HomeMy Public PortalAboutLittle Salmon RiverThe Star-News 2/27/97
Flood victim blames
logging for damage
BY ROGER PHILLIPS
The Stu -News
Wayne Canon's property was one
of many along the Little Salmon River
that was damaged during the New
Year's Day storm, but it came as no
surprise to Canon.
He has been watching mud roll
down the hill above his property since
1988 when logging started there on
570 acres of private land. Canon
blames the logging for the severity of
the slides during the floods.
Canon's 3.5 acres near Pinehurst
have been hit by four mudslides in as
many years, and several other times
in the past, he said.
He estimates about 40 percent of
his land is now covered with mud
from slides resulting from the New
Year's Day storm.
The slides washed out Canon's
irrigation system, which provided wa-
ter to his and his neighbors' properties
and also silted in his one -acre trout
pond.
"This has been a complete decima-
tion of this property," Canon said.
At age 80, he is too old to try to
clear his land again and it is worthless
to sell, he said, so come spring he's
selling all his personal belongings
and abandoning his home of 16 years.
His situation is bad enough that the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency gave him $1,500 to help re-
store his property, but Canon said it's
not nearly enough to remove the mud
and he can't afford to do it on his own.
Canon' s only recourse would be to
sue the land owners and the compa-
nies that logged the property, which
he can't afford to do.
"The burden of proof is all on me,"
he said. "It costs too damn much
money and I'm old and tired and don't
have that much time."
He said he has waged a continuing
battle since 1988 with the property
owners and loggers, but the 570 acres
has changed hands three times and it
has been logged by each land owner.
"They look everything that would
make a four -by- four," Canon said.
He reported his problems to the
Idaho Department of Lands, which
twice cited a logging company for
improper road drainage.
A citation issued in January 1995
noted failed culverts on logging roads,
inadequate drainage and poorly con-
structed cross ditches on roads that
allowed surface erosion, according to
the citation.
John Lillehaug, forest practices
advisor fob- the McCall office of the
Idaho Department of Lands, said after
each citation repairs were made to the
road system. But it's been a trouble-
some area for erosion, partially due to
an old road system and repeated log-
ging, Lillehaug said.
"It's an area that's frustrating to
work with," Lillehaug said. "This
one's been kind of an ongoing trouble
area."
"If they had done things properly
from the very beginning, we probably
wouldn't have the problems we've
had through the years," he said.
Lillehaug explained that logging
and road building was not solely re-
sponsible for the slides. Other slides
occurred on nearby state lands that
haven't been logged for 30 years. But
the logging was likely a contributing
factor, he said.
"When you're in there three times
in 10 years, that's a lot of disturbance
to a piece of ground," he said.
State forestry practices laws apply
to private land the same as public
land, Lillehaug said. The lands de-
partment agency can only supervise
how to log an area and cite a company
for infractions.
Citations force a company to fix
existing problems, but the lands de-
partment cannot stop someone from
logging private lands, assess fines for
infractions or award any damages.
Any monetary recovery from an
affected adjacent land owner would
have to be awarded by the courts, not
the state, Lillehaug said.
The Idaho Statesman 3/16/97 Page #1 of 3 Pages
Could it happen in Boise? Maybe this spdngl
The Little Salmon
Measures that ins ate L u se itve . rValley
an illusion that may melt along with record
By Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman
orm and Dorothy Olsen
are moving to higher
ground.
The retired Pinehurst
couple watched as the Lit-
tle Salmon River under-
cut their dream home and washed it
downstream during the New Year's
Day floods.
"When this river comes up, it
moves boulders as big as cars
around. It just shakes the ground
like an earthquake," Olsen said,
standing on the edge of the steep
river bank where his bedroom once
sat. "I know it's going to happen
again and I want out of here."
People are coming to the same con-
clusion throughout Idaho and the
West.
Nature is exacting a high price for
the logging roads through the forest,
dream homes on the hillsides and
restaurants on the river that reshape
its most attractive settings. It's a
price being paid by everyone, as tax
money subsidizes flood insurance,
pays for disaster relief and funds the
"WE THOUGHT WE
WERE PERFECTLY
SAFE. WE NEVER
THOUGHT THIS
WOULD HAPPEN."
