Here are some aerial photos of the South Fork Boise River canyon downstream of Anderson Ranch Dam.  Photos courtesy the US Forest Service

These are the first photos to emerge since the wildfire (Pony on the south side, Elk on the north side) swept through the canyon August 8 – 10.

Order is from upstream to downstream.  If you click on the photo you will get a larger version and it will do a slide show of the seven pictures.  If you just scroll through the article you get a little bit of commentary.

Looking upstream Reclamation Village at left and Anderson homestead in the middle

The single house at Reclamation Village is still standing.  As are many trees, or at least the canopy is green.  It appears the South Fork road and the driveway through Rec Village served as a fire break.  Looking upstream, the bridge over the river leads to the home on the south side of the river and the area surrounding that appears to have burned severely.  Reportedly the fire swept into the South Fork canyon from the Dixie area on the plateau to the south.  It came down Dixie Creek and reportedly burned some out buildings.  But in the foreground of the photo it appears some of the hill side has some unburned areas.

Further upstream on the hill slope south of the river it appears several conifers, ponderosa pine mainly, may have survived.

This photo shows three of the turn outs and campsites downstream of Reclamation Village, which is at the top of the photo.  Obscured by the apparent greenery is the Reclamation Village boat launch, camping and rest room, designated as route 121I in the Boise National Forest Motor Vehicle Use Map.  The dredge pile on the south side of the river (right side as we look upstream) may have protected some vegetation from the fire. It is across the river from the pull off 121J, also known by many as the Bridge Abutment Hole.  Near the bottom of the photo is pull out and campsite 121K.

In this section of the river the hill sides burned severely on both sides of the river.  The valley bottom has areas both burned and unburned.  Both sides of the river have some areas that look relatively unscathed and others where some of the trees near the river were scorched.

Hills blackened but stream side vegetation still green in places

This photo shows the hill side on the north side of the river where areas are black and other spots appear not burned as severely or not burned.  This is the 121L driveway and camp site.

Close up of river bank and drive way

The fourth photo above narrows in on 121L and the river bank, and it gives us a good idea what burned and did not burn.  While the scientific literature on the effects of fire on riparian areas is not that easy to find, one study published ten years ago has a synthesizes information with some observations potentially relevant to the South Fork Boise:

Most cottonwood and willow species respond to browsing by beaver and fluvial disturbances through coppice sprouting from stems, as well as production of root suckers (Rood et al., 1994). These adaptations also contribute to regeneration following fire. In floodplain forests along the Oldman River in southern Alberta, Canada, 75% of the cottonwood trees sprouted vigorously from stumps within 5 months of an early spring fire (Gom and Rood, 1999). Root suckers were also common, demonstrating that fire stimulated clonal regeneration of native riparian cottonwoods. In south-central New Mexico, over 40% of Rio Grande cottonwoods (Populus deltoides wislizenii) that burned in two study sites produced shoots that survived at least 2 years following fire (Ellis, 2001). About 73% of the native Goodding willow individuals produced shoot sprouts during the first 4 months following burning, but only 55% of the exotic tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima) individuals sprouted (Ellis, 2001).

Importantly the paper also notes this caution:

Season of fire may be a critical factor in determining the capacity of cottonwoods and willows to survive fire. For example, severe summer fires in the southwestern US may kill some cottonwoods, particularly trees that are stressed or senescent (Busch and Smith, 1993; Busch, 1995).

Islands on the South Fork Boise appear less affected by fire

The photo above shows in the areas where the stream is braided into multiple channels the islands appear less affected than the riparian areas on outside stream banks.  Campsites 121L and 121M are both in the photo.

Looking downstream. North side burn appears worse than hills on south side of the river

The photographer then pivots and looks downstream with campsite 121M still in the frame.  And, further in the distance is 121N where the South Fork and the road converge at the downstream end of the bench along the river.

In places along the canyon where the hill sides burned the immediate risk is a heavy storm could cause erosion.  The government agencies will look first at emergency rehabilitation actions that need to be implemented to lesses the risk of negative effects from such storm events.  Lots of rain could cause gully erosion and wash out a section of the road or put sediment into the South Fork of the Boise River.

For example, the ridge line in the distance of the photo above is the divide beyond which water drains into Rough Creek, the small stream that dumps in to the South Fork at the site of the 1996 landslide.  If this catchment burned over and has little vegetation and ground cover a significant rain storm could lead to a gully washer-type event.

Indian Point

The last photo above is cropped from the previous one and zooms in on Indian Point (121O), the boat take out point for many float and fishing.  The trees in this area appear rather unscathed.

No photos yet of areas downstream.  When we get more information we will post it.

Photos courtesy the US Forest Service.

By Greg Clark

The 3^rd Annual Trout Unlimited Fly Casting Tournament was held at Eagle Island State Park on Saturday, May 11, and raised thousands of dollars to benefit the South Fork Boise River fishery.  The event attracted over 150 people, among them team participants, sponsors, judges, volunteers, and spectators.

The Judges

The weather was unseasonably warm with temperatures easily above the 90 degree mark in the afternoon, however the winds were almost nonexistent most of the day and benefited all of the competitors.

Two rounds of competition were held.  The morning had the Gold division with expert casters and some who wish they were experts.  The afternoon round hosted the Silver division with people of various skills and experience, but united in having some fun and a little competition.

