Idaho Fishing

Steelhead Stocked in the Boise River

Anglers lined the Boise River near the Parkcenter Boulevard bridge, shoulder to shoulder, in anticipation as Idaho Fish and Game released another 300 steelhead into the Boise River Thursday afternoon, November 13.

Fish and Game managers plan to release another 300 in the river Thursday, November 20, from the Glenwood Bridge to Barber Park.

Steelhead are returning to the Oxbow Hatchery as forecast, and Idaho Fish and Game managers released the first 300 into the river on Thursday, November 6. Trapping at Oxbow began Monday, October 27.

Besides a 2008 fishing license, anglers hoping to tangle with one of the 4- to 10-pound hatchery steelhead need a $12.75 steelhead permit. Barbless hooks are not required for Boise River steelhead angling.

Missoula Notebook

A Walk in the Woods With Guns

Considering that hunters are supposed to be a dying breed, there sure were a lot of pickup trucks jammed into the pullouts along route 200 east of Missoula last Tuesday, and a lot of men in camouflage-patterned orange vests standing around next to them.

It was Veteran’s Day, and my neighbor Vin and I were headed out to some Forest Service land near Nine Mile Prairie Road to hunt for deer.

from the new west blog: zoo emergencies

Giraffe Urgently Needed in Idaho

Zoo Boise’s young giraffe, Shingo, has passed away suddenly. We only had him for seven weeks when he got sick, and then he up and died. A giraffe specialist was even brought in, but sadly, Shingo had an incurable giraffe syndrome.

It’s especially sad because the kids at Boise’s Adams Elementary School helped raise money to bring Shingo to Zoo Boise, and they got to pick his name. Now, Shingo's companion Joseph is all by himself, which is apparently not the done thing. Giraffes need company, and the kids need a new giraffe. We can’t allow Joseph and an entire school of children to grieve for long; it’s too heartbreaking.

I’m sure ordinary citizens can do something to help locate a new giraffe for Zoo Boise. Okay, I'm pretty sure.

I just Googled HOW TO FIND A GIRAFFE and found that...

PERFECT PLACE FOR BLUE TIDE TO QUICKLY MAKE ITS MARK

Time to Codify the Roadless Rule

On January 5, 2001, with George W. Bush's moving van parked at the back door of the White House, President Bill Clinton signed his now-infamous Roadless Rule. With a stroke of his pen and without the approval of Congress, Clinton protected almost one-third of our national forests, 58.5 million acres, from road building.

The incoming Bush administration immediately reversed the rule, but a judge rapidly reversed the reversal. Ever since, the Roadless Rule has been a tennis ball, back and forth, on and off, mired in a ridiculous succession of administrative rules and court cases, making it hard to decide who's ahead in the game. As I write this, to emphasize the folly, two judges have made opposing rulings, one spiking the Roadless Rule, one re-affirming its validity.

So I say, let's end the tennis match and make the Roadless Rule the law of the land.

Revisiting The Cabela’s Controversy

Last year I wrote a series of articles about concerns voiced by Montana hunters about Cabela's Trophy Properties, the real estate marketing division of the world's largest retailer of hunting, fishing and camping gear, Cabela's.

Facing a rapid decline in access to both private and public land, the last thing Montana hunters needed was "one of their own," Cabela's, to launch headlong into the amenity real estate business and further speed up the loss of huntable land.

Fueled by the state's largest sporting group, the 7,000-member-strong Montana Wildlife Federation, the issue became white-hot controversial. The MWF even asked its members to return their catalogs to Cabela's with letters protesting the new venture. Hundreds of them did exactly that and, suddenly, hunters had the company's big-time attention and promises to do what it could to smooth out the ruffled feathers.

But did the firestorm really change anything? Or a year later, is Cabela's Trophy Properties (CTP) doing business as usual?

From the New West blog: presidential election

Who Will Lead Interior Under a New President?

The Idaho Statesman’s award-winning columnist Rocky Barker has an excellent review of who might be the next Secretary of the Interior, depending on who wins the presidential race.

This is of particular interest in Idaho because former governor, U.S. senator and (and Boise mayor) Dirk Kempthorne (R) is the current head of Interior, where his reviews have been generally very good.

Barker points out that the agency’s head is the country’s top wildlife manager of “more than 507 million acres of national parks, rangeland and wildlife refuges.”

He would manage more than 600 dams that bring water to 31 million Westerners and irrigate 60 percent of all the vegetables grown in the United States. He would be in charge of the fate of 1,265 threatened or endangered species.

He would be responsible for 68 percent of the nation's oil and gas reserves and millions of acres of federal mining lands. The next president’s choice for Interior also will sit on the Cabinet, discussing the major issues that face the nation and the world.

What a tall order in these difficult times.

Wildlife Destruction Dept.

Never Let a Bear Drive Your Car

When she went outside on a brisk morning in mid-September, Mary Randall got a rude surprise.

"I noticed the windshield wiper was hanging down and I went, 'Hmm, that's odd.'"

Odd doesn't begin to describe it. Along with a broken wiper, the interior of Randall's car – parked outside her home in the Sugarloaf area in the canyons above Boulder – had been completely destroyed by a scavenging bear.

From The New West Blog

Video: ‘Still Howling Wolf’ from High Country News

High Country News has just released a short film, Still Howling Wolf, describing the 13-year-long effort to reintroduce gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and exploring the passionate and complicated feelings the animals inspire:

Montana's Wilderness Drought

Massive Public Lands Bill Leaves Out Montana

I've written extensively about Montana's Wilderness drought, 26 years and counting without Congress designated one acre of the Big Sky State as Wilderness. Now, Congress seems poised to pass S. 3213, a massive public lands bill, a collection of 90 wilderness and watershed protection bills covering almost every state.

For Montana wilderness advocates, it's another in a long line of no shows. In fact, Montana gets less than zero.