Upper Salmon Restricted Sawtooth Officials Ban Floats On Portions To Protect Spawning

Officials of the Sawtooth National Forest have closed portions of the upper Main Salmon River to commercial float trips to protect spawning salmon.

Idaho Sen. Dirk Kempthorne is challenging the federal agency to prove it’s necessary.

In a letter to the Forest Service, Kempthorne said he has been advised that all spawning activity on the main Salmon within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area has been completed. The single salmon redd, or nest, in the area was occupied by “dying post-spawning fish,” the senator said.

“I have been informed that it is documented that when the outfitters’ rafts passed this redd, the dying salmon remained completely undisturbed,” he said.

“Please provide me with the evidence that led the SNRA to close portions of the Upper Salmon river to float trips during the post-spawning period. Based on what evidence was the decision made, and what proof does the SNRA have, that the carefully prepared river rafters activities result in ‘take’ of threatened salmon?”

Kempthorne’s letter to Paul Reis, a manager for the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, requests an answer by the end of the week.

Salmon that spawn in upper stretchers of the main Salmon are protected species. Federal conservation officers at first closed segments of the river to private rafters and floaters, after people failed to obey restrictions that included portaging around spawning areas.

Last weekend, officials closed the entire 45-mile stretch of the Salmon as it flows through the recreation area, saying there was heavy spawning activity on the stretch, with at least 70 redds observed. The order went into effect on the river from its headwaters near Galena Summit to the Custer County community of Clayton.

The Forest Service said most commercial float operations from Stanley had wound up their activities for the season.