MVF is teaming up with the Henry's Fork Foundation to do an assessment of one of the most famous trout streams in America - The Harriman Ranch section of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. Yes Harriman is the E. H. Harriman - the president of the Union Pacific Railroad who was robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid time after time in the movie staring Robert Redford and Paul Newmann. The ranch was donated to the state of Idaho and now is the Harirmann State Park. More on Harriman in a later post.
The MVF team will be working with the Foundation to assess the current state of scientific understanding and knowledge, as well as opportunities for future aquatic research and restoration. MVF will be organizing the education and outreach part of the project and will be broadcasting from the banks of the river starting June 15, 2008 for a week covering fishing conditions and angler experiences along with examining the history of the fish in the river.
The motivation for this project came from discussions with HFF executive director Steve Trafton about the concerns of the health of the fishery. The river is a wild trout river and carefully managed as a catch and release fly fishing site. There is over 30 years of data on the river covering scientific publications, creel surveys, flow conditions and field studies that HFF is organizing to present to the entire Henry's Fork community. Hopefully we can set a baseline from which conservation progress can be measured in the future. No organization has ever assembled all the data, talked with all the experts, interviewed the fishermen along the river banks and then published what they find. Like all environmental issues, getting both the data and community input is tough to do, will always piss some group off and will put pressure on those in charge like Idaho Fish and Game and HFF. But it needs to be done and we are excited to be participating in this project.
BUT... June is not here yet and it is still winter along the river. Brandon and I left Jackson Hole on Wednesday to survey the river banks and conditions. What we found was 2-3' of snow on the ground, a blinding snowstorm rolling in and this dog commanding a sweeping view of the river. it was not pretty. But we are 6 weeks away from going live. There a dozen interviews to conduct and produce for broadcast prior to June 15th plus train the summer interns. Plus research on the history of the river, its pioneers and role that the Henry's Fork has played in the fly fishing and conservation culture in the Western US.
We will be producing content and broadcasting several times each day for the opening week on the Ranch. Stay tuned to watch a cutting edge conservation effort to educate not just the anglers, Idaho Fish and Game, the massive ranch owners that own the water, the subdivision developers but for each of them to educate each other and the community of the vital role the Henry's Fork plays in their lives and culture. Stay tuned.
