A 10-year restoration project to repair catastrophic ecological damage to the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River is expected to be mostly concluded this summer.

The Bonanza project has seen about 100,000 cubic yards of old mining tailings removed from the area in an effort to restore the Yankee Fork and offer Chinook and steelhead improved habitat.

Bart Gamett, a fisheries biologist for the Salmon-Challis National Forest, said the project of removing mining tailings, restoring the floodplain and rebuilding stream channels started as a collaborative effort between the Bonneville Power Administration, Bureau of Reclamation, Custer County, Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation, J.R. Simplot Company, National Marine Fisheries Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and Trout Unlimited. The restoration project is one of the largest in Idaho.

“This project is significant because it substantially improves the health, diversity, and productivity of the Yankee Fork watershed,” said Heath Perrine, a ranger on the Challis-Yankee Fork district.

Gamett said the timing of heavy construction work on the Yankee Fork is limited by nature.

“We have a fairly narrow window we can actually do that work because the steelhead spawn in that area in the spring and their eggs hatch in the early summer,” he said. “Then the Chinook come in and spawn in the fall. Their eggs are in the gravel through the winter and early spring. So there’s only about a one month window we can actually do stream work in the Yankee Fork without it having significant effects to the Chinook and the steelhead. That runs from July 8 to Aug. 15.”

The project is an effort to repair damage to the stream caused by a gold mining operation between 1940 and 1952. The dredge tore up 5.5 miles of the river bed. The Yankee Fork dredge still sits in the canyon as a museum of a bygone era.

“I don’t want to speak too negative,” Gamett said. “It was a different time. Part of that was coming at the end of the Great Depression and the beginning of World War II. It certainly provided employment opportunities for people and helped Idaho’s economy. Yet the impact on the Yankee Fork — the valley floor, floodplain and the channels — it was just devastating. It significantly reduced the ability of that section of river to support fish. Those dredge tailing piles are so big that the river doesn’t have the power to move through them and do what it would normally do.”

Not all of the tailings left by the dredge have been removed, said Amy Baumer in a news release about the project. About 7 acres of tailings near the dredge are “being left in place to help preserve the mining history of the area and maintain the historic setting of the dredge.”

Visitors to the area can expect heavy equipment operating during the next few weeks and the project may cause short traffic delays, Baumer said.

“A lot of people feel very strongly about those dredge tailings,” Gamett said. “Their dad or their grandpa or uncle worked on the dredge. It was a way that they helped provide for their family. They see a lot of value in the dredge tailings and the history of that area.”

Gamett said it is costing substantially more to clean up the destruction than the value of the gold that was removed. According to the Yankee Fork Dredge website, the operation extracted $1,023,024.89 in gold and $14,298 in silver.

“They didn’t give a lot of consideration back then to some of the other values that we find are important today, like fish,” he said. “That’s been one of the big challenges with all the work that we’re doing up there, from an ecological perspective that dredge mining and the legacy of that has been catastrophic on the river.”

Spawning salmon once numbered in the thousands in the Yankee Fork. Today, the Shoshone-Bannock tribes operate a trap that allows them to count migrating salmon before they are released back into the stream to spawn.

“I would not expect there to be more than 30 fish come into the Yankee Fork this year,” Gamett said.

Gamett said the project is only one piece of the puzzle to save Idaho’s declining salmon and steelhead.

“Our efforts by themselves in the Yankee Fork will not save Chinook and steelhead but we’re hopeful that our restoration efforts will increase the ability of the Yankee Fork to produce Chinook and steelhead,” he said. “This will contribute to an overall recovery. We’ve got to take care of issues in other areas where they complete their life cycles as well.”

Gamett said the lion’s share of work will be completed this year and there will be some replanting of vegetation next season.

The acres of tailings hauled out of the site have not gone to waste. Custer County crushed some and used it to resurface a section of the Yankee Fork Road. A private contractor took the rest to crush up and sell in his business.

The Bonanza project, which covers about 46 acres, is located on both private land owned by the J.R. Simplot Company and national forest land administered by the U.S. Forest Service.

Idaho Fish and Game’s fishing and boating access program, while possibly lesser known than other department programs, focuses on creating and maintaining water-based public access for fishing, hunting, and trapping at over 300 locations statewide. That includes over 60 locations on 33 different water bodies in the southeast corner of the state.

Partnerships, whether with private or government entities, are the cornerstone to this program in the Southeast Region and ensure the abundance of recreational access enjoyed by the area’s sporting public. These partnerships are diverse and help to leverage the improvement of accommodations at access sites. As an example, Bannock County recently partnered with Fish and Game to fund the construction of custom docks at several boating access sites around the region.

