MVF’s Carson and McCain McMurray doing underwater transect work at Osborne Bridge, Henrys Fork.

We have just finished three weeks of intense work on the Henrys Fork. Slowed down by two solid weeks of rain, it all came together as we were able to shoot over 4,000 aerial pictures of the Henrys Fork watershed.   The Flying McMurrays (Joe, Ben, McCain and Carson) found calm air and got high resolution aerial photos from TroutHunter down to Osborne Bridge.  The first mile of photos were not great due to the low light (they started at 6:45 am) and some early morning winds that pushed the aerial rig’s 6 one meter weather balloons and suspended camera around. But we got good shots from the Big Bend down to the end of the Ranch section.  Given the 39 degree weather and swarming mosquitos, that was some pretty work by the team.

Below is a low resolution example of the clarity of the river bottom using MVF’s BAP rig.

We also completed the baseline aerial survey of the entire Henrys Fork from below Rexburg to the Henrys Lake outlet. Working with our partner, the Lighthawk Foundation, we flew the 100 mile+ river from bottom to top photographing the river.  Different from the BAP, the airplane perspective gives us a baseline of the level of development along the riverbanks.   More on this  project later but first a few pictures.

So where does playing it safe come into this post?  I got lost posting the pics but will post the playing it safe later today.

But my question is simple… Are we playing it safe in our approach to this restoration project on the Henrys Fork?  Can we be too aggressive on trying to “fix” the fishery? Should we just let nature takes it course on this highly modified river with non-native fish in it?  Is the economic wealth extraction from irrigation and recreation fishing justified?  Should we bite the bullet and just stock it with “smart” rainbow and cuts/cutbows? Are we missing the point on the Henrys Fork focusing on the Ranch restoration rather that the native fish protection?   Later…. Peace.

We had our first sunny day in the last two weeks here and shot over 200 aerial photos of the midsection of the Ranch.  The conditions were great but only for an hour or so.  When we arrived, there was a dense low ground fog over the river. As it cleared we launched and started shooting. Less than anhour later the winds picked up and started to bounce around the camera.  We pulled in the rig and made our way up the Parking Lot where Andy and Gene Quinn were filming a documentary on the Henrys Fork watershed. Check out Quinn Cinema for its release.

We are spending the day processing photos and merging images for form large image panels of the river habitat.   There is still work to do but so far the photos are pretty sweet.   The next week will be focused on the upper part of the Ranch to shoot a baseline of the macrophytes (aquatic plants).   This will be followed in July with another aerial shoot to document the change in macrophytes as the summer progresses.    We will also work to repeat the aerial baseline thru October of this year.   I will talk abut that in another post.

Above is a single photo taken from approximately 500 feet above the river.  The small shadow on the left side is a person.  The distance across the image is 450 feet.

Located just South of the Ranch section of the Henry's Fork, Osborne Bridge is approximately 300 feet long.

17 June 2009 — Today was the first day testing for our balloon aerial photography (BAP) rig on the Henry’s Fork in Last Chance, Idaho.  Although wind, overcast skies, and some scattered showers rattled the camera and reduced photo quality, we still managed to capture a few good shots.  The goal of this BAP operation is to provide some baseline information by photographically mapping the bottom topography and macrophyte (aquatic vegetation) cover of the Henry’s Fork.  We are focusing particularly on a 5 mile section known as ‘The Ranch’.   Some believe the decline in the fish population on this stretch of water over the last few decades can be attributed, in part, to a dearth of adequate trout habitat and there are tentative proposals for fixing this problem.  Providing a photographic record of the riverbed’s composition, with a level of detail beyond the capability of the accesible satellite images, will allow Henry’s Fork managers to better assess the quality and quantity of fish habitat and make a more informed decision concerning the river’s potential restoration.  After a week and a half working on the project, our BAP setup and Photoshop skills are ready for the challenge, but the weather has not been cooperative to our efforts.  However, the forecast for Friday is looking calm and clear so hopefully soon we will have the chance to get out there and shoot.

On May 21, 2009 we participated in a Henry’s Fork Caldera Restoration Meeting where key members of two HFF  advisory committees floated the Ranch section of Harriman State Park.  The goal of the float was to talk about the history of the Ranch fishing, significant watershed events over the past several decades and available scientific data.  All of this with the objective on what to do about the perceived decline of fishing on the Ranch section (see 1994 IDFG Report and HFF Caldera Project).  The good news is HFF is hard at work to understand the decline of fish habitat and fishing success on the Ranch.   Check out the video and Jim Del Rito’s excellent summary of what is happening today to restore the Ranch!

Henrys Fork Caldera Project 2009 from tom mcmurray on Vimeo.

