PREFACE
Dr. Donald W. Johnson Ph.D.,
Professor of Biology
Idaho Watersheds Project was founded in 1993 in an effort to improve management and conditions on millions of acres of Idaho's critical watershed habitat. We have observed the degradation of springs, streams, and the adjacent riparian areas. These losses have included populations of mountain quail, sage grouse, and redband trout dependent on meadow and streamside vegetation and the waters which they affect. The condition of our public land watersheds reflects their commercial use for livestock grazing, their management by State (Idaho State Lands Department) and Federal (U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management) agencies, as well as the oversight of our citizens. A system and procedures exist to protect the quality and quantity of water derived from these lands together with the associated habitat (vegetation and streams) which harbors the fish and wildlife so valued by the public. The response of that system and the implementation of those procedures have proven inadequate.
Agencies have documented the existing problems and designed remedies which could restore and protect the resources. Their reluctance to initiate the actions necessary to reverse watershed degradation results from a lack of appreciation by a majority of the citizenry of the magnitude of the problem. The status quo is supported by many public land ranchers and their elected representatives.
This survey and report was sponsored by IWP to present photographic evidence of watershed condition to the public and its agencies. For each area surveyed impacts of existing management and recommendations for action are listed together with the photographic documentation. We hope that the readers of this report will travel to many of the sites illustrated and confirm for themselves the need for action. Miriam Austin has demonstrated her commitment to our watersheds by her field work and presentation of her evaluations. I hope that she will be joined by an increasingly concerned public to finally reverse the well-documented degradation of our watersheds. Without public response we can expect loss of fish and wildlife, increased sedimentation in streams and reservoirs, destruction of meadows and streamside vegetation, and lowering of the water table with resultant loss of water quality and quantity-the lifeblood of Southern Idaho.