Little Things That Make a Big Difference

By Sunny Healey, Silver Creek Preserve manager

While learning about pollinators, their importance and how we can help them, I thought of what John Muir said: “When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world”. For example, from a leading cacao expert Allen Young: “A tiny fly no bigger than the head of a pin is responsible for the world's supply of chocolate.” The leaf-cutting bee (Megachile rotundata) is a solitary bee that is essential to the production of alfalfa, which contributes to the production of milk chocolate by feeding dairy cows.  

The work of pollinators is quite amazing, providing three quarters of our staple crops; 80 percent of flowering plants in the world require pollinators. Last year with the help of the WOW students from Wood River Middle School, we planted over 100 milkweed seedlings for Monarch butterflies and made hundreds of native wildflower seed bombs.  Helping pollinators is fun and serious business. The work of pollinators has been valued at over $90 billion a year, assuming we could do the job at all. 

Bee © Sunny Healey

A simple way to help pollinators is by doing nothing.  By leaving areas of bare soil, dead leaves, and brush piles and postponing spring clean-up, you are providing important overwintering shelter to butterflies, and ground nesting bees.  Many insects and birds migrate but the tiger swallowtail winters in its chrysalis, and anglewing butterflies and tortoiseshell butterflies overwinter as adults.  

Also, not spraying pesticides helps native pollinators.  We not only protect pollinators by refraining from using pesticides, but we protect natural predators like green lacewings which prey on mealybugs, psyllids, thrips, mites, whiteflies.  Leafhoppers and ladybugs, eat aphids at a rate of 5000/year. 

If you are feeling a little more ambitious, you can plant a native flower.  You could plant a few, or even an entire butterfly garden. We planted milkweed because the Monarch caterpillar depends on the plant. Widespread use of herbicides has greatly reduced the availability of milkweed across the country.  While Monarch butterflies prefer milkweed, they can get nectar from other flowers.  This is not the case for the caterpillar that relies solely on the milkweed plant for survival. 

The first few generations of Monarchs journey from Mexico to North America, each living about 3-4 months.  The fourth generation lives twice as long and flies all the way back to where the first one emerged in the forests of Michoacán, sometimes a journey of 3000 miles!  

Some other plants for a butterfly garden in Idaho: Scarlet’s globemallow attracts the common checkered skipper, chokecherry for the two-tailed swallowtail and violets for the great spangled fritillary. Consider incorporating plants such as broccoli or rose into your garden to attract beneficial insects such as ladybugs, which prey on aphids. 

By planting an array of colors and different sizes of flowers or diverse variety of crops, you can help provide for pollinators throughout the season.  Spring and fall are especially important: Drummond’s milkvetch and yellow bee plant for early spring and Indian paintbrush and rabbitbrush for late summer and fall. 

 

Flowers © Sunny Healey

Farmers know the value of pollination.  Last spring and summer we had a workshop to learn about pollinators and visited a local farm that is working on increasing pollinator habitat. This includes site preparation, weed and pest control, crop diversity, installing buffer zones with diversity of plant structure, and protecting water sources.  Some native bees are only able to fly 300ft before needing to refuel, so leaving native plant areas in corners or along fence lines and roads help provides forage and habitat corridors. This edge habitat can pollinate an entire crop. 

The Natural Resource Conservation Service via the USDA Farm Bill, The Xerces Society, The Nature Conservancy, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Forest Service, the Pollinator Partnership and many others are all working to help pollinators.  There are free planting guides available and a lot of interesting, fun things to learn about the microcosms and world of pollinators and beneficial insects.  

 To find out more about the Monarch butterfly, visit this page.

With spring just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about what we’re going to plant in our own gardens! 

From Silver Creek to Argentina

Editor's note: Conservation manager, Dayna Gross, traveled to Argentina this month to participate in a exchange that aims to bridge the gap between the Conservancy's programs across the globe. The Idaho and Argentina programs have some similar conservation approaches, including grasslands and grazing management. This program presents an opportunity for staff in both locations to expand their knowledge and learn from each other. Dayna will be sharing her experiences on this blog while she is in Argentina.  

By Dayna Gross, conservation manager, Silver Creek watershed

Almost 40 years ago, the community surrounding Silver Creek made a huge leap forward for conservation and for The Nature Conservancy – bringing the Conservancy to Idaho to manage the Silver Creek Preserve. Over ten years ago, I showed up at Silver Creek, starting my career in conservation with open eyes and very little knowledge. Today, as I sit in Bariloche, Argentina, trying to understand the landscape and the community of conservation, I feel very much the same as I did first starting out at Silver Creek.  However, this time around I do feel a stronger sense of excitement and opportunity because the Argentina chapter of the Conservancy is teetering on a development nearby similar to Silver Creek—and this time, I am here at the beginning.

