IRU’s Quarterly Conservation Update
Stay up to date with our conservation staff’s quarterly campaign news. You can join our email list here. This update focuses on our main areas of work. As always, thank you for speaking up for our rivers and being a part of the river conservation community. We couldn’t do this work without your support.
SPRING 2023
SALMON RECOVERY CAMPAIGN by STEPHEN PFEIFFER
Where we are….
This year will be critical for wild Snake River salmon and steelhead recovery. You’ve probably heard that line before over the past few years, such is the longevity of the campaign to remove the four Lower Snake River Dams, which has been brought on by an acceptance by elected leaders and government agencies of meager fish runs and business as usual operations on the federal hydrosystem of dams and reservoirs.
While our work at IRU over the last 30 years has kept salmon runs from outright extinction, populations have been steadily heading in that direction because our region hasn’t been able to move on from a status quo that is lethal to wild salmon, and a warming climate has made the situation incredibly urgent.
A study by the Nez Perce Tribe on salmon in the Snake River basin, predicts that by 2025 over three-quarters of spring/summer Chinook populations and just under half of steelhead populations will have less than 50 returning fish to spawn – a threshold that, once crossed, means a population is on the cusp to absolute extinction.
Complacency from elected officials has been changing, slowly, as key leaders such as Representative Mike Simpson here in Idaho, as well as Patty Murray and Jay Inslee in Washington have committed themselves to recover salmon and doing the planning necessary for a regional clean energy and railway infrastructure shift away from the services provided by the four obsolete dams on the Lower Snake.
The Biden Administration has committed, as part of a hold in long-running litigation, to recover native fish populations, while honoring commitments with Tribal Nations, and meeting clean power needs and other services tied to the river that are relied upon by regional stakeholders.
With the Administration and regional leaders on-board to recover wild salmon, the focus in 2023 will be on making sure the necessary planning is completed and the funding is secured in order to start transitioning away from the services provided by the four dams – all of which would allow for their removal to become a foregone conclusion.
Where we are headed…
With the Administration and regional leaders on-board to recover wild salmon, IRU’s focus in 2023 will be on holding them to their word and making sure next steps in terms of funding and planning are taken in order to start transitioning away from the services provided by the four dams, which would allow for their removal to become a foregone conclusion.
To that end, the federal government’s approach relies on a “whole of government” participation, yet agencies like the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) have not gotten on board. In January, IRU and partner organizations across the region called on our members to ask the Administration for more buy-in from BPA and specifically to more equitably fund fish and wildlife projects alongside power generation and transmission, as is mandated to the agency under the Northwest Power Act of 1980. This public pressure on the Administration to align BPA with its stated goals will continue.
The federal government also recently hosted several listening sessions in order to receive input from people who are not part of the ongoing settlement talks. The response from salmon advocates at the sessions was very positive and certainly got the attention of the agency officials present. The message was loud and clear: the majority of folks want to see dam removal and salmon recovery on a near-term timeline, and have made clear that our Tribes, river communities, and wildlife that rely on salmon cannot afford inaction.
If you missed these sessions, there will be further opportunities to provide comments. Meanwhile, you can take action for wild salmon and steelhead here.
WILD & SCENIC RIVER PROTECTIONS by NICK KUNATH
Where we are…
Few land management policies can cause such visceral reactions among passionate individuals as the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, both in the form of its champions and as its harshest critics, especially here in Idaho.
We have well over 100,000 miles of rivers within the state and just over 890 miles of that are protected under this legislation. Why is it that less than 1% of our state’s river miles have been officially recognized and elevated under this hallmark environmental legislation? It surely isn’t due to a lack of eligibility. The Forest Service has found numerous stretches of additional rivers to be eligible but the required federal action and public support can be difficult to pin down.
However, there are reasons to be hopeful. There is even a roadmap to follow as this discussion continues to move forward. In the early 2000’s, the Owyhee Initiative was in its infancy as stakeholders gathered to collaborate on a path toward protections for the vast and complex ecosystems in Southwest Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. Composed of conservation groups, ranchers, and county commissioners, the group was able to work together in a true collaboration that resulted in major wins for all stakeholders. For river conservation, an additional 325 miles of Wild and Scenic designations, a large portion of which fell within Idaho, was part of the package deal that was signed into law in 2009 by former President Obama.
