Big Wild Bi-Weekly April 5, 2010

Dear Wildland Friends,

Goodbye March and hello April! The Rocky Mountain gray wolf hunt is over, grizzly bears are coming out of their dens, and steelhead are migrating back into wild Clearwater country. Now is the time to apply a coat of oil to your hiking boots, locate the day pack, adjust the trekking poles, and get out and explore some of your public lands.

During the past two weeks, newspaper clippings have been piling up on my desk and it is finally time to synthesize it all and pass it on. Please remember that if any of these issues are a concern to you, sit down with your pen and paper, and write a letter to your Congressmen and/or federal agency official. As Ed Abbey once said, "Wilderness needs no defense, just more defenders".

Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Lower Salmon River are seeking Wild & Scenic River designation for the lower Salmon. The 112 mile section of river starts at Vinegar Creek, just upstream from Riggins, and ends at the confluence with the Snake River in Hells Canyon. The 1980 Central Idaho Wilderness Act designated most of the river upstream from Vinegar Creek as Wild & Scenic but left the lower portion in “study status”. Friends of the Clearwater is hoping to learn more about this proposed legislation soon and will comment further about the issue at a more appropriate time.

Speaking of wild, steelhead have made their way into the Clearwater basin and are currently migrating up the Wild & Scenic Selway River in an attempt to locate their free flowing mountain stream spawning grounds. After navigating their way through, over, and around eight dams within the Columbia River basin, threatened B-run steelhead are finally in wild country. Well sort of. In 1960, the Idaho Fish & Game department, along with the US Forest Service, built a fish ladder to help anadromous fish ascend Selway Falls. The fish tunnel supposedly gives fish the option of swimming through it instead of leaping, jumping, and springing their way upstream through the tumbling white water rapids. Having a tiny horizontal metal spillway at the very end of a 500 mile-plus aquatic obstacle course seems silly though. It is kind of like being offered a piggy back ride by someone with weak legs for the last half-mile of a long and grueling marathon race.

March 31st finally signaled the end of the wolf hunt in Idaho. With a harvest limit set at 220, hunters killed a reported 186 wolves. That number does not include the hundreds of wolves killed by Wildlife Services for depredation, nor the number of wolves illegally poached and not reported. Despite that 85% of the state’s quota was reached, the Idaho Fish & Game Department is frustrated by the inability to reach it's quotas in certain places like the highly politicized Lolo and Selway Zones. Of a possible 44 wolf kills, only 24 were reported.

Cal Groen, the director of Idaho Fish & Game, said, "You are going to see us being more aggressive there and using more tools identified in the Idaho Wolf Management Plan". The tools could include longer hunting seasons, increasing the individual bag limit from 1 wolf to 2, reducing the price of nonresident wolf tags, and allowing hunters to use traps and electronic calls. There were a reported 26,428 wolf tags sold by Idaho Fish & Game for the 2009-2010 hunting season.

Please join us this Saturday, April 10th for a hike into Wenaha Canyon in northeastern Oregon. In sponsorship with the Idaho Native Plant Society, and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, we will be carpooling from the Eastside Marketplace in Moscow at 8am. The easy-going hike will offer spectacular views of the scenic river canyon, a chance to identify a diversity of spring flora in bloom, and possibly big horn sheep sightings. Pack a lunch and expect to be back in Moscow by 5pm.

On Saturday April 17th, Friends of the Clearwater will be tabling at the 14th Annual Moscow Hemp Fest. The event begins at 10am and will last well into the evening with live music. This rain or shine event promises to be a good time, as local and regional vendors will be showcasing their homemade arts and crafts and foods. With spring in the air, please stop by our outreach table and check out FOC T-shirts, tote bags, and adjustable ball caps.

The 37th Annual Moscow Renaissance Fair is fast approaching too. We are seeking volunteers to help us make crepes and other food stuff at the Moscow Jr. High on Saturday April 24th. We also need help selling and eating them on Saturday & Sunday May 1st and 2nd. Diane Prorak, a wonderful board member, is going to be the main volunteer contact for this event. Call her at (208) 882-3959 or at dprorak@gmail.com to volunteer. Please contact the FOC office at (208) 882-9755 or at foc@friendsoftheclearwater.org for questions.

Nature Nugget: The Middle Fork of the Clearwater River was one of eight rivers initially included in the national wild and scenic river system when the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act was passed in 1968. Designation was granted for the section of waterway between Lowell and Kooskia. Portions of the Lochsa River and the entire Selway River, which form the Middle Fork, were also included.

For the Wild,
Brett