Boys looking for ‘crabs’ along the Limay River, Fortin Chacabuco. Photo ©Dayna Gross/TNC

Fortin Chacabuco is a 12,000-acre ranch about a twenty-minute drive from Bariloche, Argentina.  Bariloche is a picturesque town, called “the gateway to Patagonia.” Located on Lake Nahuel Huapi, it attracts visitors from all over the world who come to see the mountain vistas and enjoy the recreational opportunities of Patagonia.

The Nature Conservancy of Argentina has been here for six years, working on such things as sustainable grazing projects, conservation easements, biological assessments, oil and gas exploration issues and strengthening the Land Trust movement in Argentina. The owners of Fortin Chacabuco have offered to sell the ranch to the Conservancy for a substantially reduced price—offering the chapter a Silver-Creek-like deal of a lifetime. The ranch could be a gateway to the Conservancy for the community, a recreational haven (six miles of river and two smaller trout streams on the property), a place to demonstrate sustainable grazing, an educational center and scientific research station.

Bariloche is located in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains and therefore receives more rainfall than the surrounding area. The vegetation in and around the city and in the hills is diverse – pines, firs, cotoneasters, roses and spirea.  As you move east, the landscape dries out and from a distance looks very much like Idaho sagebrush steppe.

Limay River which runs along the property line of Fortin Chacabuco. Photo ©Dayna Gross/TNC.

With the similarities in landscape, Fortin Chacabuco and Silver Creek struggle with similar management issues – invasive species, climate change, inadequate grazing buffers, trespass and overuse.  Some things are different, however. Here, the invasive species are rose, willows, and pine – the very plants we often plant for habitat at Silver Creek. Fishing and recreational pressure appear to be less than the Silver Creek area; although, that remains to be seen because we are here during the “slack” season. While we allow for duck hunting at Silver Creek, Fortin Chacabuco will be controlling red deer, rabbit, and wild boar, which are nuisance species in their hunting plan. In Argentina, there is little public land. The national parks compromise approximately 8 percent of the land and they can include “category 6” lands which allow for private land holdings, development, grazing, and other uses. This is compared to more than 60 percent public lands in Idaho. Land ownership itself presents very different challenges and opportunities. Owning a large ranch like Fortin Chacabuco (actually small for Argentina) creates a rare opportunity for the Conservancy to showcase a new way of doing conservation in Argentina and the public benefit of conservation on private lands.

These are the similarities and differences that I notice as a land manager. It is funny to hear the similarities and differences my kids notice as we play this game. This morning we made a list and this is what they came up with:

Same- the trees, the rivers, people, lakes 
Different- Motorcycles, buses, the toilets, the ice cream, more noise, Spanish, street dogs

This is how I think of the Silver Creek and Fortin Chacobuco comparison.  In the end, the big things are the same—the nature, structure, and opportunities. It’s just the specifics and the noisy things that are different.

Morning on the desert

By Sunny Healey, Silver Creek Preserve manager

Morning on the desert! I can smell the sagebrush smoke; 
An' I hate to see it burnin', but the land must sure be broke.
-Katherine Fall Pettey, from Songs from the Sage Brush, 1910

Near the North Fork of the Boise River. Photo by Sunny Healey/TNC

The high-desert sagebrush steppe ecosystem is hard to simplify and even more difficult to replicate from scratch. This summer we lost more of that ecosystem when the Beaver Creek fire burned so hot that the plants are not expected to grow back anytime soon. The rain we wished for did arrive but it came falling out of the sky with such intensity (and questionable timing) that it started to dramatically erode the mountainsides. We got to see geomorphology in action, right from the kitchen window for some people. The celebration of fire containment and houses and lives saved was dampened by the 4 feet of mud up against the garage.

By the sheep bridge on the Big Wood River. Photo ©Sunny Healey/TNC

To prohibit further erosion and mudslides, experts recommended a series of measures to be prescribed in the fire rehabilitation plan, one of which included reseeding priority areas within Blaine County. The recommendations came after field inspection by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Forest Service (USFS), Geologic Survey (USGS), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), BLM, Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) and others, In addition to stabilizing the hillsides, the reseeding will improve wildlife habitat more quickly, provide increased resilience and allow us once again to be hiking the hills, gazing at a big bull elk standing majestically amongst the wildflowers, native grasses and sagebrush.

