IRU Board Member, Pete DeLuca, shares his story on how he fell in love with Idaho’s rivers.

“When I was 15 years old, I had my first white water experience….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.”

The settlement forces the state of Oregon to develop a plan to limit dangerous methylmercury pollution and accelerate critical remediation of water temperature impacts at the Hells Canyon Complex on the Snake River.

A low winter snowpack that melted off more rapidly than normal, followed by extreme temperatures, has left much of the state hot and dry. Our river systems and lakes are no exception, with this summer’s warm water conditions hurting native fish populations.

The Mountain Home Air Force Base is proposing changes to military overflight operations in the Owyhee canyonlands of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. The impacts of these changes on the people, wildlife, and character of this remarkable region would be significant and violate the Wild & Scenic protections for the area.

Environmental restoration, social justice, clean-energy measures, and endangered species recovery. These sound like pillars of the Democratic platform, yet it’s an Idaho Republican championing these efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

Meet IRU Member Doug Zamzow (IRU’s 2020 Member of the Year award recipient!). Doug has been a member of Idaho Rivers United since 2004, and has been an advocate for our rivers for decades.

Meet our newest Brewshed Alliance member: Mother Earth Brewing!

The public and conservation organizations pushed for a new environmental review of Perpetua Resources’ (formerly Midas Gold) Stibnite Gold Project after several major changes were made to the DEIS. The USFS responded, and will conduct a new Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, pushing further out the project timeline and offering new hope for the East Fork South Fork Salmon River.

Streamtech Boats was started by Link Jackson, who wanted to use his passions for boat building and art to make a difference for our rivers and fish. Streamtech Boats decided to partner with IRU, using their platform to support conservation initiatives and further awareness of our imperiled salmon and steelhead.

Eastern Washington legislators are using small fluctuations in spring Chinook to tout that dams and fish can coexist, but these arguments miss the reality that salmon populations are still far below recovery goals and on a downward trend.

Earthjustice, representing Idaho Rivers United and several of our partner conservation organizations, filed an injunction today to increase spill over dams in the Lower Snake River and Columbia River, and to lower reservoir levels to aid juvenile migrating salmon.

Drought conditions across much of the West mean it is an extremely low-water year, which spells trouble for salmon migrating back to Idaho.

Idaho Rivers United has teamed up with Inclusive Idaho, LEAP, and Idaho River Sports to create inclusive outdoor activities, helping individuals have opportunity and access to outdoor recreation.

The Columbia Basin Collaborative (CBC) held a second workshop this month to inform stakeholders of the trajectory for the newly formed regional salmon recovery process. The collaborative intends to develop a series of recommendations for lawmakers, meaning a lot of ‘process’ and lack of bold action.

Our first event in partnership with Inclusive Idaho is a youth fishing day on May 28th, 9:30 am-11:30 am for children who are refugees. If you love to fish, we need your help!

It is our uncompromising mission to ensure that salmon and steelhead do not go extinct. The science, empirically and unequivocally, shows us that the required path to recovery of Idaho’s salmon and steelhead is through restoring the Snake River to a free-flowing, natural river. We will go to court to ensure that our fish are not relegated to a history book, but let me be clear, we would rather be working together with the Tribes, farmers, and regional representatives on the proposal from Congressman Simpson that benefits each stakeholder group. A path forward that benefits every Idahoan has been offered, and it is our hope that we can move forward within this framework to achieve long-term salmon recovery and regional prosperity.

Boise, ID - Echoing their 2019 environmental conference, the Andrus Center for Public Policy hosted the Energy, Salmon, Agriculture, and Communities: Revisited conference on Thursday, May 13, 2021. The conference revolved around Congressman Simpson’s proposed plan for regional infrastructure investment in preparation for breaching the Lower Snake River Dams to recover Idaho’s endangered salmon. Keynote speakers included Shannon Wheeler, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Executive Committee, Congressman Mike Simpson (ID-R), and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-D).

As we celebrate Earth Day 2021 and turn our focus towards climate change and how to Restore our Earth, we also face some challenging questions. How will we succeed in the transition to green technologies and protect our rivers and public lands?

Earth Day - or Earth Month - is known as a time to celebrate and give back to our amazing planet. Many businesses take this concept to year-round initiatives, working tirelessly to make every day a day that gives back. Our Aveda partners do just that and are among our earth “year” heroes.

Climate change poses a range of threats to river systems across the globe; the Northwest is no exception. However, Idaho’s salmon are uniquely positioned to be quite resilient to living in a warmer world, and may be the key to reestablish salmon throughout the Columbia River Basin.