Restoring Idaho’s Blackfoot River Basin
Columbia River Basin
Interviewee
Matt Woodward
East Side Soil Conservation District Chairman, Upper Snake Basin Advisory Group Member, Trout Unlimited Project Manager – and more
Interviewers
Barbara Folger
NWNL Snake Basin Expedition Member
Gray's Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho on May 22, 2014
Introductory Note
Matt Woodward provided NWNL with a wealth of information regarding conservation methods and goals. His passion for reinstating healthy salmon habitat and protecting its future degradation is a gift to the Upper Snake River watershed and its salmon and lamprey who swim upstream each year from the Pacific Ocean to their natal streams in order to spawn the next generation. He’s certainly deserved his many accolades, including being Caribou-Targhee Forest “Partner of the Year” in 2009.
The impacts of Matt’s efforts spans the thousands of miles the Pacific salmonids swim, since their survival carries the future of their species’ existence in Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington. There would be no such survival if their habitat disappeared. The remediation he worked on in the 2012 Blackfoot Project addressed over-grazing, riverbank stability, and unnecessary sediment entering the river. Thankfully there are folks like Matt, making a difference.
Matt undertook a full day’s tour with Barbara answering all her very informed questions ]. Their discussions and his answers thankfully increased NWNL’s ability to fulfill its Mission of seeking and sharing solutions to current watershed threats to ecosystems and biodiversity. We thank Barbara and Matt for their thoughtful dialogue and generosity of their time.
Outline
MATT’s MANY INVOLVEMENTS
CREATING & PROTECTING STREAM HABITATS
WORKING with FARMERS & RANCHERS
UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM ISSUES
WATER USE & SOIL CONSERVATION
UPPER BLACKFOOT RIVER BASIN
CONANT VALLEY: South Fork & Garden Creek
ANGUS & RAINY CREEKS PROJECT
LANES CREEK PROJECT
SAVING DEER, WETLANDS & OLD CHANNELS
AQUACULTURE: PEN-RAISED FISH
BLACKFOOT RIVER & THE PHOSPHATE MINE
LANES CREEK PROJECT & BIODIVERSITY
GRAY’S LAKE PROJECT
IT TAKES MANY to REMOVE DAMS & SAVE HABITATS
Key Quotes A geomorphologist studies how water interacts with everything around it. A hydrologist mostly focuses on water, but doesn’t delve into how streams function, unless they study groundwater hydrology. There are many disciplines within that field. – Matt Woodward
Mother Nature is a great coach! We try to determine what to do by looking at what Mother Nature did. We do our best to copy her work. – Matt Woodward
Water will become ever more important as time goes on. How we manage it and use it, and how efficient we are with water is going to be highly important. I think that in years when we have “excess water,” we should consider “aquifer recharge” the practice of banking excess water for future use. – Matt Woodward
All images © Alison M. Jones and Barbara Folger, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
MATT’s MANY INVOLVEMENTS
NWNL Matt, tell me about all the hats you wear.
MATT WOODWARD My background is that with a degree in economics, I specialized in environmental economics. I’m now Chair of the East Side Soil Conservation District in Idaho Falls, which covers all lands east of the Snake River to Wyoming. It’s a mix of irrigated lands and dry farm country. It goes across Antelope Flats, up through Swan Valley, towards Palisades Dam and Lake, and up towards the Alpine, Wyoming boundary. Then the district continues to the Bingham County and mostly follows Bonneville County boundaries.
I’m also Chair of the Upper Snake Basin Advisory Group encompassing all lands from Twin Falls eastward to Wyoming’s state line and north to Montana’s state line. The group oversees all 319 Grant applications and recommends good projects to DEQ and helps sort which projects get funded.
The group represents a diverse group of interests – industry, mining industry, Idaho Power, grazing interests – and I represent an environmental organization. We have members involved in fish farms and timber near Twin Falls: it’s a diverse and good group of individuals. They’re all well-educated and engaged in the process. As a group, we want to put some good projects on the ground. Lanes Creek is my project.
I’m also Manager of the Blackfoot Home Rivers. Before that I was Project Manager of the South Fork Snake River Home Rivers for Trout Unlimited and former chapter president of the Snake River Cutthroat TU Chapter in Idaho Falls, Furthermore, I’m a co-Chair of the BLM Eastern Idaho Resource Advisory Committee/RAC, representing environmental organizations. That group is also comprised of a diverse group of people, so, they make recommendations to the Bureau Land Management/BLM.