Soldier Creek Preserve. Photo ©Sunny Healey/TNC

The NRCS and USFS suggested performing aerial reseeding this fall. In the beginning, it was going to be bluebunch wheatgrass, Idaho fescue and a quick-acting sterile cereal seed to the rescue. But several groups came together to ensure diverse native species would be added to this reseeding mix. With the support of Blaine County Commissioner Angenie McCleary, IDFG, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the NRCS, Dayna Gross (TNC) and Dani Mazzotta (ICL) drafted an application to enhance the seed mix with native species. Choosing the seeds turned out to be an interesting and semi-controversial discussion that included private and public lands, county, state and federal funding, and price and availability of seeds, with major timing constraints, and some measurable (and some total) uncertainty. Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson’s comments about private, federal and state property lines being part of a tapestry that is woven together by natural systems and habitats that cannot be compartmentalized for political convenience helped conceptualize and focus the importance of the reseeding initiative.

Native forbs should be included with the grasses and sage seed mix for many reasons but partly because different species will inhabit different layers of soil.  If a particular soil layer is not inhabited, it provides an opportunity for the notoriously crafty noxious weeds to take up that niche.

Stanley, Idaho. Photo ©Sunny Healey/TNC

The ideal mix is too complicated and expensive but a few seeds were considered and selected for their relevant attributes.  Lewis blue flax, named in honor of Meriwether Lewis, provides erosion control, pollinator habitat and beautification. What the Intermountain Native Plant Growers Association refers to as a ‘handsome and statuesque bunchgrass,’  Great Basin wildrye provides good cover for deer and antelope, important winter forage for elk, and serves as habitat and a food source for upland game birds, songbirds, and small mammals.  Western yarrow, which has a long history as a powerful healing herb, is also a great food source and is commonly used as nesting material for birds. It is an early succession species and readily establishes on disturbed sites.  The beautiful bright-yellow arrowleaf balsamroot flowers grow quickly in the spring and are good browse for wildlife stressed by winter conditions. The most sought-after seed of the mix was sagebrush. Though its leaves are bitter and toxic to some ruminants, sagebrush provides food and habitat for pronghorn antelope, mule deer, pygmy rabbit and the gray vireo. It is essential to sage grouse, and cows and sheep commonly graze on sagebrush slopes. Its scientific name Artemisia tridentata refers to Artemis, the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals and wilderness. Native Americans burned dried sage leaves to purify tipis and to bless pregnant women and young warriors.

The part of the seed mix selection process that most inspired me was the value of sagebrush, literally and otherwise.  Great Basin wildrye costs $12/lb., blue flax $10/lb., antelope bitterbrush up to $40/lb., and Big Mountain sagebrush $50/lb.  For this restoration project, 2500 critical acres are being reseeded at a rate of one quarter to one pound per acre for each seed type.  How much will it cost to reseed all that land?  In the end, we were able to get a suitable mix for about $50,000, not including the plane ride.

But it made me wonder, how much sagebrush do we have?  What if wildfires or land use changes destroyed too much sagebrush? How much would it cost to reseed the entire ecosystem?  Or, rather, what is the current value of all the sagebrush in the American West?  In 2005 a conservation strategy and assessment from Colorado estimated over 106 million acres of sagebrush in the western U.S. The Handbook of Western Reclamation Techniques suggests seeding sagebrush at two pounds per acre.   At current prices and suggested application rates, it would cost $10.6 billion.

This is a simplistic equation and not very realistic because there are many more variables besides seed costs and acres but the question made me think about some of the reasons I love sagebrush and how life in Idaho wouldn’t be the same without it: fishing the long lonesome trails along the Little Wood River; listening to the last songs around a cowboy campfire with a backdrop of stars and sage; reading  about the essence of the West from a child’s point of view in my New York City niece’s school project about a ride across the Camas Prairie; that feeling as you quietly traverse the open range of the Rock Creek Valley that a mountain lion is watching from a secret hideaway in the basalt ledge above. During the reseeding effort I learned that a few dedicated people and a lot of hard work can make a big difference and that beyond any price we could try to attribute to it, plain old everyday sagebrush has significant wildlife, spiritual, cultural, historical and economic value. 

