Reflecting on 30 years: John Wells, current IRU Board President
-John Wells
I became a member of Idaho Rivers United in 1992 after a Selway River trip with IRU's first Executive Director Wendy Wilson. It was 2 years after IRU's founding, and not long after it's genesis as the ‘Friends of the Payette’ with the sole mission of saving the North Fork of the Payette from hydropower obliteration.
“ IRU is the one organization in the state that can be counted on - day in, day out, year in, year out - to stand up and defend Idaho’s rivers. ”
Given my whitewater orientation and IRU's roots, I simplistically believed dams were the major, if not only, threat to Idaho's rivers. I had a lot to learn! It wasn’t until years later, after serving as a table captain at Ketchum Breakfast events and still later as a Board member, that I began to truly appreciate the multitude of threats to Idaho rivers and everything IRU had impacted over the past 30 years. The partial list includes: new dams, hydropower management, the extinction of wild salmon and steelhead, mines and mine waste, logging, bombing ranges, mega-loads, and animal effluent.
This is IRU's bread and butter. This epitomizes why IRU exists; it is our mission. IRU is the one organization in the state that can be counted on - day in, day out, year in, year out - to stand up and defend Idaho's rivers.
Our commitment to our mission, our nimbleness in dealing with anything thrown our way, and our tenacity in staying in the fight for our rivers is a source of great pride. We have often taken on challenges that seem insurmountable, and brought issues to public attention that otherwise would have been unnoticed until the damage was done.
After all, when the Lochsa River corridor was besieged by mega-loads threatening the Wild & Scenic values, who'd even heard of a mega-load? IRU has worked since 1991 to keep wild salmon and steelhead from extinction. Now, after 29 years, we're finally starting to see the kind of regional political will needed to ultimately breach Lower 4 Snake River dams.
We're a scrappy group, routinely punching above our weight and winning! I am the most proud however of our both past and current staff, without whom the heavy lifting wouldn't get done and the fights of the future won't be fought.
Here's to another 30 years!
John Wells, Current IRU Board President