NWNL It’s interesting to hear BLM seeks recommendations.
MATT WOODWARD Citizen involvement with BLM processes adds significant credence to BLM’s decisions. We make recommendations on varied , such as campground fees, trails (both motorized or non-motorized), overnight camping and all different kinds of stuff. As a citizens’ group with diverse group of interests, we provide support to BLM managers, biologists and others. We advise on fisheries, upland game, sage-grass habitat and other issues. When the public sees that BLM has followed these processes, it helps BLM’s cause. It’s not a difficult government agency. They listen and pay attention – absolutely.
The Forest Service has a RAC advisory group too. I may be a member of that, but I’m busy.
NWNL You are busy!
CREATING & PROTECTING STREAM HABITATS
NWNL To start understanding your works, please explain define the differentiations between being a hydrologist and a geomorphologist.
MATT WOODWARD A geomorphologist studies how water interacts with everything around it. A hydrologist mostly focuses on water, but doesn’t delve into how streams function, unless they study groundwater hydrology. There are many disciplines within that field.
NWNL I’d think that in Idaho that would be complicated – albeit important – given the many varied geologic rock formations in the Snake River Basin determining water flows.
MATT WOODWARD John Rice and Roger Warner are local hydrologists at Rocky Mountain Environmental in Idaho Falls who we use from time to time. They know what works and have had a lot of experience. Gary’s been a Forest Service hydrologist for a long, long time working in many different places. He worked on the Milltown Dam removal in Montana and has done big and little projects. He’s a sharp, neat guy to work with. His company is called West Water Consulting, LLC, in Corvallis MT, between Hamilton and Missoula.
NWNL It’s so great to work with people who know their stuff.
I’m interested to see some large projects, since I’ve only worked on a little redwood creek, where 3 coho and 18 trout still come back, despite rerouting of the stream. Trout Unlimited biologists greatly helped by indicating how to place twig bundles to make stream habitat for the fish.
MATT WOODWARD The work in rebuilding stream habitat is very precise. We engineer log jams with 30 to 35-foot trees.. We bury probably 25 feet of a tree into the bank at an angle while leaving its root wad out in the stream to defect flows a certain way to provide fish habitat. Gary understands how to put J-hooks structures in the stream. [They’re rock structures that as you’re looking upstream look like an upside-down J.]
NWNL Copying Mother Nature is very difficult, yet she is our teacher with great know-how.
MATT WOODWARD Mother Nature is a great coach! We try to determine what to do by looking at what Mother Nature did. We do our best to copy her work.
NWNL How long have you been working on the Blackfoot project?
MATT WOODWARD I’ve probably been on this project for 18 months.
NWNL Why did Trout Unlimited, or you, prioritize Blackfoot Project in Fall 2012?
MATT WOODWARD The 2012 Blackfoot Project addressed over-grazing, riverbank stability, and unnecessary sediment entering the river. We immediately addressed water passages and saw the need for two major diversions on Diamond Creek and Lanes Creek where we made a fish pass and inserted screens on outgoing diversions. In the process we helped the landowners. That was positive, and led to other more substantive work with the Bear Lake Grazing Association.
NWNL Have they started fencing edges of the Cadillac as it flows down to the streams?
MATT WOODWARD We put fencing in – permanent and non-permanent electrical fence – to help vegetation ges back to a certain point. W might allow grazing there for short durations; but it probably it needs 3 to 5 years with no cows before the willows are restored.
NWNL The Nez Perce are putting cattle fences on their reservation to keep them away from streams and their vegetation.
MATT WOODWARD You’ll see our fencing at our Upper Lanes Creek Project, where we’ve permanently excluded cows from that creek. We built offsite water systems to pump water away from the stream to be available few cows. Once fencing is done, we’ll water for them.
WORKING with FARMERS & RANCHERS
NWNL How are local farmers and ranchers adjusting to the changes you want to make?
MATT WOODWARD Most of these guys want to do the right thing. We just need them to trust us and whatever we say we’ll do, we must deliver. I shoot straight with them.
NWNL Well, government people sometimes come in as regulators, and people in Idaho – or most places – don’t like to be regulated.
MATT WOODWARD We use a different attitude. We don’t wear federal badges on our shirt. We use a fresh perspective, and it seems they’ve embraced that. We’ve done a couple projects for them, and they got a couple of Natural Resource Conservation Service grants to help fund part of the project, and we provided money through grants and stuff, so no money came out of their pockets. That made a big difference.
