Midas Gold is advancing its work to make partners out of west central Idaho communities and has offered to create a trust in an apparent bid for political support. According to a McCall City Council agenda, Midas is focusing its efforts on McCall, Cascade, Council, Donnelly, New Meadows, Riggins and the village of Yellow Pine, as well as Adams, Idaho and Valley counties; and the West Central Mountains Community Partnership—basically every municipality in proposed mine’s direct area of impact.

Since early May IRU Conservation Associate Ava Isaacson has traveled to every corner of Idaho meeting with dozens of outfitters and hundreds of raft guides. The point of this far-reaching two months of intensive work is to teach the teachers, who collectively have the ability to reach thousands of people in the course of a summer season.

In an editorial published this morning, the Lewiston Tribune urged Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter not to tie the hands of Idaho's future elected leaders during the waning hours of his administration with regard to management to endangered salmon.

IRU and allied groups sent a letter earlier this month to Gov. Otter expressing that he should not sign away Idaho’s ability to argue on behalf of wild salmon.

New placer mining on the South Fork of the Payette River faced strong opposition from conservation interests during an administrative hearing June 6. “I do not accept that mining is the highest and best use on a Wild and Scenic river, or an eligible Wild and Scenic river,” said IRU Executive Director Kevin Lewis.

There’s trouble ahead for the Bonneville Power Administration, according to a report released this month. The report says the agency is faced with mounting fixed costs and an increasingly competitive free market—a combination that could lead to something sometimes referred to as an economic “death spiral.”

Every year upstream of Riggins a group of Idahoans gather at Spring Bar to welcome Idaho’s amazing wild salmon home. It’s a small gesture for a species on the brink of extinction, but a spiritual tradition that keeps hope alive for Idaho’s imperiled fish.

Episode 3 of IRU's podcast, Streamline, digs deeper into the dollars and cents of the lower Snake Rive dams. Economist Tony Jones, featured in the podcast, has been studying the lower Snake dams for decades and has come to the conclusion that they simply aren't needed, and in fact constitute an unnecessary strain on public coffers.

Hundreds of Idahoans attended two events in Boise and McCall this month to share why the specter of mining in their beloved South Fork of the Salmon River scares them.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted against Idaho’s endangered wild salmon and the families who depend on them today when it voted 225 - 189 to approve a bill overturning a federal judge’s order.

Act now. Ask your representatives to stop HR 3144 and protect wild salmon and steelhead from extinction. This ill-advised legislation was passed out of committee last week, and the House of Representatives is expected to vote on it next week.

IRU joined a panel discussion at the University of Idaho School of Law focusing on the fiftieth anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

The South Fork of the Salmon River in Central Idaho was named today as one of America's Most Endangered Rivers.

Sense of place is about finding connection in the world. The people pictured and quoted here have nurtured an intimate connection with the South Fork of the Salmon River, a place threatened by new mining activity at its headwaters. 

A study released today by the NW Energy Coalition shows electricity produced by the lower Snake River dams can easily and affordably be replaced.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Idaho salmon advocates, the Nez Perce Tribe and a dozen others with its ruling to uphold increased spill that would assist with salmon and steelhead survival as they migrate to the Pacific Ocean. With salmon and steelhead runs at historical lows, making safe passage for baby fish is critical.

A public opinion poll of Washington state voters says four out of five Washington state voters believe preventing extinction of wild salmon is very important. 

The Salmon-Challis National Forest is continuing to collect public input on rivers and streams it deems eligible for inclusion in the national Wild and Scenic Rivers System. The forest is accepting public comments through May 4.

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to rebuild Stoddard Pack Bridge near Middle Fork of the Salmon River's confluence in one of two locations. Please participate in our short survey to let us know which site you prefer.

A longtime resident of north Idaho's Clearwater country, Linwood Laughy has watched the decline of the basin's once-prolific B-run steelhead. He discusses watching the dramatic decline.