{"id":8961,"date":"2016-09-30T17:46:28","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8961"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:46:28","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:46:28","slug":"rock-creek-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/30\/rock-creek-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Creek Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local ranch and stream are being restored and studied<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

BY Mike McKenna
\n<\/span>For The Weekly Sun<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The view north from within Rock Creek Ranch. Photo by John Finnell, courtesy of Wood River Land Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Something special is happening in Hailey and Bellevue\u2019s backyard.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>Just to the west of the Wood River Valley, on the other side of the ridgeline that\u2019s home to Della Mountain, is where Rock Creek runs. The small stream is easy to overlook and has long been all but ignored by just about everyone except for hunters, snowmobilers and cattle ranchers.<\/p>\n

Being so close to the wonders of the Wood River Valley, however, Rock Creek and the large ranch at its southern end have been appealing to developers.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Wood River Land Trust and the Idaho chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) were thrilled in 2014 when the Rinker family generously sold the property to the two nonprofits so that the ranch could be preserved and its creek restored.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth-south valleys are really important for animal migrations. Rock Creek in particular is one of the last undeveloped valleys in the area,\u201d Dana Gross, of TNC, told the Blaine County Commissioners last week. \u201cA lot of animals that once used the Wood River Valley now use Rock Creek. It\u2019s important open space.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Rock Creek is more than just important open space.<\/p>\n

The Rock Creek Ranch easement now covers 10,400 acres, which includes water that is a main tributary to the Big Wood River and Magic Reservoir, as well as high-desert grasslands that offer critical habitat to all kinds of animals, from moose and elk to pronghorn and sage grouse. And, as of earlier this summer, Rock Creek is now home to what could become a landmark facility for studying the impacts of cattle grazing on public and private lands in the West.<\/p>\n

In June, the University of Idaho (UI) Rangeland Center signed on to use the ranch as an education facility. There are now 150 head of cattle being studied and managed by UI at Rock Creek.<\/p>\n

There is a lot excitement \u2013 including coverage in The Washington Times \u2013 about the work Idaho\u2019s flagship university is doing locally. There really isn\u2019t another study about the interface between cattle grazing and public lands being done anywhere else in the state, or region, for that matter. Like much of the high-desert West, more than 50 percent of the land in Idaho is considered to be impacted by cattle from ranches just like Rock Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very exciting project for a lot of reasons,\u201d Scott Boettger, executive director of WRLT, said. \u201cThis is a unique opportunity to not only protect over 10,000 acres, but it also allows us an opportunity to study the impacts of cattle grazing on public and private lands, an interface found throughout the Intermountain West.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the educational components, Boettger described Rock Creek Ranch as having a \u201ctriple benefit. Our work there improves the stream and fishery, which improves irrigation and production, which also enhances the wildlife habitat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s work that will continue to move forward, thanks to the Blaine County Commissioners giving conceptual approval of\u00a0 <\/span>nearly $137,000 in grant money last week from the Land, Water and Wildlife (LAB) levy fund. The commissioners approved funding for three projects, including a tributary assessment, weed control, and to do two main channel restoration projects.<\/p>\n

As commissioner Jacob Greenberg noted, there is still $305,265 earmarked for the project once plans for the restoration and other work are completed. \u201cThis is important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While much of the funds to purchase and do the work at Rock Creek Ranch have been \u2013 and continue to be \u2013 raised by the Land Trust and the other nonprofits, the LAB funding is crucial to keep the work moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to have approval for these projects and look forward to returning to the LAB with refined plans for the other elements of the project,\u201d said Keri York, director of conservation for the WRLT.<\/p>\n

The local office of Trout Unlimited has also become involved, including overseeing a recent electrofish study on the creek. A total of 706 fish were recorded from five different sites. Although just a few of the fish were trout, and all were fairly small, there is hope that once Rock Creek\u2019s eroding stream banks and irrigation channels are restored, that it can once again be a productive tributary for salmonids, especially during spawning season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really incredible place and we\u2019re fortunate to be involved. The Land Trust and TNC are the best possible partners you can have for a project like this,\u201d Chad Chorney, of Trout Unlimited, said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty exciting what\u2019s going on out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d York told the commissioners about the work being done at Rock Creek, which has been listed by the state as an \u201cimpaired\u201d or 303D stream. \u201cIt\u2019s coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find out more about what\u2019s happening at Rock Creek Ranch, visit UI\u2019s new webpage uidaho.edu\/cnr\/rangeland-center\/projects\/rock-creek, or call the Wood River Land Trust at (208) 788-3947.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local ranch and stream are being restored and studied BY Mike McKenna For The Weekly Sun Something special is happening in Hailey and Bellevue\u2019s backyard. \u00a0 Just to the west of the Wood River Valley, on the other side of the ridgeline that\u2019s home to Della Mountain, is where Rock Creek runs. The small stream […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment-2","8":"category-news","9":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}