NWNL Are there permanent and ongoing rewards for them?
MATT WOODWARD Yes. They have 2 new diversions, and we added water measurement weirs with staff gauges in outgoing ditches. So, they know exactly how much water should run out of those, because in the past, they were taking more water than they probably should have.
NWNL Ah, water is important. Do any farmers here practice no-till? I’ve seen much dust today as they are discing their fields.
MATT WOODWARD Several operations around here are no-till, but there’s still quite a bit of conventional tillage here.
NWNL Our NWNL team interviewed a no-till dryland farmer in Dusty, Washington, and farmers just above the Columbia River in the Snake River Irrigators Association. Water is the main concern for them all.
MATT WOODWARD Water is going to become ever more important as time goes on. How we manage it and use it, and how efficient we are with water is going to be highly important.
UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM ISSUES
NWNL California farmers are in deep trouble now, as they face empty reservoirs.
MATT WOODWARD California is burning up.
NWNL Some California aquifers are empty. There’s nothing but sludge at the bottom now.
MATT WOODWARD That’s terrible.
NWNL It’s bad. So I worry up here when I hear people say, “Hey, we’ve got tons of water and can irrigate all we want. But our aquifers going down and we’re no longer guaranteed normal spring runoffs.
MATT WOODWARD Water will become ever more important as time goes on. How we manage it and use it, and how efficient we are with water is going to be highly important. I think that in years when we have “excess water,” we should consider “aquifer recharge” – the practice of banking excess water for future use.
NWNL But who has figured out how to do it?
MATT WOODWARD Well, the Rocky Mountain Environmental group has spent quite a bit of time working on that. I think it can be done, but it’s anybody’s guess, you know.
NWNL Is the aquifer controlled by the State?
MATT WOODWARD It is. Depending on what one’s water rights, one can pump so much in-ground water. Surface water rights are also controlled by the State, but I think it will get much tighter. There may be a time when they put meters on all these wells. It seems they’re looking at that closely now.
WATER USE & SOIL CONSERVATION
NWNL I think everybody in the country needs to look closely at their water usage.
MATT WOODWARD For sure.
NWNL Boise’s Department of Public Works has joined with Boise Water and a nonprofit to mount an exhibit called “Watershed,” with all sorts of water education, pinpointed originally to 4th and 6th graders. It’s been so successful that they extended its outreach to preschool through graduate school. There are now graduate school courses for those studying the Boise watershed.
MATT WOODWARD We must articulate these messages to the people that matter – old and young. For instance, storm water runoff deal is now more of an issue. Besides my work with Trout Unlimited, I’m chairman of the East Side Soil Water Conservation District in Idaho Falls. I deal with many on-the-ground projects there through NRCS and volunteer conservation by regional farmers and producers.
NWNL The background on my interest in this is photographing restoration at Golden Gate National Parks, an old Army base, now turned it into a National Park. TU is involved and allows me, as a volunteer, to take some of their courses for interns given by the UC-Berkeley soil experts. So, I am curious about farmers’ impacts in soil conservation. How do you approaching that issue?
MATT WOODWARD Well, the voluntary programs that farmers get is from the National Resource Conservation Service [NRCS]. It provides extra economic incentives to encourage farmers to go from conventional tilling to a no-till system. It can provide for them a way to develop springs on rangeland and create wind breaks to catch snow and reduce county road maintenance by catching soil particles. That also keeps the culverts clean.
We work on a myriad of issues. We’ve terraced farms to keep the water from running off . As well, we’ve set up cross-slope tillage and contour farming which goes around the hill instead of up and down, thus holding what water is there.
Our old programs were called soil-and–water-quality projects for small watersheds. We did one in the Willow Creek Watershed, promoting conservation-minded approaches to benefit them and the watershed. I was on the District Board for 15 to 17 years, and have been chair for 8-10 years.
NWNL Do the farmers encourage each other?
MATT WOODWARD Yes, those that are on the Board lead by example. Some of the best farmers I know sit on the Conservation Board, setting an example of how they’ve made more money by adopting soil conservation. That’s a hook! Currently, 3 or 4 guys on our Board are state-of-the-art farmers using GPS and other fancy tools that allow them to farm more efficiently.
NWNL Does all that conservation and no-till result in a significant lower use of water?
MATT WOODWARD Yes; and some farmers have portable weather stations out there now to further figure out just how much water they’re using. They watch for storms likely to occur so they can turn their pivots off.
