Mid-August 2007 Bulletin
Fires Shut Down the Middle Fork; Hunt Outfitters Nervous
For all intents and purposes, the Middle Fork Salmon is closed due to the blow up of the Red Bluff fire which jumped the river on Monday, August 13, causing the Forest Service to suspend launches from all normal sites with the exception of the Flying B Ranch/Bernard airstrip which is socked in due to heavy smoke associated with the numerous fires burning to the west on the Boise, Payette and Nez Perce national forests. This comes on the heels of the closure of the Main Salmon River on August 6. Nearly 60 boating outfitters on both rivers are impacted along with lodge owners. Main and Middle Fork float outfitters have anywhere from 3 to 8 trips that could be impacted by an extended closure. Jet boat outfitters and lodge owners are essentially shut down also. The economies of towns like Riggins, Salmon and Stanley will feel the impact big time. River outfitters generally pay the bills and the mortgage with June and July trips with August launches representing the opportunity for net profit.
For reference, the Main and Middle Fork Salmon Rivers and the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness were closed between August 19 and September 8 in 2000 due to fires. IOGA estimated outfitter business losses among 100-plus outfitters, water and land-based, at nearly $3 million that year. This included impacts to other river and land-based outfitters where closures were not in effect, but smoke and national media were instrumental in the cancellation factor.
The six percent of Idaho that is currently burning or has burned have led the federal agencies to issue numerous closure orders that now threaten the August 30th opener of the deer and elk bow hunting and trophy (bighorn sheep) species seasons in many areas. Statewide, IOGA estimates that 40 to 50 hunt outfitters licensed areas are impacted due to closures on the Boise, Payette, Salmon/Challis, Nez Perce, Clearwater and Bitterroot national forests along with some BLM and State lands. This does not account for large fires, now contained, that burned hundreds of thousands of acres of BLM and Forest Service managed lands in southern Idaho earlier this summer.
According to a recent article by Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman, forecasters say the likelihood of snow and rain wet and cool enough to stop fire growth by September 1 is 40 percent, 60 percent by September 15 and 85 percent by October 1. Six of the last eight years have been among the top 10 worse fire seasons since 1960. Extreme fire conditions threaten to turn 2007 into another record fire season.
IOGA’s Grant Simonds is in contact with agency fire and recreation managers, outfitters, the media, the Governor’s Office and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game regarding general education of what is at stake for the outfitting industry and potential for mitigation including possible re-opening of the two rivers. Also, Simonds will explore the possibility of hunting tag and fishing license refunds should guided hunters/fishers not be able to access their hunt/fishing opportunity through their outfitter. Precedent for this occurred as a result of the 2000 fires. The Forest Service, BLM and the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board remain poised to assist with moving outfitter operations where and when possible.
PLEASE NOTE A NEW WEB SITE that went online earlier in August from the Forest Service -
http://www.fs.fed.us/idahofires This site is designed with the traveling public in mind and is a terrific resource for everyone in the tourism-hospitality business. Recently, The InciWeb.org site we had been relying on has crashed and rarely downloads due to overwhelming usage. This new site is IDAHO SPECIFIC and it also has a link on it to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality so you can get air quality information along with the other valuable information.
USFWS R