Castle Rock Fire Forces Evacuations Outside Ketchum, Hailey Idaho
By Tom Chandler on Aug 27, 2007 in News
Half of Montana and Idaho are on fire, so it’s hard to focus on the hardships suffered by any one area. Still, the L&T Nancy’s father lives outside of Ketchum and I’ve fished the Big Wood River several times, so you could say I noticed when the mandatory evacuation order was given for residents between Ketchum and Hailey.
New West has the story, and I find myself wondering about the immediate impacts to fisheries in the area. I don’t think trout are commonly slaughtered by the fires themselves, but the residual impacts can be huge; with the groundcover gone, the first heavy rains often wash a choking slurry of ash and dirt into formerly clear rivers, killing fish and many of the lower links of the food chain.
The Big Wood River in Winter; It’s hotter there now…
It’s easy to say that fire is part of nature’s restoration process, but us humans are notoriously short-term thinkers, so with that in mind, we’ll simply good luck to all the folks (and fish) in the West facing fire.
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, wildfire, castle rock fire, new west
Big Sky Taku | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
Fire and fish: Here’s what the experience has been in the northern Rockies after some of our “good” fire seasons (good =’s lot’s of OT for me). While small stream temps can rise to the lethal level for small stretches, it is not typical for the fire itself to kill fish. Heavy sediment and siltation can kill fish, but after the 2000 fire season when the Bitterroot was running absolute muck, the fishing was still good. What the fish squeezers found was the that the westslope cutthroat and bull trout survived and/or repopulated the streams much faster and maintained levels above the dinks, er brookies, and rainbows and browns. Studies in Yellowstone showed fish growth more than pre-fire levels (more nutrients = more food). Anyway, Rock Creek has many acres on fire as I write, so I expect bigger fish in the next year or two over there. Go natives! (Sorry about the poke at the Official Char of TU (the underground one). Cheers from the smoky Bitterroot Valley.
Tom Chandler | Aug 29, 2007 | Reply
I understand the stresses you’re experiencing due to the fire, so we’ll forgive the Brookie slur. As for the rest of it, I hope you’re right. If so, there will be a lot of bigger fish in Idaho and Montana next year…