NWNL Are their “Use it, or lose it” water rights here?
MATT WOODWARD There are.
UPPER BLACKFOOT RIVER BASIN
MATT WOODWARD We’re at Upper Blackfoot River here and it’s pretty muddy right now. We ran our Blackfoot River Project through our Conservation Success Index [CSI] to look at the physical characteristics out here on the ground. We found that if we did a river project up here, our chances of success were good. Things hadn’t degraded to the point of no return.
We also did a physical habitat-barrier survey. We looked at all the diversions, and surveyed all culverts and road crossings to determine which were passable, which weren’t, and which needed help. We’re partnering with Orvis Company nationwide on removing a lot of bad culverts.
NWNL Where are the trout that come up the Blackfoot? What’s their travel schedule?
MATT WOODWARD We have all 3 life-history patterns of salmonid here in the Blackfoot. We have adfluvial fish that live in the reservoir down here, and then in spring run up the river to spawn. Then they and their progeny return to the lake – our reservoir.
The Blackfoot Rover is spatially split into the Lower Blackfoot (below the reservoir); the reservoir which is kind of in the middle; and the Upper Blackfoot, where we are now. This part is called The Narrows, because the river is right here.
NWNL Ah yes, that’s why the willows are right here.
MATT WOODWARD Once we get through The Narrows, it opens again. Running this project through the CSI told us we were on the right track. If we could get landowners to come around a bit and work with us, good things could happen up here.
NWNL How long is this stretch of river?
MATT WOODWARD Well, we’re in the Upper Blackfoot reach now, working from the headwaters downstream.
NWNL And how long is this from where you’re working back to the reservoir?
MATT WOODWARD From here to the reservoir is about 15-20 miles. We’ve also identified project areas below the reservoir we could work on. There’s just a ton of work to do over here; but it takes money and time. It all depends on keeping the funding coming and keeping up the level of interest to convince these guys to support this work.
CONANT VALLEY: South Fork & Garden Creek
MATT WOODWARD We started on the South Fork. The first project I did there was on the little Prichard Creek in Conant Valley. Prichard Creek had a 40-50’ earthen dam and small impoundment. The dam blew out in the early ‘80s, and the creek cut a channel through that old pond bed. There was 30’ of silt in there, so every year during high water the stream would rise; all that silt would go onto the banks; and then get undercut, cave and go into the stream.
Prichard Creek was a cutthroat stronghold, so we wanted to clean that up. I partnered with Jim Capurso, head biologist for Caribou-Targhee Forest. We found some money, went in there and did a 3-stage cut on each side of those eroded banks and beveled them all back. We the re-vegetated both sides of the bank with native willows and vegetation and seeded the upland area with a native grass mixture to stabilized it. We eliminated cattle trespassing and watering in that area and built a solar-powered water system offsite to pump water up and out and into a 5,000-gallon holding tank. Gravity feeds spill that down to a trough leading away from the stream. That was my first project.
MATT WOODWARD My next project was also in Conant Valley. We restored Garden Creek – a stream disconnected from the South Fork main stem for 50 to 60 years, or longer. Gus Ostercamp, who owns Conant Valley Ranch, let us find the old stream channel. We dug test pits to find it; did a lot of surveying; used historical photographs to work from; and redirected the stream back to the river. We worked from 2003 to 2007. There was roughly 6,500 feet of new channel that we fenced off on both sides of the creek, above and below US 26 State Highway. There was an old culvert about two-thirds plugged with mud and no longer fish-passable. We dug up the highway, put in a 13.5-ft-wide, and a 5,5-ft-high bottomless arch that was 200 linear feet long.
This is the Fish and Game Wildlife Management Area [aka WMA] and the old stocking ranch that Fish and Game bought here on the Blackfoot that’s now managed as a wild fishery.
We put in a new culvert, finishing in Fall of 2007. The next spring we watched some fluvial fish come up the river to spawn in Garden Creek, since now there are more willows there for them to tuck under.
We have a small problem with the creek getting a bit low at certain times of the year, but there are 3 new pivot systems to provide the ranch with more efficient watering.
We provided two new ranch crossings with fish-passable arches so they could get back and forth across the creek; and extensive new fencing went in: post-and-pole above the culvert, and wire fence below. Then a management system was implemented with new hay land and pastureland to give Gus more efficient production on the ranch. It was a win-win for both Trout Unlimited and for Conant Valley Ranch.
NWNL If all projects could be win-win, we could get a lot done.
