Josh Article

Josh Article

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Frequent contributor to the show, Josh Mills, got something off his chest in a recent online article. "I was fortunate enough to team up with Drake magazine which is the preeminent voice in fly fishing but more than anything, I wanted to write a piece in reflection to what is going on this year with the worst return in generations of summer steelhead to the Columbia and Snake River basins. Are we taking the necessary precautions to ensure that this resource will be there in perpetuity, even through the bad years. A consortium of six conservation groups sent a 60 day, notice of intent to sue Idaho Fish and Game over the fact that they were operating their steelhead season on the Clearwater and other rivers in the Idaho steelhead arena where you have to have a federally approved NOAA permit to be able to operate your steelhead seasons. Most all of the stocks in the Columbia are listed as ESA, Endangered Species Act threatened stocks. To have this and to have a plan in place, they have been operating without a permit for somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 years. It was a bit of a technicality in which they were offered to do that but they pushed the suit in an effort to force Idaho into really considering some conservation measures this year. Idaho went the nuclear option and decided to close all their seasons on December 7 which would keep them inside the 60 day notice of intent. At that point, Idaho Department of Fish And Came started playing the blame game. They went almost a decade without a federally licensed plan to officiate steelhead seasons within Idaho."
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