Norm Olsen
house in Pinehurst.
have created
snowpack
ew Year's Day
ins teret
Nfloods taught
on low -cost rebuilding many people
loans.
that living well in the
What's
more, the rice is risin
P g• West means living
Idaho
lawmakers eliminated a within nature's limits.
raise
r state workers to help pay The rest of us may
the co
of flood damage. The tiny get the message this
Boise
rounty community of Lower spring.
Banks
was declared so dangerous A record snowpack
last month
that no building will be in the mountains rais-
allowed
there. And with the threat es the prospect of
of sprg
flooding more damaging floods and mudslides
than
Winter's, some people on the so big they can't be
Boise
(River might soon share the contained — even by
Olsen
fate. a massive reservoir
system such as the
Changing
weather Boise River's.
One
reason the stakes are rising is The Statesman
spent two months
weather
patterns. Since 1900, the surveying the toll of
numbeir
of severe storms has jumped the winter storms and
20 per'
ent. You can see the hand of looking what spring
man
the changes, too. Roads have might bri ng.
been
craped, trees cleared, wild-The findings: Peo
fires d
used and homes erected with ple are beginning to
tncern
little
for what happens change the way they
when the
snow melts. live. And there is a
Offii
als at the Federal Emer- growing realization
gency
anagement Agency say that that human hands
5,055
people, 1,055 homes and 121 should keep off
other
buildings occupy the Boise places that are too
River
Mood plain in Ada County. high, too low, too
steep or too slippery.
The Idaho Statesman 3/16/97 Page #2 of 3 Pages
More are coming with the
planned development of such pro-
jects as the 3,500 -home Harris
Ranch east of Boise on Idaho 21.
Since the New Year's storms
and floods, the Statesman has
traveled through southwest Idaho
to examine why floods and land-
slides are causing more damage.
Here's what we learned:
> U.S. Forest Service studies
show that roads and clear- cutting
trigger landslides and may wors-
en flood damage, but the agency
keeps rebuilding roads and ap-
proving clear -cuts.
> Federal dam operators rou-
tinely are faced with the Hobson's
choice of flooding homes or bank-
rupting farmers.
> A federal program to control
development in flood plains back-
fired in Boise, putting thousands
more homes in harm's way.
> Levees and dikes often pro-
vide no more than an illusion of
protection and actually add to
damage costs when they are
breached.
> Rural counties can't afford to
fix many roads in slide areas, so
people living and playing in the
backcountry may find themselves
cut off.
Reservoirs to the rescue
People living near the Boise
River were saved in January by
the three reservoirs that captured
heavy rains and melting snow
above Lucky Peak Dam east of
Boise.
But this spring, the runoff from
a record snowpack — more than
10 feet deep in areas — may be
more than even this system can
handle.
One week of 80- degree temper-
atures in April 15 or cool weather
into June could send a torrent of
water through Lucky Peak such
as Boise hasn't seen in 50 years.
The average temperature in April
is 61.
Engineers are confident that
the dam will hold whatever the
flows. But that doesn't necessari-
ly mean they can prevent flooding
along the river from Boise's ex-
pensive riverfront neighborhoods
to cornfields in Canyon County.
More than 2.7 million acre -feet
of water — enough to fill Lucky
Peak, Arrowrock and Anderson
Ranch reservoirs three times — is
perched as snowpack in the 2,680
square -mile' area that drains into
fa2qN #Z "j-3 1 ages
the Boise River. That's an area in January, they made room by duced steady, predictable flows
about the size of Delaware. pouring water out into the Boise that lowered the reservoirs by 24
River at a rate of 7,000 cubic feet percent and the snowpack from
Windows for flooding per second — enough to flood a- nearly twice the normal level to
There are two periods within dozen homes and businesses in about 50 percent more than nor-
p E gle and other low -lying areas. mal, where it stands today.
this e River is window when the e damage estimate from the One flood that's not included in
Boise River is most likely to flood.
.The first is in mid - April, when corps is $349,000. federal officials' calculations is
the runoff begins. Once it starts, These two federal agencies weighing heavily on their minds.
it t monitor snowpack by satellite, The year was 1862 and the story
rarely stops. If it were to coin- then factor in .history and in- is told by Boise historian Merle
hide with an extended heat wave, stint, to decide how much water Wells. Homesteader I.N. Coston
heavy rains, both the reser- they will run through the river reported that on July 4, all land in
voirs would fill l quickly. frm January until the end of the river bottoms "extending from
Once the reservoirs filled, dam' bluff to bluff and from the resent
operators would be forced to send the '�in runoff. te January, hydrologists isiW of Boise westward t o the
all the incoming flows down the h the corps and the bureau Lyon near the present site of
Boise River. t.,
that the massive snow - dwell "was under water.