ANGUS & RAINY CREEKS PROJECT
MATT WOODWARD We just crossed Angus Creek. A phosphate mine is proposed for this whole ridge, by a company called Agrium. We’re in a partnership with the 3 mining companies up here in the UBC [Upper Blackfoot confluence]: the Idaho Conservation League, Simplot-Monsanto, and Agrium. They are providing us with a certain amount of funding for work outside of their mining mitigation process to address selenium issues.
Selenium’s bad stuff. They’ve learned a lot the last several years and are now better at what they do; but they have some older problems they’re still cleaning up. We’re watching this whole process closely.
NWNL How close are they to being in production?
MATT WOODWARD A while yet. The EIS [environmental impact statement] is being written right now. Now we’re heading to the Bear Lake Cattle Company’s operation and hopefully to the Diamond Creek Project and what I did after Garden Creek. It was an ambitious project in Swan Valley on Rainey Creek, one of the 4 main tributaries to the South Fork. There were about 9 miles there with fish barrier diversions. By this fall there’ll only be 1left! We removed or modified all those barriers and put in fish screens. Fish that now returning into the forest.
We’ve opened up about 15 to 20 miles of new habitat. We also fenced off much of the stream from livestock. Again, we worked with local farmers and ranchers and with the local TU chapter planted many willows to get that native vegetation back.
MATT WOODWARD Fish and Game has a fish trapping weir on Rainey Creek and the four big South Fork tributaries. They are trapping and taking out the non-native rainbow trout and hybrids, and only letting pure cutthroat get upriver to spawn. So we’re reconnecting Rainey Creek back to the South Fork to maintain the genetic integrity of those big South Fork tributaries and keep its native cutthroat fishery.
LANES CREEK PROJECT
MATT WOODWARD Lanes Creek comes into this flat from the north to form the Blackfoot.
NWNL Do you see the weather changing? Is it warmer now? Do you have trees dying off?
MATT WOODWARD Yeah. The aspen are starting to show the effects, and the severity of the storms is more intense. We’re seeing erratic behavior in the weather. It’s not the same. Anybody who says climate change isn’t real is not grounded in reality.
MATT WOODWARD Here we have a new ditch as a diversion upstream. The older version was a hard concrete structure with footings on each side and a concrete floor. It was boarded up, then the fish didn’t go any further. We built a series of rock B-weirs, upstream. That elevated the water surface so the new diversion so landowners could take out the water they wanted from the stream without impeding fish.
NWNL As long as they don’t pull too much water.
MATT WOODWARD This is water measurement weir to record their “pull.” Two of them are here – one on each side of the creek to pull water through paddle-driven, rotary drum screens. Water comes out of the pipe and flows through the screen which captures any debris that then gets cleaned off by water pressure. A paddle wheel drives the screen, and the fish swim through this little gate and through the bypass pipe. So, the water runs through to the corner of Diamond Creek. Any fish that get in here will find that bypass and go right back to the creek. There’s a staff gauge on the side of the measurement weir to tell how much water they’re using, Our fences protect them from the cows. We have an identical unit just across the creek.
Here we built a riffle in the stream and beyond we reactivated an old oxbow that’s been cut off.
By opening up that old channel, we essentially lengthen the amount of stream we have, creating more habitat.
We’re in high water now, so, so the water is supposed to look a bit turbid, But you can hear the frogs.
SAVING DEER, WETLANDS & OLD CHANNELS
MATT WOODWARD We have pretty good statewide program trying to keep a handle on the quagga mussel and the zebra mussel issue. Fortunately, there haven’t been any reported cases of any invasives, like the quagga, yet.
NWNL Well, they’re in the Washington reach of the Snake River.
MATT WOODWARD We’re just going to have to be as diligent as we can in the hopes that we don’t get them; because, man, they’re nasty. They are a critical factor in controlling deer and fawn survival, especially the old deer. There’s an effort afoot trying to reduce conifer encroachment, and encourage aspen regeneration for deer, because it’s so important to them.
NWNL That’s where the U.S. Forest Service might help.
MATT WOODWARD Yes. They’re a great partner for my work, as are folks in the Caribou-Targhee Forest. They have a great shop, with Louis Wasniewski as head hydrologist; Brad Higginson as another hydrologist; Corey Lyman as main fish biologist and Lee Mabey as another fish biologist; and. I work with those guys all the time.
