Minutes of ITU Council Spring 2004 meeting

 

Friday, April 30, & Saturday, May 1

The University Inn, Boise

 

Friday April 30:

 

A workshop was held to assemble frames for limited edition bull trout prints available from the council’s Education Endowment Fund, which were made available through the Avista agreement. Framed prints were given to Idaho chapters for own fundraising purposes

 

(At morning council meeting, Bob moved, Loren second that council provide restaurant gift certificate to Troy’s parents David and Susan Tvrdy in appreciation of hosting the workshop at their home in Kuna: passed) 

 

SATURDAY May 1:

 

Greetings and introductions by Troy Tvrdy, president:

 

Present: Troy Tvrdy, Bob Dunnagan, Loren Albright, Paul Koch, Maria Corsini from Sandpoint; Ben Collins from Twin Falls; Andy Brunelle, Richard Prange, Richard Jones, Darrell Kuhrt, Chris Jones, Herb Roark from Boise; Todd Carter from Pocatello; Ken Retallic from Ketchum; Kaitlin Lovell from national salmon staff in Oregon; Scott Yates from Idaho water office; Amy Wilson, BSU environmental financial assistance office; Bert Bohler, Idaho Rivers United

President’s report:

 

TU Council Chairs Conference Calls:

John Gale is national TU’s new chapter support coordinator;

Chapters with $25,000 in finances for 3-5 years need to file IRS non-profit form

TU national meeting is Sept. 15-19 in Denver

 

TU National Strategic Plan, Mission Statement 2003 Denver meeting: Discussion of highlights of power point presentations. (CD of strategic plan, finances etc available from Troy that can be used by chapters for own meetings.)

 

Report since ITU conference call:

Troy: newsletter still hasn’t happened. Led to strategy discussion on reviving council newsletter, possibly sharing duties and mailing with Idaho Water Office; possibly adding product to Web site, too; Scott et al will research costs, possibilities of cost sharing etc

 

Troy: request reimbursement of $200 for Moscow chapter startup; $245 for frame, food etc for workshop …gas etc. with total of ($564) Bob moved, Loren second: passed

 

Troy sold bull trout print + $100

 

Troy discussed continued need for new blood on council and need to have continuity through people working up into leadership positions.

 

Minutes:

 

Approval of minutes from 2003 fall council meeting. Rick moved, Bob second: passed

 

National Leadership Council Report

 

Bob: NLC representative position is one of highly administrative work pushed by national staff to further business of councils and regions etc. Recommends Andy as future replacement and recommends future financial support to cover basic expenses from council, with possible help from chapters, as compensation in recognition of work involved with a bureaucracy. (No action by council.)

 

National Board of Trustees Report

 

Loren: Represents Idaho and Northwest as 1 of 8 grassroots TU members on board. There are also 20 national members recruited by and representing national office. All scheduled to meet in June in Yellowstone to talk over grassroots programs.

TUTV may be in trouble financially. Attempts being made to keep it alive through new outside funding, but TU doesn’t fund program, although it’s good recruiting tool for new members. Loren thinks its high national value is worth seeking options to keep it alive.

TU’s current finances are healthy, considering huge impact felt after 9/11 cut into charity and non-profit donations. Past year’s donations show up swing, especially with several large grants received.

 

Fundraising: ITU Special Event/other ideas

 

Troy, et al: Round robin discussion of possibilities … shared banquet, “buddy” trips, raffles, auctions etc …

 

Troy: www.westfly.com could be used to auction items from Idaho; requires a volunteer to monitor auctions, write stream updates, fishing reports etc

 

 

Three Rivers TU chapter

 

Troy: new chapter formed in Moscow representing Moscow, Lewiston, Orofino, Coeur d’Alene area that revives chapter formerly based in Lewiston.

