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Need a Good Habitat for Salmon by Leonard Wallace Idaho County Free Press, March 9, 2022

In the Jan. 13, 2022, issue of the Star News was an article stating that "Lower Snake River dams must be removed to save the salmon and steelhead." Yes, removing the dams will help the salmon get to Idaho, but this is not a silver bullet to salmon recovery, open your eyes and pay attention to what you are seeing, not what you are being told. I have fished for salmon since 1950.

The salmon enter Idaho waters in the spring and most are here by the middle of July when the waters are still fairly high, then they immediately spawn in eight to 10 inches of water, and then the eggs lay in the gravel until the next spring. If you notice, some of the salmon habitat streams are all but dry by October. The stream that comes to mind is Hazard Creek, which flows into the Little Salmon River which used to have thousands of salmon spawn in it. I seriously doubt if there are any anymore now, by October it is, for all practical purposes, dry. This means the eggs are in dry gravel, which I think will kill them.

Yes, the water in our streams is dropping and will continue to drop, thanks to the U.S.F.S. and their fire policies. As far as I am concerned, if we don't have a habitat for salmon, we are fighting a losing battle getting them here.