The Spring runoff continues here on the Snake River.  The flows have dropped considerably but we still have one more peak to get thru before the river flows begin to subside.  The weather has been cloudy and cool with light rain for the past week thus we have not been able to fly the balloons and do any aerial photography work on the Henry’s Fork. We have been practicing here in Jackson on some of the small creeks in the meantime.   The cloudy weather is suppose to continue for another 4-5 days and we need good sunlight to be able to photograph the bottom of the river with good resolution.  Stay tuned for more…

We are up and running full speed here in Jackson Hole for the summer focused on a couple of key conservation projects. Along with the work on the Caldera Project on the Henry’s Fork, we are also exploring and baselining a few critical cutthroat trout spawning creeks in the Snake River ecosystem. One of those creeks is called Spread Creek and located in Grand Teton National Park. Blocked by a old diversion dam, fish passage up or down the creek is impossible. Thus the fish upstream are protected from any invasive fish (rainbows or brook trout) moving into their spawning habitat.

There has been talk about removing the diversion dam and reconnecting Spread Creek to the main stem of the Snake River enabling fish movement up the creek. There is also the issue of leaving the diversion dam to protect what may be a pure strain of Snake River Cutthroat Trout from hybridization from rainbow or brook trout. We do not know the right next step thus baselining the river and ecosystem will help in the decision process.

Spread Creek was roaring yesterday with all four bays of the dam open. Last time I was there in July 2008, the river was almost a trickle through this structure. We will report more once we get back up and explore the upper reaches of the Creek and its habitat.

View Spread Creek Recon June 8, 2009 in a larger map

You wonder sometimes whether your efforts to make this planet a better place to live produces results or just is more churn.  This guy started wineforwater.org and in my book… he delivers… and he inspires me to do more.

The Ethiopia Project from Wine For Water on Vimeo.

Here is a new bottled water video that will premiere in Maine this summer.  I read that review a couple years ago that described the environmental cost of drinking bottled water.  So I stopped buying it except on road trips and stuff.   My current bottled supply stock consists of 5 reused 16 oz diet coke bottles that I keep refilling… How much bottled water do you buy?

Worth watching…

We are working on a conservation  video from our latest expedition to the Rio Parana in Northern Argentina.   This massive river is second in size the the Amazon River in South America and is home of the national fish of Argentina: the Golden Dorado.  The river is also home to all the forces that slowly kill off species:  habitat destruction from dams and overfishing from recreational anglers and poachers.   Our conservation interest is to document the history and staus of the golden dorado and how Argentina is on the forefront of a government-lead conservation program to protect the habitat and fishery.  I jus thope we can tell the story and show you the place.  It is one of the most exciting places I have ever been.

So here is a short preview of the Rio Parana: Dorado film scheduled for release this Fall.

Untitled from tom mcmurray on Vimeo.

I think we all have struggled to understand the current carbon cap and trade debate.  I don’t totally understand the rules of how the cap is set and what are the trading rules.  But there is a new proposaed cap and trade that is easy to understand and has real merit - that is the Recreational Fishing Cap and Trade business.   Put forth by the pro-fishing CCA, the cap and trade was explained as follows:

CCA’s proposed “free market-based approach” would issue individual, non-reusable tags for red
snapper to account for the total allowable catch during an annual cycle. The tags would be
issued for public auction every year, and those members of the public who wish to catch red
snapper would make bids on the available fish tags. “Let anyone who so desires to place their
best bid and distribute to the highest bidders,” Nelson’s paper stated, “bidders could be
individuals, states or organizations.”

So you cap the number of fish that can be caught per year.  You sell the “tags” to the highest bidder.  Then the fishery can be controlled, measured and restored under current federal laws and each fishermen just pays the going rate to kill a fish.  It is that simple.   But you say… what if some rich corporation buys all the tags?  What do the individual fishermen do?  There is always catch and release.  But you might say that catching and eating or selling a public resource for profit has always been a right to all who fish.  Not any more… Sorry those days are numbered. I’m all for it.  Commercial fishing has been a bigger welfare business than food stamps.  Some government estimates are the global fishing subsidies for fishing exceed $70B for a total value of catch at $70B.

Let’s face it. We have been forced  to reevaluate fishing for sport and our own consumption of fish. I gave up salmon after learning how screwed up the whole hatchery fishery business has become.  Boycotting salmon is my vote - will not fish for them or eat them… especially wild salmon.

The idea of a cap and trade for recreational and commercial fishing makes perfect sense to me.  Nothing else has really worked.  Plus you could do away with the $230M spent in the state of California for developing MPAs whose exclusive goal is to regulate recreational and commercial fishing.  With cap and trade, the fishermen pays the state to fish.  And that is a revenue source the Govenator would jump at…

Sure there will be some difficult decisions of where to set the cap and rules on buying tags to fish.  But at least we have a chance to do better than we have in the past.  Let’s do it.   Peace.