The second pressure point ism made it necessary to drain Engineers estimate that the
June. If the spring is cool, and the ll the water out of the reservoirs Ayer ran at 100,000 cfs, or nearly
runoff is late, dam operators have by Aril 1. 15 times the flow today.
another factor to consider: filling ut to meet that goal, they,, "That's the crapshoot," said
the reservoirs to store water would have had to turn up flows Susan Stacy, author of "When the
through the summer for irriga- into the river to 8,300 cubic feet R�er Rises," a history of flood
tioWith the reservoirs nearly full, per second. That would have control hattthe odds are but no-
• quick spurt in runoff caused by flooded a wider area along the ]Mow , knows a odd how much
a heat wave or heavy rains could river, causing from $760,000 to $mow was in the mountains in
be impossible for dam operators $ " million in damages. 1862 and what conditions led to
to control. Again, the would be `You don't want to make an ar- „
forced to send the incoming flows tificial flood unless you know you'that.
down the river. are going to have a real flood Ong ready
"When you get down to the end later, said Lori Postlethwait, aV -7 The spring threat seems dis-
of the runoff season, the flexibili- bureau hydraulic engineer. p g
t is one," said John Keys, re- The agency's hydrologists Cant in Boise, where the only sign
giona g director with Bureau of looked at the worst flooding year 4wsouble is th b users nor
of this century —1943 — and de- may see when the cottonwoods
— termined that they might bey able are lush and fragrant — not gray
ON JULY 4 1862 to skate by releasing only 7,'000 tinter sticks.
cfs. Any more and they knew,they „ People along the Payette, Weis -
ALL LAND IN THE would be causing twice the dam- errand Little Salmon rivers only
ale downstream. hove to look out over mud - covered
RIVERBOTTOMS The decision to go from 7,000 fields, broken levees and houses
to 8,000 is a bigger decision blian dangling over riverbanks to see
"EXTENDING FROM going from 8,000 to 9,000," Keys that the threat is real.
�� said. I—. : " 'hey have little or no protection
BLUFF TO BLUFF ... In 1983, dam operators h&ed their rivers, though the
AND FROM BOISE TO river flows to 9,500 cfs, the hith- Deadwood and Cascade reser-
est flows since Lucky Peak was voirs provide some margin of
CALDWELL WAS built in 1955. saafety on the Payette.
UNDER WATER.
Homesteader
I.N. Coston's account
of Boise's worst flood
eclamation for the Pacific
orthwest.
Rolling the dice
The Army Corps of Engineers
and the Bureau of Reclamation,
the two federal agencies that con-
trol the dams, have tried since the
beginning of the year to make
room in the three reservoirs for
the runoff.
Wlen runoff starts
f runoff starts coming quicly,
dam operators won't wait for the
reservoirs to fill before they begin
spilling water into the river. They
will use what space they have- to
hold back the peak runoff; in-
creasing flows into the river,,as
high as they must to capture what
what's left in the mountains.
They also will get help when
canals start draining off river
water as irrigation season begins
April 1.
The month of February was Un-
usually dry, and nearly perfect
weather for reducing the threat.
Warmer days and cold nights pro-
The Idaho Statesman 3/16/97 Page #3 of 3 Pages
Photos by Ketnenne Jones / i ne iaano 0MIM rnmi
Evidence of flood's power. Car -sized boulders were carried hundreds of yards across flat ground in Janu-
ary as rain and melting snow swelled a small tributary of the Boise River's South Fork.
So all around Boise, people are
rebuilding levees and shoring up
riverbanks scoured out by the last
floods. They're doing the same
thing throughout Idaho — along
the Big Wood River, in Rexburg,
Coeur d'Alene and St. Maries, as
well as in Oregon, Washington
and California.
Lives changed
Throughout the West, where
people live near rivers and hills
saturated by the winter storm,
lives await the flood next time.
"People are not making deci-
sions except to ride spring out,"
said Stephen Hackler, a neighbor
of Pinehurst flood victim Norm
Olsen. "We see the worst is yet to
come."
Olsen, 65, isn't Waiting around.
He never wants 'to live another
night like Jan. 1.