Our work here is to get in some wetland vegetation. Nebraska sedge, with its wedge-shaped leaves, has been an important wetland plant. We have several riffles in this stream which give us a good opportunity to do more here. But there are noxious weeds here, including Canadian and musk thistle. We want to knock those back. We’re just getting started. It’s a wet valley and the water table here is fairly high, so I plan to dig a well here. I can probably hit water at 25 or 30 feet. It’s sprinkling on us right now.
On the other side, we created a big partnership project to restore a significant section of Crow Creek – about 6,600 or 6,700 feet of channel. Somebody, 40 or 50 years ago, straightened the channel to get more water more quickly and moved the creek over next to the road. But since there was no way for the creek to disperse its energy anymore, it got wider and the vegetation on the banks disappeared.
NWNL Ah, the faster it goes, the deeper it goes.
MATT WOODWARD Yes, it became a mess. We restored and reactivated the old, historic channel, working together with Louis Wasniewski to create a nice-looking project. It was the first time we’d put in measurement weirs. That practice will probably become more standard as we go forward, because Department of Water Resources wants to tighten up how folks manage their water.
NWNL In California, if you don’t use water, or use lots of water, they reduce your water allotment. Is that so, in Idaho?
MATT WOODWARD If you use your rights or prove you are, you won’t lose them. But you must document your usage. The oldest rights – called “senior rights” – are the ones they usually turn on first and turn off last.
AQUACULTURE: PEN-RAISED FISH
NWNL Do you have any issues with aquaculture? Does it impact your goals in any way that you know of?
MATT WOODWARD Well, we’re very concerned about those pen-raised salmon. We get heartburn with that because if just one of those genetically-modified salmon escapes out into the wild population, we’ll lose our wild salmon.
NWNL But it seems pen-raised salmon are being put in the wild population constantly.
MATT WOODWARD But supposedly, not the ones that have been genetically modified. Jack Williams is our head scientist and has written papers on this subject published in the American Fishery Society Journal and a story for Trout magazine on genetically-modified salmon. Trout Unlimited is a strong advocate of wild-caught salmon. We don’t believe in either buying or eating pen-raised salmon.
The Shoshone-Bannock tribe is building a new Chinook hatchery down at Springfield, Idaho right now, to be finished in 2015. Idaho Fish and Game is building a new sockeye hatchery near that, across the reservoir at American Falls where many springs come up – thus, they call it Springfield. The water is pure with a constant temperature – ideally suited for raising fish.
The Shoshone tribe is building a Chinook and cutthroat hatchery. They’ll raise those smolts to a specified size, and put them back on the gravel in the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Those fish will come back as adults. Fortunately, they’re not building the concrete raceways they used to.
But I do believe it’s important to have hatcheries. The “milt” of the last sockeye salmon – named Lonesome Larry – provided all the smolt as his progeny. They will potentially build a new sockeye run on the Salmon River here in Idaho.
BLACKFOOT RIVER & THE PHOSPHATE MINE
MATT WOODWARD This ranch encompasses 8,000 acres. It’s a big, big place. There are about 5 key people that I deal with here. Joan Bunderson is President of the Association. Other board members include the Keach brothers, their cousin Dennis Hunsaker and Lanny Weston. I think 50 or 60 are involved as the decision-makers for this ranch It’s a grass ranch where they bring their cows for their summer range – from early June into October. Then they send them to market or back home.
Here is where the Blackfoot River. Diamond, Big Spring, Timothy, Bacon and Lanes Creeks come together. The confluence of these headwaters is the source of the Blackfoot River’s main stem.
The Lanes Creek Mine was started by the Simplot Company and now is controlled by Agrium.
At this wastewater holding pond they’re doing e remediation to stabilize this hill. The old mine is up in there with phosphate ores still there. They’ll try to remove that ore to another spot. At Rasmussen Valley Mine they want to develop its big ridge into a potential mine site’s objective . [Editor’s Note on Rasmussen Valley Mine: “Its objective is to provide 1.5 to 2.5 million tons of phosphate per year [for fertilizer to maintain crop production]…. The process involves topsoil/alluvium stripping and salvage and the removal of waste burden by drilling and blasting, ripping, loading, hauling and placement for regrade.” (Kiewit, source.) ]
NWNL Are there any leakage problems?
MATT WOODWARD They’ve used linings; but they’ve had leakage in the past.
NWNL Do you test the water in these headwaters?