Many of our local boatable waters have aging docks or could benefit from better designed/constructed docks to facilitate safe access for the public. Fish and Game has played a major role in the endeavor to improve sportsman access to fish and wildlife resources through sites offering comfortable and functional accommodations, like sound docks to launch and moor boats.

While docks are an important part of providing accommodations for boaters, they also enhance shoreline fishing opportunities in many places. Fish and Game fabricates a custom dock that provides great service to sportsmen and demonstrates pride in the program. The original Fish and Game dock design started in the Panhandle Region quite some time ago. For nearly a decade, over 60 similarly designed custom docks (with some modification) have been fabricated in the Southeast Region from the ground-up. Tweaks to the original design are reflective of the water bodies in the Southeast Region, which are mostly irrigation reservoirs and large rivers (like the Snake River) that can fluctuate drastically in response to water use and availability. The design of this product has been a proven winner and performed well at many locations on the numerous rivers and reservoirs in the region, including the “Big One” (American Falls Reservoir) where a solid product is needed to handle the high winds that frequently sweep across the lake.

When you buy a hunting or fishing license, your dollars — along with federal funds — help Fish and Game work with its partners to maintain access to many world-class fishing and hunting opportunities through the Fishing and Boating Access Program. Outstanding partnerships, on a number of levels, make this program what it is and helps the public enjoy the rich and diverse resources for which Idaho is known. 

The City of Rocks National Reserve has big plans for its big challenges.

Chaotic, congested and messy might be kind words for some of the parking and camping during a busy weekend for visitors at City of Rocks near Almo.

But hope is on the horizon in the newly released General Management Plan by the National Park Service. The finalized plan was presented this week.

“The general management plan is sort of the marching orders and the Bible for how the park will be managed in the next 15 to 20 years,” said Wallace Keck, superintendent at the City of Rocks.

Keck said most of the plan calls for reorganizing campsites, parking areas and some high-tech aids, but there is also a perk for horse people.

“We are looking at creating an equestrian trailhead that’s on the north side of the reserve,” he said. “It’s been promised to the equestrian user groups for a long time. Now we have the property and the planning to go forward on that. That will be exciting.” Keck said the new equestrian parking lot will accommodate six to eight horse trailers.

The park’s 64 campsites will be changed up to remove conflicts with hikers and day users and eventually total 70 campsites. New vault toilets will also be added.

“We’re going to reconfigure camping and parking so that people at major trailheads aren’t competing with the campers and campers aren’t getting invaded by the trailhead day hikers,” Keck said. “We’re trying to separate those users. We’re going to create more campsites and new campsites in some places, but also removing some others. There will be a no net loss of campsites.”

Parking, a bugaboo for years at the City of Rocks, also gets special attention in the new plan.

“If you were here three or four weekends ago, we were at 120 to 130 percent capacity,” Keck said. “People were parked along the county road. There was literally nowhere to park.”

He said special attention will be made to improve the parking at Parking Lot Rock and Flaming Rock.

“Those are all going to get reorganized,” he said. “They’ll have wheel stops and people will know how to park to maximize the parking lot and where not to park.”

Keck said most of the improvements will occur in the next five to six years.

The park also plans to give visitors online/phone apps to aid in navigation and other information in real time.

“But it takes someone behind the scenes,” Keck said. “We will shift some of our face-to-face employees to behind the scenes to package together some of the kinds of information that visitors want. They’ll have it at their fingertips. Things like maps, history, frequently asked questions, so they can have it when they want it.”

Keck said he expects to be following the new general management plan for the rest of his career at the City of Rocks.

In the future, the park plans to update its climbing management plan.

“We will be looking at a climbing management plan rewrite, a trails plan, and things that have been neglected for 30 years,” he said. “The climbing plan was written in about 1997. That’s too old. Climbing has really evolved at City of Rocks, and we want to make sure we are reflective of our policies on highlining, on bouldering, sport and trad, and other things that seem to keep popping up on the grid. That’s another plan that will go through the public process.”

It’s like combining two great flavors — peanut butter and chocolate or pie and ice cream. Backcountry fishing melds the fun of hiking or exploring with the pursuit of fish. And summer is the prime time to do it.

Idaho has about 3,000 backcountry lakes and hundreds of miles of streams that are generally lightly fished and surrounded by world-class scenery.

Getting to these backcountry gems is half the fun and fishing them in total solitude is the cherry on top.

