Ever wonder if a nearby stream or river has wild salmon and steelhead in it? Well Idaho Fish and Game projects monitor wild salmon and steelhead distribution in our streams and rivers to make sure populations are stable and they keep occupying the same habitat. In some instances, we monitor habitat restoration projects that open up new habitat past barriers such as culverts.
We now develop maps like the one pictured here to give sportsman and landowners an idea of what kind of fish occur in their area. This map shows juvenile steelhead distribution in the Potlatch River drainage. Yellow dots show locations where crews sampled juvenile steelhead using backpack electrofishing and green dots show where crews sampled juvenile steelhead using snorkeling. The bigger the dot or square, the more fish they found. Black x’s on the map are locations they did not find any juvenile steelhead.
Data like this allows biologists to track juveniles steelhead distribution across numerous years to better understand how changing environmental conditions affect where the fish are found. This is just one step to insuring we have these fish to enjoy in the future.
IDFG has maps like this for all the areas that our crews conduct snorkel surveys. Take a look at this report for the map of a drainage near you.