Just this past month, IRU’s executive director was in Washington D.C., meeting with lawmakers as a representative of the Wild and Scenic Rivers coalition. Unfortunately, but maybe not too surprisingly, some of the meetings with Idaho’s elected officials could have gone better, but nationally, there is plenty to be excited about after meeting with over 80 congressional offices working to advance numerous initiatives across the nation.
Where we are headed…
Idaho Rivers United is engaging in additional collaborative groups with the same hope to continue to move the conversation forward and secure these durable, long-lasting protections for some of our most cherished and important rivers.
In particular, through the Payette Forest Coalition, we are working with member groups to address some of the lingering management questions in the Payette National Forest, including how to manage the Secesh, Johnson Creek, and South Fork Salmon, all deemed suitable for inclusion under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
We strongly believe that all three of these incredible rivers (and all eligible rivers within the state) and the roles that they play within the larger Idaho ecosystem must be protected but we are hopeful that through this collaborative work, we can help bring others who remain skeptical on board and find win-win opportunities for everyone.
As salmon numbers continue to dwindle and threats from development, mining, and a booming population continue to be very real, we are continuing this work wherever we can.
Although we would like to see more immediate additions to Wild & Scenic river miles in Idaho, we are confident that our steady and consistent approach to advocacy on this important issue will ultimately bear fruit for Idahoans and anyone who may visit and enjoy our state’s rivers.
MINING PROJECT MITIGATION & REFORM by SYDNEY ANDERSON
Where we are…
The global extraction industry continues to point its crosshairs at many of Idaho’s cherished natural landscapes, and Idaho Rivers United is simultaneously working to protect these areas from the potential threats that may ensue.
Proposed projects that currently have our attention are the Stibnite Gold Project, Horse Heaven, and CuMo, as well as a handful of additional exploratory drilling projects all of which have the potential to be full-fledged mines that could appear in the central Idaho landscape. Each of these projects has yet to obtain full approval from the Forest Service, and we are committed to ensuring that the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process is followed as we fight to protect Idaho’s invaluable rivers.
The beginning of this year’s quarter has been busy for our conservation crew. Our staff diligently worked to submit thorough comments to the Forest Service on the supplemental draft of the environmental impact statement (SDEIS) on the Stibnite Gold Project in January 2023. Comments were also submitted in February 2023 during the scoping phase of the Horse Heaven exploration project to encourage the Forest Service to elevate the project from a categorical exclusion (CE) to at least an environmental assessment (EA). The purpose of conducting an EA would allow for a more thorough investigation of the potential environmental impacts this project could have. Considering the potential for the Horse Heaven and Stibnite Gold Project to share a border and place major disturbances in the same area, we are apprehensive about the cumulative impacts these two mines could have.
The mining company CuMoCo, formerly known as Mosquito Gold, is looking to gain approval from the Forest Service to move forward with an exploratory drilling project in hopes of later opening up one of the world’s largest open-pit mines. The potential copper and molybdenum mine would sit in the middle of the Boise River watershed. This will be the third attempt by CuMoCo to propose exploratory drilling operations. This spring, the Forest Service is expected to release a “Supplemental Redline Environmental Assessment” with a revised proposal around this project focused on recent impacts from major fires and a rare plant found within the project boundary.
Where we are headed…
The current timeline that the Forest Service has released for the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) and draft record of decision (ROD) is expected around the end of 2023 to early 2024. We are waiting for more information from the Forest Service regarding the CuMo and Horse Heaven exploratory projects. We will keep our members and the public informed on the details of these projects and how to speak up and take action to protect the rivers you love.
IRU will continue to focus on mitigating the detrimental impacts of mining by challenging inadequate proposed mine plans and pushing for federal mining policy reform. As for the last 150 years under the Mining Law of 1872, the “best use” for public lands is to extract the resources from them. IRU is in support of the Biden Administration initiating change to the antiquated law and are encouraging mining law reform in order to better protect the ecosystems that these minerals are found in.