Here, local ranchers have been working closely with fish experts and conservation professionals for more than 25 years to improve fish habitat for salmon and steelhead, migrating fish that travel more than 800 miles from here to the Pacific Ocean.
Even before the fish were protected under the Endangered Species Act in the early 1990s, Lemhi ranchers wanted to do their part to save the fish.
“I used to go down to catch salmon all the time,” says Don Olson, a Lemhi rancher who’s been involved since the beginning. “It was a big deal when we was kids. We used to come down to this pool here, and the salmon would lodge in here, and man you’d ride ‘em and chase ‘em, and do all kinds of fun stuff.”
Over the last 25 years, Lemhi ranchers have teamed up with state and federal agencies to create primo spawning and rearing habitat for these magnificent fish. Major milestones include:
• 130 conservation projects and counting.
• Minimum stream flows for fish passage at L-6, the main Lemhi River diversion.
• Preserving working lands and open space forever — nearly 30,000 acres of prime spawning areas protected via conservation easements.
• Over 50 miles of riparian fencing.
• Restoring water flows to 12 tributary streams, opening up 50+ miles of spawning habitat for Chinook salmon and 40+ miles of spawning habitat for steelhead.
• Installing 110+ fish screens at irrigation diversions to keep juvenile fish in the river.
• Brokering 50+ water transactions that restored water to tributary streams and the main Lemhi River.
• Dozens of water efficiency projects to save precious water for fish, increase crop yields and reduce labor.
• Replacing 75+ old irrigation diversions with fish-friendly weirs.
• All this, while ensuring that working ranches remain working for the local tax base and economy.
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