"Sagebrush ain't so pretty?" Well, all eyes don't see the same;
Have you ever saw the moonlight turn it to a silv'ry flame?
An' that greasewood thicket yonder—well, it smells jest awful sweet 
When the night wind has been shakin' it; for smells it's hard to beat.
-Katherine Fall Pettey

Moving Fish at Silver Creek - an update on the restoration at Silver Creek

Editor's note: The Kilpatrick Pond project is the largest enhancement project to take place at Silver Creek. The project is restoring the impounded section of the creek known as Kilpatrick Pond to address rising water temperatures and decades of sediment build up. Presently the pond contributes a significant amount of warm water into the system because of its large surface area. This affects over 15 miles of creek downstream. Every month we will post an update about the project on this blog.

About 1,000 fish were captured and safely returned to the Silver Creek system after water was diverted from the Purdy side of the Kilpatrick Pond as part of the restoration. The moving of the fish was made possible by volunteers and staff from the Idaho Fish and Game, Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy.

Want to learn more? Read these first hand accounts about the move from Trout Unlimited's Chad Chorney and the Conservancy's Art Talsma:

The rescue went well. We probably took out 1,000 to 1,200 fish. Some water and fish remain around the “horseshoe” but I think we were able to get at the majority of the fish.  I’ll be checking the condition of any remaining fish periodically. Nick has agreed to add well water as necessary to ensure the fish survive until the site is re-watered. - Chad Chorney

We safely moved over 1,000 fish to Silver Creek so the restoration project can proceed on schedule and be successful. My estimate was 60% were Rainbows and 30% Browns and 10% others. The trout are free to move back upstream to the Preserve or go downstream. I observed fish moving upstream in the Kilpatrick pond by-pass within one hour of the fish rescue. Chad did an excellent job of organizing this event. Fish and Game crew were great to work with-- as always. - Art Talsma 

Learn more about the project and how you can contribute at the Kilpatrick Pond Project webpage.

Photo ©Rydell Welch

Photo ©Rydell Welch

Photo ©Rydell Welch

Photo ©Rydell Welch

Installing A New Dam - an update on the restoration at Silver Creek

Editor's note: The Kilpatrick Pond project is the largest enhancement project to take place at Silver Creek. The project is restoring the impounded section of the creek known as Kilpatrick Pond to address rising water temperatures and decades of sediment build up. Presently the pond contributes a significant amount of warm water into the system because of its large surface area. This affects over 15 miles of creek downstream. Every month we will post an update about the project on this blog.

We are nearing the end of the first phase of the restoration at Kilpatrick Pond. This month we completed dredging of the pond on the Purdy property, and began installing a new dam structure that is designed to allow for fish passage and the flow of cooler water under the dam. Recently water was diverted out of the pond to allow for the dam's installation. Fall is upon us and we are making steady progress. Stay tuned for more ...

Learn more about the project and how you can contribute at the Kilpatrick Pond Project webpage.

Looking upstream at The Nature Conservancy’s half of Kilpatrick Pond, following the downstream diversion of Silver Creek. Photo taken from the float tube access farthest downstream on Silver Creek Preserve, just above Kilpatrick Bridge. Photo © Rydell Welch/TNC.

Looking downstream from Kilpatrick Bridge, towards the Purdy’s (RR Ranch) half of Kilpatrick Pond.  Diverting Silver Creek through one of the Purdy’s irrigation canals exposed much of the ‘pond’ sediment for restoration work. Photo © Rydell Welch/TNC.

Silver Creek diverted through Albrethson Ditch, an irrigation canal on the Purdy’s property. Diverting Silver Creek at this point exposes most of the pond sediment and allows for the construction of a new irrigation dam. Photo © Rydell Welch/TNC.

The old dam used for irrigation on the Purdy’s property. The new dam is designed to allow fish passage and the flow of cooler water under the dam. Photo © Rydell Welch/TNC.

An overview of the Purdy’s half of Kilpatrick Pond, taken from the south side of Silver Creek. Silver Creek is visible along the northern side of the pond until it disappears into Albrethson Ditch. Photo © Rydell Welch/TNC.

UPDATE on the Kilpatrick Pond restoration project at Silver Creek

Editor's note: The Kilpatrick Pond project is the largest enhancement project to take place at Silver Creek. The project is restoring the impounded section of the creek, known as Kilpatrick Pond, to address rising water temperatures and decades of sediment build up. Presently the pond contributes a significant amount of warm water into the system because of its large surface area. This affects over 15 miles of creek downstream. Every month we will post an update about the project on this blog.

Learn more about the project and how you can contribute at: the Kilpatrick Pond Project webpage. 

By Dayna Gross, Silver Creek watershed conservation manager

We had a chance to get out on the dredge yesterday with Eric Anderson, the dredge owner, and Jake, the dredge operator. They are quickly approaching Kilpatrick bridge and it is anticipated that the dredging work will be done in the next couple of days. 
 