"If the mountain doesn't get you
sliding down, the river gets you
coming up," he said.
The Caldwell native served in
the California Air National
Guard for 43 years before retir-
ing. He moved to Pinehurst in
1992 and remodeled the house on
the bluff into the home he and
Dorothy had dreamed about.
The house was perched more
than 20 feet above the Little
Salmon until a landslide shoved
the river out of its course, sending
its swelling waters into the bank
under Olsen's floor.
His son, daughter -in -law and
grandchildren were visiting for
the holidays and he quickly
moved them away. At 2 a.m., with
the power out and house collaps-
ing, Olsen carried out everything
he could reach.
Suddenly, A was gone.
"As I walked in the door the
floors dropped out. It washed
away as fast as it hit the water."
He didn't have flood insurance.
Like many people in Boise, he
never thought he would need it.
"We though we were perfectly
safe. We never though this would
happen."
The Idaho Statesman 3/16/97 Page #1 of 2 Pages
Big Flood on Little Salmon
'The river will always go where it wants...'
The Trading Post in Pinehurst has
served as a nerve center for flood in-
formation. State and federal officials
also gather here to make plans.
From left, Ery Ballou, state coordina-
tor for the stream protection pro-
gram; Gene Gibson, stream protec-
tion specialist for the Idaho Depart-
ment of Water Resources; and
Richard Spencer, from the U.S. Nat-
ural Resources Conservation Ser-
vices, coordinate efforts for bank re-
habilitation along the Little Salmon.
The Little Salmon
River washed out
part of the Indian
Creek bridge in
January, stranding
five families, in-
:cluding Mike
McCoy and his 50
cats. A temporary
pedestrian bridge
,5erved until the
bridge was re-
opened March 7.
Survivors
hope the next
flood does
less damage
By Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman
■ INEHURST — People are
rolling rocks off the river-
bank in front of their
houses, hoping to prevent the
spring flood from washing the
bank away.
Never mind that in January,
during a winter flood, the Lit-
tle Salmon River pushed car -
I boulders past Pinehurst
they were Ping -Pong balls.
&at else are you going to
asked Stephen Hackler of
,hurst. "If you don't do
ething, you go crazy."
�ople throughout rural
Idaho — places
such as Payette,
Council, Emmett,
Pollack and Pine -
hurst — are turning
their attention from
repairing the dam-
age to preparing for
the next flood of '97.
More than 10,000
,people were strand-
ed during the New
Year's Day floods
and mudslides. But
few suffered in such
I
000
Riggins
Salmon River
Little Pinehurst
Salmon
River Boise
.q Pollock
Pinehurst
isolation as tney did
in the Adams Coun-
ty community of
Pinehurst, where
140 people were
trapped without
or water. power, telephones
A series of landslides
slammed into the river and
forced it out of its banks, turn-
ing waterfront property into
islands and destroying or seri-
ously damaging more than 10
homes. U.S. 95, the link be-
tween northern and southern
Idaho, was washed out in
three places, and a bridge was
destroyed.
Huddled together in the
dark, the people of Pinehurst
The Idaho Statesman 3/16/97 Page #2 of 2 Pages
felt the earth shake as the
floodwaters carried giant boul-
ders down the river. They
watched helplessly as their
homes floated by.
"People felt abandoned,"
said Kim Hackler, who with
her husband, Stephen, owns
the Pinehurst Trading Post.
Today, U.S. 95 is temporari-
ly fixed. Crews are working up
and down the river to stabilize
the banks with rock and riprap
in anticipation of a spring
flood. People are regaining
their morale and putting their
lives back together.
Mike McCoy now can easily
get to and from his home with
the reopening of the Indian
Creek bridge March 7 — nine
weeks after the flood. The
washout left five families, in-
cluding McCoy and his 50 cats
stranded.
"The agencies have been
wonderful," said McCoy, a re-
tired meat wholesaler who has
lived along the river for 31
years. "They've bent over back-
wards to help us."
Since January, the Trading
Post — a store and restaurant
— has served as the nerve cen-
ter for emergency aid pro-
grams and the rebuilding ef-
fort. State and federal officials
spread maps across booth ta-
bles with coffee cups as they
plan how to protect the area
from the next flood.
Officials at the Idaho De-
partment of Transportation
decided in February to rebuild
a six -mile stretch of U.S. 95
through the canyon at a cost of
$8.3 million.
