"Rolling Rocks"

Recent disputes within Trout Unlimited have appeared to pit the money raisers against the folks out in the field doing the work. TU deserves a lot of credit for its enormous success in raising money in recent years. Some folks think it has lost some of its focus, though, and that the money folks are forgetting what makes TU a successful organization: field work. I know that I joined TU because I knew it was an organization of local chapters, and that the chapters focused on stream protection, restoration and enhancement in their own backyards. On any given weekend, hundreds or thousands of volunteers, mostly flyfishermen, are out in the field all over the country taking the many small steps it takes to add up to real conservation.

I got to do a little bit of that today, though mainly I stayed behind the camera. This is the lower end of Alta Harris Creek.

Doesn't look like a Creek does it? It isn't, even when it has water in it. It is a constructed side channel to the Boise River, and you can find more of the story here: Harris Ranch Project

This "creek" wouldn't exist at all if it weren't for grassroots TU volunteers. And it is not a creek yet, but give us another year or two, and 10 cfs will be flowing down this thing regularly. As it does, the "Creek" will provide critical spawning and rearing habitat for wild trout in the Boise River. Getting from where this started (an empty plot of overgrazed floodplain) to where it will end up (a beautiful stretch of riparian paradise) has required and will require more work than anybody but a group of committed conservationists could accomplish. We've raised $300,000 (almost all of it locally), and we've put thousands of volunteer hours into planning, design, surveying, excavation, and planting, planting and more planting. Today was not particularly glamorous work. Here are Andy Brunelle (Treasurer and Past President of theTed Trueblood Chapter of Trout Unlimited)

and Rick Prange (Past President of the Trueblood Chapter and Vice President of Idaho TU) moving hay bales into the channel

We expect water in the channel within a few days, and the bales will back some of it up to saturate the area and encourage the riparian plants that have been and will be placed along the channel.

Here's Andy Brunelle and Steve Clayton of the University of Idaho surveying the area and planning additional volunteer outings.


These guys spent a portion of their Saturday in the sun and heat doing what is right for their local river. They've done that dozens or hundreds of times, and they will do it dozens of times more. Their time, when multiplied by the thousands of guys just like them all over the country is worth more than TU's budget several times over. Not just in the hourly value of their labor, but in what it shows to our kids, our neighbors, our politicians, and everyone who sees it. That labor cannot be replaced with any amount of money. I hope nobody forgets that.

Give a hand to guys like Andy, Rick and Steve. Sportsmen of a quality you will rarely meet.