The severe drought in 2021 had central Idaho landowners do more than they ever had to keep rivers flowing to save threatened salmon and steelhead, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Division said in a March 16 release.
Water is crucial for the surrounding agriculture in the region of the Lemhi River, as well for the salmon and steelhead which used to migrate to the river in large numbers, NOAA said the release. Typically, agreements to withhold irrigation start in July, but in 2021 they began in April.
“I never thought I’d see that happen. I could not believe how severe the drought became and just how quickly it became so severe,” Amy Cassel, manager of the Idaho Water Transactions Program, said.
A section of the river dries every year if landowners don't agree to restrict the delivery of their water for 100 days to keep it in the rivers and streams for salmon. These agreements are made with the Idaho Water Resource Board, NOAA Fisheries said.
"We knew it was going to take something unprecedented to get through the summer,” Chad Fealko, a fisheries biologist, said.
What happened last year may become the rule rather than the exception, Michael Tehan, assistant regional administrator in NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast region, said.