MATT WOODWARD We haven’t; but the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has sampled water sampling and the DEQ [Dept. of Environment Quality] has also worked out here. I sit on the Upper Basin Advisory Group, which covers issues from Twin Falls to Wyoming and Montana. The Board has representatives from hydropower; livestock; me representing environmental organizations; and an at-large member. Coming from different disciplines, we oversee reviews of 19 water-quality grants from the DEQ. That money comes to Idaho via the EPA. Annually $2.4 million comes and goes through the state’s “319” processes before grants are awarded. The maximum grant was $250,000. I got a “319” grant on this Upper Lanes Sheep Creek Project.
MATT WOODWARD We may replace some culverts, but this project extends from here up to where the willows are thick. We’re going to redo this section of stream here and try to reintroduce the willows.
NWNL Is there significant silt build-up behind the dam for the Blackfoot Reservoir?
MATT WOODWARD I’m sure there is.
NWNL Has that been tested for chemicals?
MATT WOODWARD DEQ has a gauge and testing site to monitor the water regularly – but not the sludge.
NWNL I’ve learned methyl mercury is in the behind Brownlee Dam, so I assume silt buildup is behind every dam. Does each scenario differ, depending on what’s gone into the water?
MATT WOODWARD Hard to know without testing.
NWNL I became worried at Brownlee Dam on learning about regulations on the quantity restrictions for eating fish and other restrictions. But for Native Americans, fish are their source of protein so today they eat higher levels of fish than they should. Thus they ingest too much methyl mercury in fish flesh. Just as McDonalds notes calories in burger, we need to publicize chemicals in contaminated fish.
LANES CREEK PROJECT & its BIODIVERSITY
MATT WOODWARD At Lanes Creek, we removed the old diversion and built a new one with a double-drum fish screen. We have a water measurement weir in the outgoing ditch; and 2 new divider boxes. It’s another good project giving landowners a functional diversion. By building a bypass back to the creek for the fish, we’re keeping the fish in the creek where they’re supposed to be. Other good news is the Lanes Creek Mine is no longer putting fertilizer on the field and folks can effectively divert their water. Those improvements are a win-win for everybody.
NWNL Yet you still face the issue that the conifers outpace and replace the aspen trees. Plus all trees are trying to march north.
MATT WOODWARD Yes, that affects areas like this that are good deer and elk habitat.
NWNL Do you have many wolves over here?
MATT WOODWARD A few – probably 1 or 2 wolves in this area.
NWNL Idaho lists the wolf as a “bounty animal,” and thus, folks hunt the wolves.
MATT WOODWARD Well, these wolves are tough to hunt and are smart. One of Governor Otter’s mistaken ideas was to label wolves as “the bad guy.” They’re not! We have many other problems that are far worse than wolves.
Another worrisome issue is the Bobcat Cave at the top of Big Southern Butte. It’s an extinct volcano on the desert west of Idaho Falls and served as a neat and important area for big-eared bats. They hibernate there in winter since this cave stays a constant 34º all year. Native Americans stored their buffalo meat there on the ice down in the cave. They layered the ice with sagebrush mats and stuffed their meat in Bobcat Cave for a long, long time.
NWNL Ah, the first refrigeration! Do bats in these caves have the powder-nose disease.
MATT WOODWARD No, they don’t have the white-nose fungus disease yet, but according to one of the BLM experts, it’s moving this way.
NWNL It seems they can’t figure out what’s causing it.
MATT WOODWARD Yet, it’s deadly to the bats.
NWNL Back to the Lanes Creek Projectmust be one of the biggest projects in Idaho.
MATT WOODWARD It’s a big one. The DEQ gave $250,000 via the “319 Program.” We also receive significant money from our partnership with the 3 mining companies—Simplot, Agrium, and Monsanto, plus a good-sized grant from NFWF [National Fish and Wildlife Foundation] for this project.
All of this watershed will be restored. You can see the badly-cut banks. We now have fences on both sides of the creek here, so livestock will be excluded. The culverts will be replaced. You can see debris hanging off one of the culverts. But the new box culverts will flow with much more water, be better for fish, and be better all around. We’ll likely line it with a bit of gravel.
NWNL How far upstream did fish go before this reservoir was dammed? Do they now come up to the reservoir?
MATT WOODWARD Yes. Before, they came up to the Snake River and back. Our adfluvial fish stay in the lake. The fluvial fish live and spawn in the river. The resident fish that live here all the time are almost the same as Yellowstone cutthroat trout. So, we’ve got all 3 life stages. Some have migratory instincts and others don’t.
