Morgan Creek Allotment, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho -- Photo Essay by Mike Hudak

Morgan Creek Allotment
Salmon-Challis National Forest, ID

August 2002

Photo essay by Mike Hudak, author of
Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching

Management of livestock grazing on the Morgan Creek Allotment has sparked disagreements between ranchers and conservationists for many years. In an attempt to foster cooperation, proponents of Holistic Management (HM) in the mid-1990s brought together permittees, environmentalists and employees of land management agencies to implement and oversee HM-style ranching on the allotment. A 1998 article describing the assembled “roundtable” management team and its approach to improving the allotment’s environmental conditions expressed great optimism. Yet within two years the hope that Holistic Management would bring significant improvements to the allotment had been forgotten. Western Watersheds Project’s Lick Creek Report 2000 documents numerous examples along Lick Creek of how this management had not lived up to expectations. Citing specific management practices embodied in the Biological Assessment for Bull Trout in the Upper Salmon River Watershed (USDA FS, 1999) the report states:

They claim that the herd is managed as a cohesive group that is attended 7 days/week by at least one professional rider. These riders move the cattle through the allotment ensuring that areas are grazed only once per year and for a maximum of 4–10 days per area. This is clearly not how the herd was managed during the 2000 grazing season. Cattle were documented simultaneously in multiple drainages. No rider was present with the cattle when we were performing surveys. Additionally, cattle were observed for periods over a month in the same drainage.

Most significantly, cows were not even supposed to be in Lick Creek this season. Due to the severe fires in the area, cows were ordered off the forest no later than August 30th, before their rotation into the Lick Creek paddock. When we expressed concern for livestock violating Bull Trout spawning restrictions, the Forest Service Supervisor assured us that livestock had been ordered off the forest and there would be no conflict. Livestock had not been in the Lick Creek watershed yet at that point. However, after that discussion with the Forest Supervisor, livestock did enter the Lick Creek watershed and we documented cows in the Lick Creek drainage throughout the season, including in September, during Bull Trout spawning.

Such has been the reality, rather than the hype, of Holistic Management at least on the Morgan Creek Allotment.

Low Stubble at Lick Creek, Morgan Creek Allotment, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Conditions along this portion of Lick Creek match several observations contained in Western Watersheds Project’s Lick Creek Report 2000 of two years earlier. For example, cattle grazing has opened large patches of dirt (upper left). Just about everywhere else the government’s 4" stubble height target for the end of the grazing season has already been exceeded by 2" to 3". Photo at UTM coordinates 0714297/4956936.

Lick Creek, Morgan Creek Allotment, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idahl. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), native to Lick Creek, have suffered from environmental damage inflicted by long-term cattle grazing. Streamside grasses have been grazed away, leading to the loss of undercut banks and the overall widening of the channel. In the absence of such grazing the creek would be much narrower with greater sinuosity. (See my photos of the Burnt Creek Exclosure for an example of a more healthy bull trout stream.) Photo at UTM coordinates 0714297/4956936.

Water Diversion on Morgan Creek, Idaho. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Morgan Creek, into which Lick Creek flows, is a known anadromous fishery with Chinook and steelhead as well as bull trout throughout its watershed. Besides the typical cattle impacts observed above on Lick Creek we see here something additional: diversion of water to irrigate privately owned fields of alfalfa for feeding livestock during the winter. Plastic sheeting at the diversion ditch prevents much of the creek’s water from flowing downstream thus diminishing fish habitat. Photo at UTM coordinates 0717938/4962541.

Diversion Ditch on Morgan Creek, Idaho. Photo by Mike Hudak.

Water diverted from Morgan Creek flows a half mile down this ditch to the fields it irrigates. Such diversion ditches often lack screening to prevent fish from entering. Photo at UTM coordinates 0717938/4962541.

The diversion ditch shown above leads to this alfalfa field owned by rancher Verl Jones (died November 2003). At the time this photo was taken, Jones was being sued by Western Watersheds Project and the Committee for the High Desert for not properly screening a diversion ditch on Otter Creek. In November 2002 U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled against Jones, preventing him from diverting more water from Otter Creek until he installed a “fish gate” to prevent the threatened-listed bull trout from being sucked into the diversion ditch where they would likely die. Photo at UTM coordinates 0717581/4960517.

Epilogue

Jon Marvel, Executive Director of Western Watersheds Project, reports that the Morgan Creek Allotment permittees long ago gave up on using Holistic Management. Some hope for improved management, though, comes from news that the U.S. Forest Service is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement for livestock grazing on the allotment.

These are your public lands. How well do you think those responsible for managing livestock grazing on the Morgan Creek Allotment are doing at protecting the region for wildlife? Please convey your thoughts to officials at

Challis-Yahkee Fork Ranger District
311 N. US Highway 93
Challis, ID 83226

Phone: (208) 879-4100
Online Ranger District Directory

Letters to newspapers are also an effective way to express your views to resource managers:

The Challis Messenger
310 Main Street
P.O. Box 405
Challis, ID 83226

Phone: (208) 879-4445
Fax: (208) 879-5276

The Times News
P.O. Box 548
Twin Falls, ID 83303

Phone: (208) 733-0931
Fax: (208) 734-5538
Submit your letter online (includes details
of letter submission): The Times News

Letters to the Editor
The Idaho Statesman
P.O. Box 40
Boise, ID 83707

Phone: (208) 377-6400
Fax: (208) 377-6449
Editorials