IdahoGoldGettR
Full Member
Making It Straight: Idaho's Forest Service to rearrange Crooked River
Just received this info. moments ago. Another $2.5 million of tax payers money pi$$ed down the drain. The millions already spent on similar projects to the Red River and Newsome streams over the past 10 years has shown no improvement on salmon and steelhead count. Recently, there has been an over-reach by EPA prohibited dredging on the Clearwater River (which by the way was approved by the States Dept. of Water Resource). They claim that the dredges were producing turbidity and polluting the water and have invoked to do it legally under the Clean Water Act. Not only have these folks lost their minds but they have never observed the blow-outs this river (as well as its many branches) sees each spring. As one representative announced at a Boise meeting, "all the dredges combined in this world could not produce the effects of a blowout that Mother nature herself does in a single day." For EPA to rely on the use of the Clean Water Act on a stream named Clearwater,,, needs no further comment from me.
You are welcome to read the following and I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
ELK CITY – The H&H Mining Company’s dredging during the late 1930s and early 1940s rearranged Crooked River, leaving a two-mile legacy of “meanders” that the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests now intend to undo. Public access to the area will be limited for up to six years after the work begins, during which the mine tailings will be moved to make way for 64 acres of wetlands in the floodplains astride more than 10,000 feet of channels slated for reconstruction.
#This plan to rearrange the river once again – known as the Crooked River Valley Rehabilitation project – has been in the works since 2012. The proposal is subject to further objections and review, but it took a step forward last Monday, Feb. 23, with the release of the forests’ study and draft decision.
#“Mine tailings are concentrated in the valley bottom and have altered the physical condition of the stream system, restricting the natural migration pattern of the stream and other changes in channel size, form, and function,” the forests noted in a news release. “The condition currently impairs the ability of riparian vegetation to establish and function as a natural buffer.”
#The work is expected to boost the steelhead and chinook salmon fisheries — and to do it legally under the Clean Water Act, the Forest Service requires a joint permit from Idaho’s Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
#The project will boost employment in the short term and will boost recreation in the long-term, according to the Forest Service. In 2012, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game noted fishing in Idaho generates about $500 million in statewide retail sales, including about $50 million per year for salmon and steelhead fishing in the Clearwater River basin and lower Salmon River. An earlier study found restored salmon and steelhead fisheries could bring $23 million in retail sales annually to the communities of Grangeville and Elk City. The cost of the project is estimated at $2.5 million and would potentially be funded through the Bonneville Power Association Fish and Wildlife Program.
#Those with mining claims in the area should contact the Forest Service concerning any coordination or questions concerning access to their claims; the area will be under a closure order that will limit access for six years the Forest Service anticipates it will take to complete the work. The Crooked River Road (Road 233) will remain open to the public.
#For details, contact Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests project team leader, Jennie Fischer, 983-4048, or at the Forest Service office in Grangeville.
Forest Service Shield
Laura A. Smith
Public Affairs Specialist/Web Manager
Forest Service
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
p: 208-983-5143
lasmith02@fs.fed.us
104 Airport Road
Grangeville, ID 83530
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests - Home
Just received this info. moments ago. Another $2.5 million of tax payers money pi$$ed down the drain. The millions already spent on similar projects to the Red River and Newsome streams over the past 10 years has shown no improvement on salmon and steelhead count. Recently, there has been an over-reach by EPA prohibited dredging on the Clearwater River (which by the way was approved by the States Dept. of Water Resource). They claim that the dredges were producing turbidity and polluting the water and have invoked to do it legally under the Clean Water Act. Not only have these folks lost their minds but they have never observed the blow-outs this river (as well as its many branches) sees each spring. As one representative announced at a Boise meeting, "all the dredges combined in this world could not produce the effects of a blowout that Mother nature herself does in a single day." For EPA to rely on the use of the Clean Water Act on a stream named Clearwater,,, needs no further comment from me.
You are welcome to read the following and I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
ELK CITY – The H&H Mining Company’s dredging during the late 1930s and early 1940s rearranged Crooked River, leaving a two-mile legacy of “meanders” that the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests now intend to undo. Public access to the area will be limited for up to six years after the work begins, during which the mine tailings will be moved to make way for 64 acres of wetlands in the floodplains astride more than 10,000 feet of channels slated for reconstruction.
#This plan to rearrange the river once again – known as the Crooked River Valley Rehabilitation project – has been in the works since 2012. The proposal is subject to further objections and review, but it took a step forward last Monday, Feb. 23, with the release of the forests’ study and draft decision.
#“Mine tailings are concentrated in the valley bottom and have altered the physical condition of the stream system, restricting the natural migration pattern of the stream and other changes in channel size, form, and function,” the forests noted in a news release. “The condition currently impairs the ability of riparian vegetation to establish and function as a natural buffer.”
#The work is expected to boost the steelhead and chinook salmon fisheries — and to do it legally under the Clean Water Act, the Forest Service requires a joint permit from Idaho’s Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
#The project will boost employment in the short term and will boost recreation in the long-term, according to the Forest Service. In 2012, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game noted fishing in Idaho generates about $500 million in statewide retail sales, including about $50 million per year for salmon and steelhead fishing in the Clearwater River basin and lower Salmon River. An earlier study found restored salmon and steelhead fisheries could bring $23 million in retail sales annually to the communities of Grangeville and Elk City. The cost of the project is estimated at $2.5 million and would potentially be funded through the Bonneville Power Association Fish and Wildlife Program.
#Those with mining claims in the area should contact the Forest Service concerning any coordination or questions concerning access to their claims; the area will be under a closure order that will limit access for six years the Forest Service anticipates it will take to complete the work. The Crooked River Road (Road 233) will remain open to the public.
#For details, contact Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests project team leader, Jennie Fischer, 983-4048, or at the Forest Service office in Grangeville.
Forest Service Shield
Laura A. Smith
Public Affairs Specialist/Web Manager
Forest Service
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
p: 208-983-5143
lasmith02@fs.fed.us
104 Airport Road
Grangeville, ID 83530
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests - Home
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? Just to straighten it, hoping the fish will come? Well if the light bulb isn't on, then I guess no one's home. NEWS FLASH - - - they are already here - been that way since it was dredged some 75 years ago! Oh by the way, they'd have you (the miner) believe that it is dredging that kills fish when in fact the same fish hatchery on this Crooked River killed 400,000 juvenile fish (they say it was an accident) several years ago. Ironic that they consider themselves the "savior of the fish."