“We like to backpack into an area and disappear from the world,” said Kara Dressen, of trips with her husband. “I catch a couple and then he just goes until he’s done. No busy roads or traffic or competition, it’s just how fishing should be I guess, surrounded by majestic features and silence.”

Brett High, fish manager for Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Upper Snake Region said “backcountry” means different things to different people.

“Some people think Ryder Park is backcountry,” High said jokingly. He said East Idaho has about 50 alpine lakes in the surrounding mountain ranges, including the Centennial, Big Holes, Snake River, Lemhi and Lost River ranges.

“I’m biased but the alpine lake fishing in the Upper Snake Region is as good as it gets,” High said. “We have diversity, we have size, we have diversity of access with some trails being open to motorbikes and ATVs, and some without any trails at all. Nearly all of the lakes have fish. The lakes that have fish, all fish pretty well.”

To avoid “hot spotting” and listing specific lakes or streams in the backcountry, High spoke mostly in generalities about where to go. One good place to start in choosing a mountain lake or stream is Fish and Game’s Fishing Planner found on its website. Find the Fishing Planner’s interactive map that shows trails, stocking records and fish survey records on fish species present. Contour maps can help users determine how difficult or remote an area is to get to.

“That’s a great resource for people who are trying to do a combo trip,” High said. “That will help them tailor their trip to the type of experience they are looking for.”

East Idaho outdoorsman Fred Eaton also turns to the internet for directions.

“I usually will use Google maps and OnX to check out streams and hiking areas,” he said via online message, “then I go on a hike to a river and try it out, maybe make a backpacking campout out of it.” OnX is a hunting app that offers GPS mapping for hunting nationwide.

The appeal of backcountry fishing is a regular draw for Eaton.

“I love the peacefulness of fishing in the backcountry, seeing the amazing trout and wildlife you can find out there, and having that waterside campfire where you can enjoy your catch right where it came from,” Eaton said. “I try to get into the backcountry for fishing at least once a month. Sometimes it will be a few times a week, or go a month or two without.”

Another avid fisherman from Rigby, Eric Call, said he enjoys going to places that require effort to get to.

“I’ve fished most lakes through the Sawtooth mountains as well as some in the Lemhi mountain range,” Call said via online message. “Alpine lakes and the fish are spectacular.”

Speaking once again in generalities, High said most alpine lakes and streams have brook, rainbows or cutthroat trout in them. Waters that are fished less frequently often have smaller fish but greater abundance. Specifically, he said most of the streams flowing into the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River have brook trout. One example is the Buffalo River in the Island Park area.

“The Buffalo River has a lot of brook trout in it but they‘re not big fish,” High said. “You can drive to the springs that are the source of Buffalo River but there’s several miles in between where there is no access other than floating or hiking.”

Another stream that requires some hiking is Robinson Creek flowing out of Yellowstone National Park.

“There are places you can drive to Robinson Creek, but there’s some really good fishing off the road if you’re willing to hike and get up in there,” High said. “The same with Warm River.”

In the early 1900s, most of Idaho’s alpine lakes and streams were fishless. Fish and Game’s Roger Phillips explained why many of Idaho’s mountains lakes now are good fisheries.

“Most have fish in them thanks to Fish and Game’s mountain lake stocking program,” Phillips said in a news release. “Every year, crews hike, pack in by horseback and fly in fingerling trout, which typically grow to catchable sizes within a few years.”

Brook trout sometimes dominate streams where they are present.

“Brook trout can provide lots of fishing action, and they can be a lot of fun to catch for young or new anglers,” Phillips said. “There’s typically a 25-fish bag limit for brook trout, but check the Fishing Seasons and Rules booklet because there are exceptions. The trade off with brook trout is they can overpopulate mountain lakes, and while catch rates can be high, fish are likely to be small.”

High recommends the motorized users check on access before setting off.

“With ATVs, I’d recommend you first get the (Bureau of Land Management) or Forest Service travel plan maps to verify that the location you want to go is open,” he said. “There are some trails in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in the Copper Basin area that have access to ATVs, like Lake Creek or Corral Creek.”

For all backcountry visitors, the experts recommend going prepared with navigation tools and skills and extra clothing backup in case of nasty weather.

“Be sure to pack clothing for cold and wet weather, even during summer because thunderstorms are common and can drop the temperature by 20-30 degrees, and a warm, sunny day can turn cold and wet within minutes,” Phillips said. “Bring enough food and water to enjoy a day outdoors, and don’t forget other items, like sunscreen and bug repellent.”

