For the week of November 19 - 24, 2003

Silver Creek featured at Saturday conference

150 attend to talk about
water, fish and conservation

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"The very word drought almost means something unusual. It very well may be that we’ve been in an un-drought, and we’re going back into a dry period."

— LEE BROWN, Ketchum hydrologist

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Bubbling from desert springs in southern Blaine County at the foot of the Picabo Hills, Silver Creek is renowned for its cool, clean, trout-rich waters.

The Silver Creek Symposium on Saturday attracted a diverse array of interests. Here, state Sen. Clint Stennett catches up with Picabo rancher Nick Purdy. "If there was an overriding theme, to me, it was that this is an important public resource that we all need to be involved in protecting and preserving," Stennett said. Express photo by Willy Cook

As one of the best remaining examples of a high desert, cold spring ecosystem in the Western U.S., Silver Creek was the subject last weekend of a full-day symposium that attracted anglers, biologists, environmentalists, ranchers and politicians to examine the health and future of the creek and its surrounding ecosystem.

The conference, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy-Idaho and held at the Sun Valley Inn on Saturday, Nov. 15, attracted about 150 participants and a half-dozen speakers and panelists.

"It impressed me that 150 people would take a Saturday and spend it to become educated," said state Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum. "It just showed me how valuable a resource Silver Creek is and how people perceive it as a public resource."

Silver Creek emerges from springs surrounding Picabo that form six tributary streams. The springs are fed by groundwater that comes from nearby mountains, the Big Wood River and from irrigation diversions in the Bellevue Triangle. According to Blaine County Hydrologist Lee Brown, up to 68 percent of Silver Creek’s flow could be from the diversions.

With several notable exceptions, experts said Silver Creek is one of the healthiest fisheries and bird and aquatic insect habitats in the state.

U.S. Geological Survey Biologist Terry Maret said the health of the stream fluctuates based on temperature variations and high or low water years.

"That’s just part of the cyclic pattern of the stream," he said. "I think that’s just a normal process of streams in this area."

According to Maret, fish populations in Silver Creek have varied considerably throughout the last 20 years, but current trout populations, dominated by brown trout, appear to be self-sustaining.

Conversely, he said a new exotic snail species has taken root in the system and could pose problems for the stream’s fishery.

The New Zealand mud snail took root in Silver Creek sometime in the last two years. In population surveys in 2001, the snail was not detected, Maret said.

"They are very prolific breeders," he said. "Probably 100 of them can fit on a dime."

The problem with the mud snail is that it competes with insects and aquatic invertebrates for food, and the snail is not a very good meal for trout, Maret said.

Another potential problem facing Silver Creek is ongoing drought, Maret said.

But Brown said variable moisture is to be expected in the desert regions of Idaho.

"We live on the edge of a desert," he said. "We do not live in the mountains."

Brown said that average precipitation in this region of Idaho is declining, but, because of a lack of historical records, the overall trend is not easy to quantify.

"The very word drought almost means something unusual," Brown said. "It very well may be that we’ve been in an un-drought, and we’re going back into a dry period."

Former Silver Creek Preserve Manager Mark Davidson said work is ongoing in portions of the 479-acre TNC preserve to restore habitat and to improve conditions for fish and wildlife. He also said conservation targets must be set for the wetlands and water communities.

"Our job, as I see it, is to look at the long-term," he said.

TNC-Idaho Director Geoff Pampush said he was somewhat surprised to hear support for Silver Creek from such an array of interests, rather than only anglers.

"There’s an overwhelming support for managing Silver Creek for the full array of values," he said. "It’s really about the place in a lot of ways."

Davidson said preservation of the Silver Creek system is a job that’s bigger than the preserve and bigger than The Nature Conservancy, which owns it.

"We can do a certain amount ourselves, but we have to reach out and ask for help in the land management area," he said. "I would challenge all of us to do our part and to make these things happen."

Pampush, citing comments from people who said they feel disconnected from TNC, said the organization will establish a citizens’ committee to work on ongoing issues at Silver Creek.

"We’ll look at a way for the committee to identify challenges and to take the next steps together," he said.

 

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