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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

F&G Director Backs St. Joe Races

Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore has weighed in on the impacts of jet boat racing on the St. Joe River, saying the race can proceed without any detrimental impacts on nesting eagles as long as it's done carefully. "Observations on other river systems (e.g. South Fork Snake River) suggest that bald eagles are often tolerant of boating activity passing by nest sites," he wrote in a letter to Gov. Butch Otter on Wednesday. "And provided boats move past nest sites (as opposed to stopping at the nest site), eagles are not prone to leaving nest sites." However, he said that lingering human activity in close proximity to the nests could pose a problem, but that could easily be mitigated by the organizers/Jeff Selle, Press. More here.

Question: Are you more at east re: possible jet boat races on the St. Joe this month, now that the Idaho Fish & Game director has weighed in to say that he doesn't see an environmental problem?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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