows to two side channels behind Expo Idaho that were closed off by the high runoff from Snowmageddon. IDFG is leading the effort and is getting great support from local city and permitting agencies. This fall IDFG monitored the side-channel as it dewatered and confirmed that trout fry are getting stranded. They did a “fry rescue” in a couple of pools and plan to monitor other pools to see if the fry make it through the winter or not. BVFF will be assisting by helping monitor and measure water in those side channels over the winter.
BOISE RIVER CLEANUP
Earlier this month, a group of volunteers from BVFF and WFFI did a river cleanup at our Side Channel Gravel Augmentation site. The group wadered-up and pulled trash out of the river as well as cleaning up the river banks.
A BIG THANK YOU! to those who volunteered: Elizabeth Pollard, Lisa Sventes, Jose DeSousa, Barbara Emerich, Wayne Frederick, Brian Martin, Frank Jenks, Doug Olds, Mike Stahl, Matt Housel, George Butts, Jack Truschel, Ray Arguerllo, Tim DeMarco, Barbara Wagner, Mary Black, Wanda Shearer, Brenda Schwartz, Jane Mc Kevitt, Mallory Wilson, Karen Shein, Serrita Beauleu, Joe Schwartz, John Bourne. And THANK YOU! to Johnny Rogers for his efforts to coordinate and lead the cleanup.