 

Reed Gellispie TU chapter

 

Troy: chapter’s struggling to maintain interest … council recommends mailing of newsletter from Ted Trueblood chapter and council’s when it’s revived to keep members aware of Idaho happenings; Troy will continue to try to make contact with officers etc 

 

Possibility of Coeur d’Alene chapter

 

Loren: large population area with no representation at chapter level considering Spokane in Washington also without a TU chapter. Loren et al will look at forming combined chapter with Spokane, and possibly Post Falls … need focus person in Coeur d’Alene to generate interest. Sandpoint chapter will pursue options.

 

Status plan for Hemingway Chapter

 

Troy: key is to find someone willing to be president and generate interest … Ben and Ken agreed to set up a combined meet with Magic Valley chapter in Hailey or Ketchum (possibly this summer but more likely in fall), and send out letter and advertise to attract interest.

 

 

Council financial reports

 

Andy: provided details on council’s disbursements past 6 months and current assets

Loren moved to accept financial report as submitted by Andy, Bob second, passed

 

Finalize establishment of Executive Director Account by transferring $10,000 from current assets; Bob moved, Loren second, passed

 

Idaho Community Foundation / Education Endowment update

 

Andy: funds now available for distribution for scholarship;

Bob moved to roll over funds available until endowment reaches full goal and able to provide meaningful scholarship; Paul second, passed  

 

Albertsons Cards

 

Andy: noted returns are slowing;

Loren moved to buy 200 cards to redistribute to chapters for distribution to increase revenue; Paul second; passed 

 

 

Bull Trout Education Contract

 

Maria: listed new projects approved for 2004; provided update on status of projects in progress, expenditures, contributions in addition to Avista etc

 

District directors / chapters reports

 

Ted Trueblood Chapter

 

Richard Prange. president, presented special award at the council meeting from the chapter to Andy Brunelle as a thank you for his long service to Trout Unlimited at the chapter, council and national levels. Award is a fly rod hand-built by Troy, ITU Council president. Award was heartily endorsed and applauded by council members and national staff representatives in attendance.

 

Congratulations and thanks from all of us, Andy.

 

Chapter report from Richard:

 

Since the fall 2003 ITU meeting in Challis, the Ted Trueblood chapter has been involved in the following activities:

 

Fund Raising

January 31, 2004 – Brought in noted author and fly fisher, John Shewey, to conduct a full day seminar type event on fly fishing subjects at Boise State University.  Attended by 100 people.  Sold Shewey’s books to participants and sold raffle tickets that resulted in a net profit to our chapter.

April 6, 2004 – Held the second Trout on Tuesday event at the Big Easy Concert Hall in downtown Boise.  Brought in Tim Linehan, host of the TUTV program, and showed filmed episodes on the South Fork Snake and the Big Wood River.  Several paid TU staff were in attendance.  Attended by 100 people and sold raffle tickets and held silent auctions that resulted in a net profit to the chapter.

Public Outreach

The chapter purchased a used 8’ x 12’ modular display system that can be transported and set up at public venues.  The purpose of the display is to showcase our chapter activities with photos, text, and graphics at fund raising events and at public gathering places.  Information on TU national and ITU is also included in the display information.

Trout in the Classroom Program

The chapter’s Trout in the Classroom program grew by 3 schools this past winter.  There are a total of 15 elementary, junior high and high schools now participating in the program.  Our chapter purchases the chiller units and coordinates the program with participating teachers and IDFG staff.  Classes are now releasing their raised trout into local waters.

Conservation Issues

Boise River Quality Fishing Regulations – Successfully lobbied the IDFG Commission to retain the quality trout regulations on the lower Boise River near downtown Boise.

Lucky Peak Water Contracting Proposal – The chapter and Scott Yates of the TU/s Idaho Water Office submitted 8 pages of comments on the Bureau of Reclamation’s draft environmental assessment proposal to permanently contract the last remaining 71,000 AF of water in Lucky Peak Reservoir for irrigation.  Given the pace of rapid farm land conversion to urban uses in the Treasure Valley, our chapter opposes the use of all this water for irrigation and wants some to be dedicated to increase wintertime flows in the Boise River to improve fish habitat.

