Rural Washington County in Idaho's Fish and Hunt Economic Impact

[JoseCuervo]

Here is a bit about the County in Idaho where I was born, and the potential economic impact of proper fish and game management.

Fish & Game official offers county ideas for gaining greater share of outdoor economic pie


Hunting and fishing is a $982 million business in Idaho that provides Washington County numerous opportunities to considerably boost its tourist economy, Al Van Vooren, Idaho Department of Fish and Game regional supervisor, told county commissioners Monday.

He offered ways the department could help promote Washington County as a destination for wildlife recreation and several suggestions on added facilities and ways to improve facilities already available to outdoor enthusiasts.

The suggestion with the most potential for Weiser tourism is constructing a facility where children and other newcomers could learn to appreciate fishing. The best site, however, is currently privately owned. It is on land near the confluence of the Weiser and Snake rivers formerly occupied by the Weiser livestock sale yard.

Van Vooren said there is grant money available from Idaho Fish and Game for exactly this kind of project, though a Weiser project would likely have to spend a few years waiting in line while projects currently under way run their course.

Lacey Ekberg, executive director of Washington County Economic Development, said she has been in discussion with Union Pacific Railroad about access to this property on the far south side of the tracks. The railroad, she said, is interested in providing a sky bridge to take walkers safely over the tracks and rail yards. She said Union Pacific considers it a much better investment than insuring against its potential liability for people injured while trespassing on railroad lands.

The recommendation dovetails nicely with the one put forward two years ago by a committee of community planners and economic development specialists that conducted a full review of Weiser’s potential as an attractive place for industry and businesses to locate. They recommended the entire stretch of riverbank from the Snake River bridge to Mortimer’s Island be developed as an inviting green space of walking trails and picnic areas welcoming people to Weiser.

Brownlee Reservoir is one of Idaho’s most attractive fishing des-tinations, Van Vooren noted, generating more than $11 million in direct spending each year. Mann Creek Reservoir, though small with only 281 acres of surface water, is nonetheless one of the most productive, generating $304,000 in spending, or $1,081 per acre. Paddock and Crane Creek reservoirs and the Weiser River are so drought-plagued that their return is minimal, he said.

There remains some potential for reviving the fishery in each of these water resources, according to Van Vooren, with some grant monies available to pay for renovations. Crane Creek, a very good fishery in the 1980s, currently suffers from an overabundance of carp that interfere with crappie, bass, and other game fish.

"Our fishing manager in McCall suggests grant money should be available to dredge Crane Creek and improve the water quality immeasurably," he said.

The Weiser River canyon, Van Vooren pointed out, has surprisingly great potential for trout fishing and, perhaps, canoeing if summer water flows could be increased. It is a beautiful section of the river that could generate a substantial amount of recreation tourism if more water could be found in summer.

"There is not a lot we can do about that concept," he said. "There is the possibility of raising the dam on Lost Valley Reservoir, but it is a long process complicated by the fact that it would flood range occupied by the North Idaho Ground Squirrel, currently listed as an en-dangered species."

While Brownlee Reservoir is one of the most popular fishing destinations in the state, generating 82,684 trips annually, many of those fishermen set up and enter the water on the Oregon side, Van Vooren noted.

Washington County needs to make a concerted effort to get those crappie fishermen and bass hunters from the Boise-Nampa-Caldwell metroplex to turn north off the freeway on U.S. 95 and take their business through Weiser, Midvale, and Cambridge instead of going up the other side of the river.

Deer and elk hunting presents something of a conflict for Idaho Fish and Game, Van Vooren said. Hunters are demanding more trophy animals, but at the same time want the ready access and uncontrolled hunts that result in bucks failing to survive long enough to develop a prize rack of antlers.

"Hunters need to understand there are trade-offs," he pointed out. Opportunities for trophies in Unit 22 north of Cambridge and Unit 32A east of Cambridge can be doubled to 50 percent four-point or better bucks in the harvest and 25 bucks per 100 does, but only by forcing 3,500 hunters into other sections by controlling the number of permits issued.

In addition, there would have to be road closures to limit access. " Road closure is a sensitive issue everywhere, but it's the only way to provide the protection bucks need if they’re going to live more than a year and a half and get to be big bucks," Van Vooren said.


The economic impacts of reducing hunting access were calculated for units 10 and 12 based on 1,600 hunters participating. Labor income lost was projected at $154 to $230 million and jobs lost between 13 and 18.

Van Vooren said hunters have two choices. "Accept what we have. That is not very many decent animals. Or protect and improve what is there and accept the economic and access consequences."

 

[ELKCHSR]

That's great gunner....

How did I stab Moosie in the back....