NWNL Your fencing of such massive areas is impressive. Is all this fencing in the budget?
MATT WOODWARD Yes. We’re spending serious money in our Upper Creek/Lanes Project to significantly reduce the sediment load that the breach contributed. But we still have much work to finish. It’ll be a busy year. This little fenced-off area is an old pioneer gravesite. The headstones, dated 1899, are for Melvin and Hannah Koontz.
GRAY’S LAKE PROJECT
MATT WOODWARD A long time ago the Clarks Cut deal diverted all the water in Grays Lake that used to go down Willow Creek, So, now it flows into the Blackfoot; but historically, that’s not the way it used to be.
NWNL Who decided it needed to go the other direction?
MATT WOODWARD One of the Clark brothers did that. They were very influential people who started a big concrete business in Idaho Falls. They were involved in the state legislature, and decided they wanted the water to go this way, probably to develop land around the Blackfoot River and American Falls.
NWNL Is this whole valley is for cattle?
MATT WOODWARD Yes. This is our cattle grazing area. Farming country is further back. Grazing reduced the amount of water going that way; and that didn’t help the cutthroat fish population in Willow Creek. But, it’s done, so we’re living with it.
NWNL I had tagged Grays Lake as a spot for some bird photography, depending on the species around, but I haven’t seen many birds today. What is the source of water for Grays Lake?
MATT WOODWARD There are a couple of sources. We’ll loop around the refuge so you can see it’s a big swamp – tremendous for sandhill cranes. They tried to reintroduce whooping crane here, using the sandhills as an attraction; but it didn’t work. Yet there are many wild migratory birds out here: sandhills, many ducks and geese and other waterfowl.
IT TAKES MANY to REMOVE DAMS & SAVE HABITATS
NWNL Does TNC/The Nature Conservancy have a presence here?
MATT WOODWARD Oh, yes, big time. Jordan Reeves, their Eastern Idaho Manager, is just down the hall from me in my office building. They’ve done nice work up around Henrys Fork.
NWNL Does Ducks Unlimited do work around here?
MATT WOODWARD Yes. They’re another good conservation organization.
NWNL And Idaho Rivers…, do they have an Idaho Falls office, or just in Boise?
MATT WOODWARD Jerry Nielsen, an old high-school buddy, works for Idaho Rivers.
They’re a good outfit. They’re now pushing hard to remove the 4 Lower Snake River dams.
NWNL Are people in Idaho Falls concerned about whether the dams go?
MATT WOODWARD Probably not. Those cognizant of that issue are those that fish for steelhead and salmon. They know the issues dams create for anadromous fish, so, they want them gone. But the political climate would have to change. You need big kahunas to argue that these things don’t generate much energy. An in-depth study is needed to defend or negate the need for barges as transportation. The Corps of Engineers dredges there now to keep barge traffic active up to Lewiston. They should put in some good rail systems, and trucking to compete or replace the barges role of transporting wheat and other products out of Lewiston.
I don’t know if they will ever come out or not.
NWNL We’ve talked with one person who says it’s economically crazy for the Corps of Engineers to invest any more money in rehabilitating the dams since they’ll get more and more expensive. If they are taken down, the expenses are gone. However, the Port of Lewiston, objects.
MATT WOODWARD The Port of Lewiston has never run in the black.
NWNL Do Idaho taxpayers realize the costs of maintaining those dams? – or do taxpayers of Lewiston just blindly support their Port? Apparently, each barge costs $12,000-$16,000.
MATT WOODWARD That’s what it costs? Wow. Well, my degree is in environmental economics; and those numbers just don’t make sense. The dams are filling up with silt and proper maintenance on those dams will become be horrendous. It’s already horrendous.
NWNL Part of Little Goose Dam broke, so the Snake River was closed to barges for 6 weeks this spring. We interviewed Lin Laughy who’s studied the economic aspects of those dams with SOS/Save our Salmon and Idaho Rivers United, He’s figuring what the Port of Lewiston costs the citizens versus the dams. It seems the group of people that want dams down is building.
MATT WOODWARD Yes, that group of folks is growing.
NWNL Matt, this has been an amazing day. Your tour was enlightening and offers us many leads to others who can further clarify today’s watershed issues. As we visited your project sites you’ve explained many terms and issues, and helped NWNL further educate stakeholders, students, scientists and all those who care about our rivers. Thank you for your support; good luck to you; and thank you for all you do.
Posted by NWNL on November 12, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.
All images © Alison M. Jones, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.