Atlanta Gold Mine – Submitted EIS scoping comments to the US Forest Service on a proposed heap leach gold mine near the small community of Atlanta in the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Boise River.  The draft EIS is due out later this year and are chapter will likely oppose opening the mine due to its potential impacts on fisheries and other environmental issues.

Habitat Projects – Planning and organizing is continuing on 3 fish habitat projects that will be completed or underway this year.  These chapter projects will be publicized in local media.

Harris Ranch Boise River Side Channel Project – A request for contractor bids will be issued soon to allow construction to begin of the first phase of this project.  The chapter has secured about $70,000 from a NFWF grant and other sources to begin construction.

Fir Creek Campground Fence – A $3,500 embrace a stream grant has been given to the chapter to partner with the US Forest Service to construct fencing along Bear Valley Creek this summer.  The chapter will promote a weekend working/camping/fishing outing with its membership to complete the project.

Boise River Spawning Gravel Placement – This coming fall, the chapter will coordinate and partner with the IDFG and the Boise Parks and Recreation Department to place gravel in a small side channel of the Boise River to improve trout spawning habitat.  The project location is within the Boise City limits, next to the greenbelt and near the River Run housing development. 

 

 

 

Snake River Cutthroats (Region 6 report)

Jim Mathias

 

South Fork of the Snake River

The protection of the Yellowstone Cutthroats has been the focus of activities on the South Fork of the Snake River. Fishing regulations last year were to remove the limit on Rainbows, and no take of Cutthroats, and the public was actively invited to keep the Rainbows. Creel surveys suggest 5000 rainbows were kept in the 2003 summer season as opposed to very few the prior years. The regulations were further opened to allow year round fishing starting this year.

The Bureau of Reclamation funded a correlation of nearly 17 years of data of the river flows and electroshocking surveys in the South Fork. The correlation indicated that a properly timed spring “freshet” favored the recruitment of Cutthroats over that of Rainbows. The mechanism is postulated to be that the redds of the earlier spawning Rainbows are damaged, whereas the Cutthroats have evolved to spawn slightly later and on the descending side of a spring freshet.

Winter flows were curtailed to store water for the “freshet” which will occur this May. Since this will not result in a loss of water to the irrigation community, we did receive their support for the approach.

The Home Rivers team has been making great strides on reconnecting Garden Creek to the main stream, and have initiated preliminary discussions with landowners on developing water savings approaches to allow Rainey Creek to have stream flows even during times of drought.

 

Henry’s Fork

Winter flows, Chester Hydro license application, and access on the lower river are the critical issues on the Henry’s Fork. The Island Park Dam gates had to be closed for repairs on the discharge tunnels. That afforded an opportunity to store additional water that was released to provide improved over wintering habitat to the young of the year Rainbows, often the bottleneck to recruitment. This was made possible by the cooperation between the conservation groups and the Fremont Madison Irrigation District.

The Stage 2 Consultation Document was distributed for the proposed Chester Diversion Dam Hydro project. The major issue is the destruction of year 2 up recruits as they pass through the turbines (up to 20 – 25%) and the shunting of the older age  classes and larger fish into the diversion canals at the dam in the 10 – 11 months there is not water going the dam. Mitigation measures proposed are half hearted at best.

The lower river has seen a huge increase in usage by fishermen in the past 3-5 years, with landowner conflicts now cropping up. One drift boat access point has been closed, and the Henry’s Fork Foundation has undertaken a $200,000 purchase to preserve one at the Stone Bridge (confluence of The Henry’s Fork and Warm River East of Ashton.)

 

Magic Valley Fly Fishers

 

New president is Dave Anderson

 

Ben Collins and Wilson Gray: chapter has put up new signs on fly fishing only section of Little Wood River at Beartrack Williams river access and held a spring clean up day; performed smartweed spraying at Mormon Reservoir; held a Ladies Only casting workshop; held a great Christmas party and a successful annual banquet, including presenting Ruel Stayner scholarships to two CSI students in aquaculture; removed an irrigation pipe blocking float progress on Billingsley Creek; assisted in development of handicapped access at Rock Creek; held a casting demonstration at the Governor’s Tourism Day conference; and held a Water Awareness Day for Twin Falls schools sixth-graders.   