“Nearly all the streams in Eastern Idaho have fish in them to one degree or another,” High said. “What better way to get out and learn what your backyard is all about, than by hiking and doing some fishing and just exploring.”

Kris Millgate has been traveling like crazy lately. Her schedule is relentless, similar to the migrating fish she is following.

There’s little time for showers — maybe every 10 days — just stop for gas and get going. She sleeps by herself in the back of a loaned truck and camper. The outdoor multimedia journalist has been hunting down pertinent people and places along the route of one of the longest fish migration paths in the world, and puts a camera and microphone in their faces, gathering a story to retell. Her project is called “Ocean to Idaho.”

“I’m following salmon,” Millgate said. “I’ve been researching it for months and months and months. I feel like I’ve been living, breathing everything fish. This time of year, you have 15 hours of light. So, you’re working 15 hours, and I go back to my camper and input everything so I’m up all night. It’s kind of like a crazy crunch, but I love every minute of it. I’m not even tired like I think I should be.”

Millgate is inviting people along for the journey via social media posts. You can find them at tightlinemedia.com/oceantoidaho.

The idea for the project came from a broken leg. While couched up for four months she hatched the plan to follow migrating Idaho salmon from the mouth of the Columbia River to their spawning waters in the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River, 850 miles away.

“During that time on the couch I had a lot of time to think about my work and my life, everything I wanted to do and what I hadn’t done yet,” she said. “I knew the end of the salmon route at the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. I’ve shot that. I was intrigued by the idea of what on earth was it like for salmon to swim from the ocean all the way to Idaho.”

She made her plans, then a pandemic hit and she had to rethink everything.

“That’s adding an extra layer of challenge that I didn’t even see coming,” she said.

Dams were closed, people were staying home, she originally planned on flying places and staying in hotels. As sponsors Northwest Toyota Dealers offered up a Tundra pickup and Four Wheel Campers fitted it with a camper. She would ditch any helpers and go solo.

“When I do interviews, I have masks, I have wipes, I do not touch the microphone to the people,” she said. “They handle it and I sanitize it afterward. There’s all these extra layers that have to go on during a pandemic. It makes the job more challenging. It’s hard enough to travel across the Pacific Northwest and then to add extra layers of pandemic pressure makes it a little bit interesting.”

Her end game is to produce a documentary film to come out next spring and several stories for local media outlets, including the Post Register. She is focusing on Chinook salmon because “no one really remembers being able to fish for sockeye, they remember fishing for Chinook. So, I’m following Chinook salmon.” Specifically, Chinook from the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. They use the Columbia, the Snake, the Salmon and the Yankee Fork and return by mid-August.

Along her journey she shoots photographs, video, an underwater camera, a drone for overhead, and her phone. “Sometimes two at a time, but if I’m doing my drone, it’s just the drone and same with underwater.”

Already, she’s learned a few interesting tidbits.

“I’ve talked with a tribal fisher and her son off of their scaffold,” she said. “They caught their first sockeye of the season. It was for dinner. It was magnificent. They were mostly catching shad. … Watching them off that scaffold is amazing. … They’ll be there every night for hours on end. They just shove that dip net down into that fast water. If I ever did that it would fling me right into the current. It’s so fast.”

Another thing Millgate has learned during her venture is about fish rest stops.

“I went to a spot where Chinook salmon from the Yankee Fork of Idaho stop as a rest area,” she said about an area downstream from Portland, Oregon. “It’s an amazing chunk of backwater that used to be like a pasture for cows. It’s been restored and fish come in there. What they’ve discovered is that everyone thinks that salmon head straight to the ocean and they don’t stray. Or they head straight back to Idaho and they don’t stray. But they do. They stray into estuaries. They’ll hold in these safe backwaters. It’s just like a rest stop. Then they’ll get back on the route. They take these little detours to get a break.”

Besides closely following the fish, Millgate is interviewing other stakeholders along the way. The commercial fishermen, sport fishers, tribe fishers, the Corps of Engineers, dam operators, scientists, hatcheries operators, historians and more.

One big issue that comes up is the impact of dams on the fish.

“There are so many dynamics to this,” she said. “Of course, what comes up is the dams, should they stay or should they go? The answer to that is it depends on who you’re asking.”

Millgate said her journey ends in August when the salmon arrive at the Yankee Fork.

“It’s a very packed and tight schedule,” she said. “I have to stay on schedule or I miss something. I’m in country I’ve never seen. The farther you put me from Idaho, the less I know about the landscape and the people. I’m going to put in thousands of miles to follow a fish for 850.”