Meet our Educators: Mitch Cutter

Mitch Cutter

Salmon and Steelhead Advocacy Fellow, Idaho Conservation League

Stanley, ID

9/11/21 – 9/14/21

“A five-star hotel for salmon and steelhead to come back to”, he says, “but the road is washed out.”

Mitch Cutter—2014 Westie, 2018 SITW Technical Manager, and current Salmon and Steelhead Advocacy Fellow with Idaho Conservation League—is describing habitat that has been restored high up in the Snake River basin for threatened salmonid species like sockeye and steelhead.

Bonneville Power Administration, the entity responsible for the energy generated by the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, has spent $18 billion towards mitigation for the disruption of anadromous fish migration due to the dams. Most of this money has been spent on habitat restoration projects in small tributaries to recreate shaded, sinuous streams in reaches that had been straightened, overgrazed, or not taken care of. Mitch does not doubt that this has been successful, however the fish are still not coming back.

This is why Mitch, through his work, advocates for the removal of the four Lower Snake River dams. Mitch works with and for Idahoans; building support for dam removal through coalition building, letters to the editor, and encouraging them to elect politicians who support dam removal policy. He often reaches out to Idaho farmers who currently rely on the navigable passage provided by dams to transport their product to find alternate modes of transport.

Mitch says, “Fish need one thing, and that’s a river”. To restore an economically and ecologically significant population, Mitch and Idaho Conservation League believe the dams must go.

By Katie Wallace

Meet our Guests: Kurt Tardy

Kurt Tardy

Anadromous Fish Biologist, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes

Stanley, Idaho

09/13/21

Kurt Tardy is an anadromous fish biologist who has been working with the Shoshone-Bannock tribes in central Idaho for nearly a decade. Kurt’s focus is on fish restoration, with the long-term goal of restoring salmon and steelhead populations to their historic abundance and the short-term goal of saving them from impending extinction.

Using the term “50,000-foot view,” Kurt advocated for a more holistic approach to restoration—one that goes beyond just habitat restoration. He used the metaphor of a newly built hotel, saying that numerous habitat-focused organizations have spent copious amounts of time, energy and money building a five-star hotel for fish in the upper Snake River. However, because of out-of-basin factors like dams, high water temperatures, and juvenile fish mortality, there are no fish to put in those hotel rooms. 

     Kurt brought Westies on a tour of a fish weir that was recently constructed on Pettit Creek in the Sawtooth Mountains. The fish weir is designed to catch sockeye migrating to and from Pettit Lake for biologists to count. Kurt’s passion for fish restoration shone through as he talked about the sockeye captive brood program, a project in which sockeye are genetically matched to produce the most successful offspring, who are then reared in their natural lake environment. Through projects like this, Kurt is dedicated to making concrete progress on achievable short-term goals without losing site of the big picture dream for a return to historic salmon runs. 

By Livvie Bright

Meet our Guests: Tom Page

Tom Page

Rancher and Policy Chair, Western Landowners Alliance

Challis, ID

9/12/2021

At the foot of the Lemhi Mountains in central Idaho, Tom Page stands beside a babbling creek. Tom is the Policy Chair for Western Landowners Alliance, an organization dedicated to supporting working landscapes and native ecosystems around the western U.S. He also manages Big Creek Ranch where he grazes cattle and implements restoration projects to support endangered species like Chinook and Steelhead. Tom owns 8,000 acres of the ranch outright, and holds the grazing permit for the remaining 112,000 acres of public land.

The creek Tom stands beside is a perfect example of his restoration efforts. Eight years ago, this land was a feedlot; the ground a foot-deep soup of mud and manure. Now the creek wanders through banks of willow and is surrounded by fields of grasses, all thanks to the water reallocation and stream restoration Tom has done since buying the property in 2014.

Not only does Tom labor tirelessly to restore habitat for critical species on his property, he is also intent on understanding and changing policies that govern land use so they will be more protective of functioning ecosystems. Tom is aware that much of the impressive restoration that he has done at Big Creek Ranch, from putting irrigation water back in streams to wildlife friendly fencing, could be easily undone under new ownership. Tom’s role at the Western Landowners Alliance allows him to advocate for change that will codify restoration of this land that he loves for generations to come.

By Morgan Sharp