SEVERE FLOODS PUT A DAMPER ON SPRINGTIME

Sunshine, blooming buttercups and shirt-sleeve temperatures are revving up outdoor recreation urges.

But whoa!

"Road closed" signs are sprouting at a staggering rate as state and federal agencies sort through the rubble of landslides that swept away roads in popular national forest areas.

Flooding has left dozens, perhaps hundreds, of bridges closed from Mount St. Helens in Western Washington to the Smith River in Montana. Officials in Dayton, Wash., report flood damage to 25 bridges in Columbia County alone.

Even where there's access, the roads may be too soft for safe travel. The Little Pend Oreille National wildlife Refuge has closed all or portions of Bear Creek, Blacktail Mountain and Cliff Ridge roads to prevent rutting and erosion during spring breakup.

Inconvenient? Sure. But get used to it.

Anglers, hikers, campers and other outdoor funseekers will find access restrictions well into the summer. Call the Forest Service and other public agencies for road and trail conditions before making a backroads trip.

Meanwhile, the skiing is great.

The worst flooding in 22 years has caused obvious grief for residents along the region's streams.

But the rush of water wasn't necessarily bad news for fish.

Aside from the eggs of fall-spawners, which probably took a major hit from the winter flooding, trout in most areas are likely to flourish in the remodeled streams left by the receding waters.

New holes have been gouged for winter refuge. Uprooted trees are providing shade, cover and holding water. Spawning gravels have been replenished in some areas.

Flushing flows of the winter floods also may have cleansed streams of the pathogen that has caused whirling disease in many prime trout waters.

The disease causes spinal deterioration in fish, particularly in rainbow trout. The most serious outbreaks have been found below dams that hold back sudden spring flows, said Al Van Vooren, Idaho Fish and Game Department fisheries research manager.

The slack water behind dams allows the host worms to build up in the silt.

The drought that plagued the West in the late 1980s and early '90s may have increased the impacts the disease had on fish, he said. Larger flows last spring and those expected this spring may slow the disease significantly.

Man, of course, has the ability to undo the nurturing Mother Nature might give to streams. Reports have been confirmed that a few landowners are taking advantage of emergency leniency in stream protection laws in order to cut trees or alter river channels to their personal advantage.

A little deepening here, a bit of straightening there.

In a world without such greed and ignorance, there would be no need for laws protecting rivers and fish.

But people without foresight can't see the advantage of going with the flow.

Commission submission: Washington isn't the only state with politicians who can't refrain from tinkering with the board of fish and wildlife commissioners.

According to an Associated Press story, Gov. Phil Batt on Tuesday signed legislation expanding the Idaho Fish and Game Commission to seven members. This guarantees that his appointees will be in clear control by summer.

But the most controversial feature of the bill is the creation of a special commission seat for Lemhi and Custer counties.

According to the story, supporters claimed the huge and sparsely populated central Idaho area had such a large proportion of big game that it was almost impossible for the commissioner from the Upper Snake River Basin to keep up with it.

Critics argued that the commission expansion gave 13,000 people in the two counties political clout in fish and game policy equal to that of 300,000 residents in southwestern Idaho. The appointments could have a major impact on the state's salmon recovery strategy.

The commission was established in 1938. The Idaho Legislature added a position to the panel in 1990. Now the commission has been enlarged again.

Apparently smaller government is better, unless it is to a politician's advantage to make it bigger.

Copyright 1996 Cowles Publishing Company
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