Kurt Tardy

Anadromous Fisheries Biologist, Shoshone Bannock Tribes

Pocatello, ID

9/12/2022

Kurt Tardy met us on the bank of Bear Creek in Central Idaho. Kurt works for the Shoshone-Bannock tribes on salmon restoration, focusing on getting as much of the historical salmon run back into the waterways as possible. At Bear Creek, Kurt showed us the weir that the tribes install every year during the late summer to determine how many salmon make it all 900 miles from the Pacific Ocean to Bear Creek. He is able to count every returning salmon through a video feed they swim through on their way to their spawning grounds upriver.

Kurt emphasizes that even if the population number goes up significantly, unless that number matches the historical salmon runs of a century ago, the goal hasn’t been met. He cautions us to avoid taking eye catching numbers like “the salmon returning to this river doubled since last year!”, as that could mean a mere doubling of 35 to 70, a drop in the bucket compared to the thousands of fish that should be running up the river.

Kurt balances his long-term goals of restoration to the historic population with his immediate goal of stopping the extinction of the Snake River salmon. There are only a small number of salmon in the ocean programmed to travel back to Bear Creek, and he needs to make sure they have a safe trip home and a nice habitat to spawn. Bear Creek is one of the most well-preserved salmon habitats on the Snake River, and Kurt protects its future with pride.

By Nat Lange