 

 

Southeast Chapter

 

Todd Carter is new president.

Todd: chapter’s primary interests have been in fixing up stream protection fences etc on Portneuf River and regulation changes to no-kill on cutthroat. Also concerned with continued number of rainbow still showing up on upper Blackfoot River. Club is becoming more action oriented …

 

Trout in the Classroom:

 

Three Rivers chapter needs help: Loren moved to provide $1,000 to chapter, Ken second; passed

 

 

Idaho Water Project

 

Scott Yates: new white paper publication on Idaho water issues issued by Idaho Water Office: “Idaho Crossroads: The Challenge for Idaho’s Rivers and Streams in the 21st Century.” Copies will be distributed to all major parties and agencies involved in water issues and conservation in Idaho, including Trout Unlimited council and chapter leadership.  

 

Home Rivers Innitiative South Fork of Snake River update

 

Scott gave update on restoration of Pritcher Creek; start of new project on Garden Creek; and plans to tackle private land issues on Rainey Creek, largest tributary of the upper Snake River.   

 

 

Landscape Hatchery Presentation

 

Kaitlin Lovell: GAVE report on latest court rulings and administration attempts to create policy that would include hatchery numbers with wild fish on returning salmon runs; threatens ESA status of wild salmon; also outlined study for new approach recommended for placing future hatcheries in more natural environments. 

 

 

 

 

Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies meeting in Ketchum in July

 

Bob: moved council donates $500 to Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) convention July 23-30 at Sun Valley Inn, Ken second; discussion, need to find matching money, get booth space etc; passed; (Also held discussion of exploring means to tie Magic Valley and Hemingway joint meeting to this timeframe, too.) (Bob reported following the meeting that TU national agreed to $500 matching contribution to Idaho presence at convention.)

Key days to attend conference and sit in on discussions of WAFWA appear to be Monday, July 26, through Wednesday, July 28. Pienary Sessions Monday and Tuesday mornings will discuss: The Endangered Species Act—How Do We Move Forward.   

 

Sportsman’s Caucus

 

Andy: attended meeting in Feb. discussing possible formation of Idaho Sportsman’s Caucus; some met in March with legislators, too; planning to meet again in mid-summer; recommendation made to continue to monitor progress of group’s formation and determine council’s role later  

 

Native Trout Project List

 

Troy: participants asked to complete forms previously distributed to chapters   to forward to TU national.

 

 

Embrace A Stream projects:

 

Troy and Bob: Update and discussion of Embrace A Stream projects, e.g. ensuring volunteer participation in council-sponsored projects over the upcoming field season and  or Troy.

Idaho received $46,500 in Embrace A Stream grants for 2004 projects: $10,000 to Panhandle Chapter for Brett Creek; $10,000 to Snake River Cutthroats for Garden Creek; $10,000 to Idaho Water Office for Falls Creek Channel Reconnection; $9,500 to South East Idaho Chapter for Thomas Fork Bonneville Cutthroat; and $7,000 to Teton Valley Chapter for Fish Creek Springs.

 

ITU Mini Grant Award

 

Bob and Ben: Winners of individual $500 mini grants awarded by the Council are Southeast Chapter for fencing along the Portneuf River above Lava Hot Springs and Magic Valley Fly Fishers for project to removed pipe across stream obstructing canoe passage on Billingsley Creek.

 

 

Environmental Finance Center Watershed Funding Presentation

 

Amy gave talk on how to take advantage of EPA financial assistance program for watershed project campaigns, primary sources for grants etc; CD and Web site available.

 

 

** National TU Annual Meeting in Denver September 15-19.

 

ITU Council Conference call June 23 7:00 p.m. Mountain 6:00 Pacific

 

 

Next ITU Council meeting will be Sept. 24-25 at Mackay.