Board Highlight: Pete Deluca, "How I got into IRU and River Conservation"
Board Highlight: Pete DeLuca
HOW I GOT INTO IRU AND RIVER CONSERVATION
I wasn’t born in Idaho, but my family moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, two weeks after my first birthday. The year was 1947. We spent leisure time at lakes fishing, camping, and swimming, both in the Snake River Canyon and the Stanley Basin. When I was 15 years old, I had my first white water experience. Boy Scouts from Southern Idaho were given the opportunity to float the Middle Fork Salmon from Dagger Falls to Shoup, and I signed up. The trip lasted six days, and there was only one other group on the river. We paddled Navy surplus rubber rafts and had two guides (rowing team members from Harvard). The first two days, I was terrified. But by the time we reached Shoup, I was hooked on whitewater.
After the Middle Fork, my fishing switched from still water to fast-running rivers. I also spent plenty of time tubing and swimming rapids. Float trips were not available during my years as an adolescent. There were very few commercial outfits. So I fished and swam in the summers, and I took up skiing in the winters.
After high school graduation (TFHS ’64), I spent four years at the College of Idaho, getting a degree in Political Science. Upon graduation, I joined the Air Force and served four years. Then I went to Law School at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. I stayed in Oregon, specialized in Labor Law, worked as an Assistant Attorney General, and fished for salmon and steelhead in the coastal rivers. At some point, I acquired a drift boat and later a raft, and I was off again chasing white water adventure.
I became acquainted with a few incredible fly fishers who hung out on the North Umpqua River in search of its storied steelhead. The hook was set.
Although I knew little about river conservation, I was asked to join the Board of Directors of The North Umpqua Foundation. I stayed on that Board long enough to be elected as president. Ultimately, I resigned because my wife and I were moving back to Idaho. By then, it was time for me to retire.
I got to know some of the people in Boise who were involved with either Trout Unlimited or Idaho Rivers United, and before I knew it, I was on the boards of the local TU chapter and IRU. I began to study river and fish conservation in earnest. While I am no expert, I am now pretty well versed in both these subjects.
It has been a wild ride. I hit the ¾ century mark in April. Looking back, I have much to be thankful for. There have always been rivers, fish, and moving water in my life. They are some of my greatest passions. They say, ”In the West, whiskey’s for drinkin’ and water’s fir fightin’ over.” It’s a tough fight, but it’s well worth it. Our rivers are the lifeblood of Idaho. When it’s all over, put my ashes in the headwaters of the Salmon – but only after the four dams on the Lower Snake are out!