Once the dredge reaches the bridge, it will make its way back downstream, sloping the channel banks on its way, and then be removed by crane from the staging area (on Purdy’s property). 

The dredge is creating minimal turbidity in the water and fish are quickly moving into the deeper areas. Waterfowl and shorebirds are really enjoying the spoils which are being placed in an agricultural field north of the creek. 

Nick Purdy will start dropping the water level of the pond once the dredging is complete and construction on the lower pond will begin shortly thereafter.

TNC staff Lou Lunte and Dayna Gross. Photo ©TNC.

Lou surveying the project. Photo ©TNC.

Dredge near Kilpatrick Pond bridge. Photo ©TNC.

Jaws: Silver Creek Edition

Thirty-five years ago this summer, Jaws caused many people to pause before they stepped into the water.

But Silver Creek? Who would be afraid to jump into Silver Creek? No one, of course.

Unless you happen to be a vole.

During ongoing fish surveys at Silver Creek, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game killed a few fish to sample growth and health of the population.

A look at fish stomach contents might surprise those who spend their days casting dainty mayfly imitations to rising trout.

Voles.

The above rodents were pulled from trout stomachs.

Montane voles are an abundant animal throughout the Intermountain West, small rodents that make well-defined paths as they forage. They're prone to periodic population explosions.

This is such a year at Silver Creek. And the trout have obviously keyed in on them, much as they would a mayfly hatch.

I've always heard that trout will take small rodents along the creek, and I know some large trout are caught on deer hair mouse flies. Still, I always considered these to be a "fishing tale," something that may happen on rare occasions, but hardly a regular occurrence.

Well, here's the proof. For voles, it really isn't safe to go back in the water. --Matt Miller

Photo by Ralph Stewart

July 12, 2010: Silver Creek Fishing Report

Submitted by Dayna Gross, Silver Creek Preserve manager

Fishing through the preserve continues to be challenging but good. The hatches have been sporadic, especially following the cold spell last week.

Mid-morning hatches of pale morning duns (PMDs) continue (size 14-18) as well as flurries of Baetis throughout the day (size 20-22). The blue damselflies have appeared in the past week as well as an occasional trico.

Green drakes are also occasionally seen and can be productive throughout the day.

The trico hatch (trico mayflies on hat pictured above) should start any day now with this warm weather; come early with tiny flies and fine leaders if you want to test your angling skills on one of the most profuse yet toughest hatches in the West.

The preserve has been really quiet with the Big Wood becoming fishable last week (and very good I hear). We are seeing few visitors in the mornings right now with many people coming down in the evenings when things cool off a bit.

There have been many reports of moose and one of a black bear—so be careful out there!

Electro-fishing

Recalling his first fishing trip to Silver Creek, Jack Hemingway wrote "I suspected there was something going on that I simply didn't understand"--a sentiment familiar to many anglers.

Spring creeks like Silver Creek are complex ecosystems. Even a careful observer can only hope to catch an incomplete glimpse of what's really happening.

That's why monitoring and research are such an important part of the Silver Creek conservation program. Spring creeks are not well studied. But at Silver Creek, a substantial monitoring program supplies biologists with a more complete picture.

From birds to vegetation, from water temperatures to flow rates, monitoring programs regularly assess the state of the creek.Beginning in 1997, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has monitored fish populations in Silver Creek every three years.

This year, USGS biologists, with assistance from the Idaho Department of Fish & Game and Conservancy interns and volunteers, are electro-shocking sections of the creek to conduct their survey. Electro-shocking sends an electric current through the water which stuns any nearby fish. Volunteers net the fish, which are then delivered to live wells.

Fish species are recorded, and each fish is then weighed and measured, before being carefully released back to the stream. Anglers and conservationists are always very interested to know the ratio of rainbow trout to brown trout. There has been some evidence that brown trout, a Eurasian species, have slowly been taking over as the dominant species.

During Monday's electro-shocking, biologists were surprised at the large number of healthy rainbow trout. But it's far too early to guess what the monitoring studies will find.Trout aren't the only focus of this study; biologists also record the presence of dace, sculpin and the other small fish species that often escape notice. USGS biologists are also recording large invertebrates as part of the monitoring survey.

These smaller species are an integral part of the Silver Creek ecosystem--and serve as indicators as far as water quality and the overall health of the creek.

The electro-shocking will continue through July. In early autumn, the Conservancy will receive the results of this year's monitoring. We'll post the information here, so check back for the most current information on Silver Creek's fish.