ITD expertise supports fish monitoring on the Lochsa           

Earlier in February, ITD equipment cleared out the narrow access road to Fish Creek, a tributary of the Lochsa River and a longtime monitoring site for steelhead, a native rainbow trout originally listed as threatened in 1997.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) has managed the site, located near milepost 120 along US-12, since 1994. ITD clearing the route is essential to accessing the site.

“Fish Creek is one of the most complete data sets for steelhead populations in Idaho,” said Marika Dobos, a biologist helping with the research.

Mark Schuster, the foreman for that area since the late 1980s, estimated that ITD has worked with IDFG for 20 years to clear the road so that biologists could install data collection devices as early as February.

“It’s an established relationship,” Dobos said. “ITD has the equipment and the knowledge to help us.”

Each year, Dobos said the department installs fish weirs in the creek to act as giant fences to temporarily trap adult steelhead as they journey upstream to spawn.

Dobos said biologists collect samples from the captured fish to calculate the size of the total steelhead population. Some years they observe as many as 1,000 fish at this site, but some years, fewer than 100 fish pass through the weir.

Steelhead journey from the ocean to spawn in the Lochsa Basin, and right now they are on their way.

“Another monitoring device just tracked an adult already moving up Fish Creek,” Dobos said. “This population is one of the strongholds for steelhead in the area.”

Monitoring the population requires clearing the two-mile-long access road, which can be a challenge.

“It is a very narrow road, and in one area is only about 10 feet wide with a steep hill on one side and a steep embankment above the creek on the other,” Schuster said. “There’s little room for error.”

Phil Burnett and Carl Wilsey accepted the challenge this year, and even though it was their first time, Schuster said the pair did an excellent job.

Published 02-23-18