The project will raise the
roadway above the level of the
last flood and let vehicles trav-
el faster through the winding
canyon.
But no one who saw the force
of the river on Jan. 1 believes
people will win this contest in
the narrow canyon of the Little
Salmon. -
Hackler said, "The river will
always go where it wants."
spy /9r
`Persistent rain, warm weather and landslides caused the Little Salmon to rise, change course,
scour deeper channels and severely erode banks. It could happen again during spring runoff.
,This barn hangs on the brink of the riverbank north of Pollard.
3/27/05
Star News
Salmon anglers to find limited access
to private land along Little Salmon
BY MICHAEL WELLS
The Star -News
A private landowner along the
Little Salmon River nearRiggins
has decided to limit access on
the river to anglers this year, the
Idaho Department of Fish and
Game said.
Regional Fisheries Manager
Dale Allen informed about 20
anglers at a public meeting in Mc-
Call last week of the change.
Ralph Slediger of. Sandpoint
owns land on both sides of the
Little Salmon River south of
Riggins.
Slediger has decided to close
off about a quarter -mile of ac-
cess to his property to anglers on
the west side of the river.
The east bank of the river on
his property is also off limits to
anglers. The property extends
from south of the confluence
with Rapid River to north of
the swinging bridge south of
Riggins.
Anglers will still have access
to more than a mile of river front-
age on the west bank of the river
for fishing during the day.
The Pasture and Lower Bluff
accesses will be open to anglers
on a day -use basis. No camping
or fires will be allowed.
"I think it is going to be a
higher quality fishing experi-
ence," Slediger said. "People
will rotate in and out, which
will allow a lot more people to
enjoy it."
In the past, Slediger noticed
that campers deterred other
anglers from pulling into two
highway pullouts on his prop-
erty.
He was also worried about
highway safety as anglers parked
along the highway on his prop-
erty.
F &G paid $6,000 per year
to Slediger in past years for
steelhead and salmon fishing,
Allen said.
The change in access, coupled
with a forecasted high number
of salmon returning from the
Pacific Ocean to Idaho, could
mean the Idaho Fish and Game
Commission will open more
of the Salmon River upstream
from Riggins to the Shorts Bar
campground for salmon anglers,
Allen said.
Fisheries managers believe as
many as 97,000 chinook salmon
will return to Idaho rivers.
Upstream fishing
Unknown
Fisheries managers only have
one year of experience with
salmon fishing upstream of Rig-
gins. In 2004, fisheries managers
determined the salmon caught
upstream to Shorts Bar were
mostly Rapid River salmon that
were waiting in the main river
before swimming up the Little
Salmon to Rapid River.
Fisheries managers are also
considering a ban on fishing
from boats in the Riggins City
Park hole on the Salmon River
to encourage more bank anglers
on the main river to ease access
problems on the Little Salmon.
Boats would still be allowed
to float through the area.
Fisheries managers will
propose a chinook season on
the Salmon River that could
begin April 26 to the Fish and
Game Commission next month.
The season could be open until
June 22.
Anglers will be allowed to
keep three salmon per day, have
nine salmon in possession, and
keep 20 salmon for the season.
Anglers could be allowed to
fish for chinook salmon seven
days a week from the Hammer
Creek boat ramp upstream to
either the mouth of the Little
Salmon River at Riggins, Mill
Hole or the Shorts Bar boat ramp
east of Riggins.
The salmon season on the
Little Salmon could also begin
April 26, although fisheries
managers believe the fish will
not have arrived yet. The season
could continue until Aug. 3.
The proposals will be pre-
sented to the commission next
month, along with proposals
for the Clearwater and Snake
rivers.
South Fork fishing area
extended to East Fork of
the South Fork
Anglers will be allowed 18
miles more elbowroom to fish
the South Fork of the Salmon
River this year.
Last summer's record forest
fires burned through most of the
salmon fishing area on the South
Fork of the Salmon River. Anglers
normally are allowed to fish from
Goat Creek upstream to just be-
low the salmon trap operated by
the McCall Fish Hatchery.
Due to forest recovery efforts
planned for the area, anglers
will be allowed to fish the river
downstream to the mouth of the
East Fork of the South Fork of the
Salmon River, Allen said.
Fisheries managers predict
that about 2,300 chinook salmon
will be in the fishery this year.
The season will not be set until
May by the Fish and Game Com-
mission, but it will likely start
mid -June, Allen said.