You have to wonder what the future of the Boise River will be with increased development in the valley, possible pollution from mining and the possible loss of important winter flows to irrigation districts.
You wonder if the water will be clean enough for swimming. You wonder if the river will be healthy enough to support fish and wildlife.
Three local experts will share their vision of the Boise River in 2050 and discuss how the choices we make today will determine the river’s future at a free community program at 6 p.m. Tuesday, at Garden City Hall, 6015 Glenwood Street. The program is hosted by Idaho Rivers United and the Garden City Library.

The Hammett boat ramp on the Snake River has been closed for the entire duck season and hunters are wondering what's going on.
It is a major boat ramp for duck and goose hunters who use the stretch of river from Glenns Ferry to the highway bridge west of Hammett.
It caused a bottleneck at other boat ramps on the river on opening day of the duck season.
What's going on? I've been using it for more than 10 years. I've seen a half dozen trucks and boat trailers there on weekends during the waterfowl season.
It proves the value of public river access in Idaho for both hunting and fishing. This ramp closure denies the public to about 10 miles of river.

The Ride of Silence Wednesday night in honor Sarah Howard was a chance for bicyclists and motorists to think about safety on Treasure Valley's roads as both bicycle and car traffic increases in a growing valley.
I rode the 40-minute tour of the Boise Bench and did a lot of thinking. As a daily bicycle commuter, I thought of the close calls on the street and how I could be a safer cyclist. I thought of when I'm driving, how I can be more aware bicyclists.
The ride, in honor of an oncology nurse who was hit and killed on her bicycle Friday, brought together more than 200 bicyclists many of whom were probably wondering the same thing.

Wildfires are sweeping southern California. The shuttle launched flawlessly. Things are getting scary along the Turkey-Iraq border.
It's all important news, but the thing that blew me away in the Idaho Statesman this morning was the story of the killing of a bald eagle along the Willamette River in Oregon.
Can this still happen in this day and age? Everybody knows eagles are protected under federal law. The magnificent bird represents one of the most incredible success stories in conservation, making a comeback from near extinction. There were thousands and thousands of eagles in this country in the 1800s. By the 1960s, numbers dropped to around 450 because of the impact on the birds from DDT and other pesticides, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A medical emergency can happen on the ski slopes, in a campground or out on the trail, and first responders need to know who to contact in that emergency.
Ace Boise whitewater canoeist J.T. More shared these tips he got from the Brundage Mountain Ski Patrol. We should all follow his advice.
More says that we all carry our cell phones with names and phone numbers in the contact list, but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call.

Duck hunting last weekend on the Snake River was terrible.
How hunting can go from excellent on opening weekend to bad news the following weekend is mindboggling.
We set up in the same place we were on opening day and the ducks just weren't there.
We saw some high flights of mallards but almost no mallards flying low along the river. They had only one thing in mind, and that was going to the larger reservoirs.
We did have a couple of flights of wigeon buzz our decoys but that was about it.
The day was perfect for hunting with sunlight and wind. Who knows what the heck is going on?
It looks like it's going to be slow hunting until the northerns drop in, if they ever do.

Steelheading was tough last week.
I spent four days up on the Salmon River near Riggins and fished hard. We even had an 8-hour day on the water. Luckily, I caught and released a beautiful wild fish. We also had a hatchery fish for dinner in camp one night.
When we were headed for the river last week, we expected to hit that magical time in October when fishing would be fabulous.
Fish counts at the dams looked incredible. I thought we would hit it just right. Wrong. The fish are late. The fish do their own thing when it comes to steelhead fishing.
It was tough fishing for everyone, even veteran guides, who know the river and the fish.

I am stuck in the midst of a classic fall dilemma, whether to hunt deer first or fish for steelhead.

Years ago, it wouldn’t even be a contest. I would go deer hunting. But the steelhead bug bit hard about five years ago, and I sweated through early October heat while chasing mule deer up and down the mountain, then froze while casting to steelhead in rain showers and snow storms.

It didn’t make sense. Why not fish in the sunshine and hunt when the deer are more likely to move and weather is better for stalking?

So this fall I pulled the trigger, so to speak. I pulled the old switcheroo. I am going steelhead fishing, then hunting.

There was a whole lot of shooting going on along the Snake River Saturday for the opening of the waterfowl season in southwest Idaho.
The local population of ducks looked fairly decent and hunters looked like they had above average success.
We saw a variety of ducks, including wigeon, teal, gadwalls, shovelers and mallards.
Most of the shooting ended by around 10 a.m. That's the time most hunters packed up and left.
Hunters had sunny skies with a good west wind blowing in some areas. Hunting conditions were ideal.
It was crowded on the river despite it also being the first weekend of the deer season.

The Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation is thinking about relaxing its ban on pets in its more than 250 yurts and cabins and is asking for comments.
It's a good idea. A lot of state park goers bring their dogs and it's difficult to camp at a yurt and have your dogs sleep out in the truck.
The key to the whole debate is to have dog yurts and dog-free yurts.
Campers that use the dog yurts should have to submit an extra $50 cleaning deposit, which is refundable when they check out if the yurt has not been damaged or is not dirty.
I'm a dog owner. Our three dogs go with us everywhere. I love dogs and believe they should go with you on vacations and outdoors outings.