The seven Gold division teams, including one all women team (each comprised of four individuals) competed throughout the morning on fourteen

Janet Downey casts while the rest of the Idaho Angler team watches during the Gold division competition

land or water-based casting targets or “holes.” A team’s best three individual member’s scores per hole were then added together in comprising the team score.  Just as in golf, lowest total score on the 14 holes wins.

While the competition among teams can get pretty serious at times, the main purpose was to bring fly fishers, flyfishing groups, and local businesses together and raise money for protection and enhancement of a fishery that everyone has a common interest in and can support…and making sure everyone has plenty of fun along the way.  For example, here’s a comment from Whitefish Ed who was part of the Gold division team Whitefish Rules.

Contestant casts to one of the water targets

Last year’s 2nd Annual Fly Casting Tournament in 2012 kick-started the focus on flow management of the South Fork Boise River, and in late summer 2012 the first assessment was made of the effects on juvenile trout and on the macroinvertebrate community when the river flows are decreased.

Results from the 2012 work will be released this summer.  Stay tuned to this website for information.

Work will continue in 2013 and following years to assess river flows on fish stranding with the goal of finding a flow management that can improve the fishery.

This year’s Tournament continues the momentum we have built for the South Fork Boise River fishery.

At the end of the Gold division competition, a delicious lunch was served, prizes were presented to the top three Gold division teams, and a variety of raffle items were won.

Gold division results:

Willowcreek Grill

1^st place – Team Willowcreek Grill (a repeat champion, pictured at left. L to R: J.D. Miller, Chris Gerono, Dave Klein, Graham McKenzie)

2^nd place – Anglers (Erik Moncada, Dave Gourley, Bret Bishop and Pete Erickson).

3^rd place – Otter Shrimps (Richard Prange, Jeff Barney, Marty Downey, Bill Hagdorn)

The afternoon then included 12 Silver Division teams competing, including three all-women teams, and a good mix of returning competitors and new teams.  Aileen Ellis from Team Trifecta has posted a report with her review of the tournament.

As the Silver division teams completed the course everyone returned to the shelter for a cold one and to hear some recognition and gratitude to all of the sponsors and the TU Ted Trueblood Chapter Board members for their contributions and tireless efforts toward this wonderful event. Prizes were presented to the top three Silver division teams and a heartfelt thank you given to all involved.

Silver division results:

The Bush Hookers

1^st place – Dr. Arave and his ringers

2^nd place – Amateur Hour (Bret Andreason, Andy Andregg, Jeff Tonkin, Bill Tonkin)

3^rd place – Bush Hookers (photo at left, Neal L to R

Immediately at the awards Dr. Arave showed he is a class act and he handed the 1st place prize, some top-rate fly line, to the 4th place team: the Better than TU team sponsored by the Boise Valley Fly Fishers.  Dr. Arave also was a hole sponsor at the tournament.

The last act of the afternoon was a raffle was held for an NRS Gigbob personal fishing watercraft, donated by Idaho River Sports.  It was won by Connie Martineau, who was tickled at winning the boat she really wanted!

Jo Cassin (L) and Stan Kolby (R) flank Connie Martineau, winner of the Gigbob raffle

If you participated in the tournament we would like to hear your experience and you can post in the comment section below.  Thanks to everyone who supported the event!

Idaho Fish and Game crews are this week and next undertaking their triennial fish population survey of the South Fork of the Boise River.

Photo from the 2006 electrofishing survey.

The last such survey was in the fall of 2009 when results showed a large number of smaller 100 mm or 4 inch (2 year old) trout in the system.  In fact, the numbers were very high for the small fish so it will be interesting to see if the demographic bulge makes its way through the age class distribution.

Electrofishing surveys have occurred every three years since 1994.  In previous posts we have detailed the changes observed in fish population estimates, such as number of fish per kilometer.  We have also paid attention to size distribution of the fish found in the river.

We expect the marking run to be completed this week, and the recapture run early next week.  Then the numbers will be crunched and we will begin to hear results sometime in 2013.

The netting crew look like a bunch of larcosse defenders playing with the long sticks. Photo from 2006.

UPDATE:  Additional information on the marking run at the westfly.com message board.

A dispatch from long-time South Fork angler Bill Eastlake:

It’s finally getting to fall fishing time! A bit of drizzle and a bit of cooler temps might make fishing better and get us out of this long hot smoky summer. Fishing in mid September on the Owyhee and South Fork was good, but it was still too warm and hazy for ideal human activity.

By the way, the South Fork looks like an Alaska river during salmon spawning season.  I believe the Zimowsky piece on kokanee above Arrowrock and below Anderson Ranch Dam seriously underestimated how many fish there are. I don’t think I had ever seen more than two or three orange kokanee in the South Fork over a weekend before this year.

Last week they were paired up in good gravel and building redds, lots of them. We counted groups of 20 or so in several spots. There were assorted few in almost every place we fished. There were dead ones floating by, marooned on shore, etc, all over the river.

One shallow area above Cow Creek that I favor at low flows for trout had so many kokanee I didn’t bother to cast for trout. There must have been at least a hundred! It was unbelievable to see so many kokanee. I guess that means good populations of salmon for Arrowrock next year, but I really thought they were “in the way” of trout fishing.