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OUR GEM: Ecosystem Services That Wetlands Provide
Author, Meg Wolf- Interim Assistant Director/Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, University of Idaho Wetlands refer to the watery transition zones between surface water and dry land. They can be wet year-round or only during certain parts of the year, such as following spring runoff. Essential parts of a wetland include aquatic plants specifically adapted to live in fully saturated environments. In the Inland Northwest, non-tidal wetlands are prevalent, unlike coastal regions that support tidal wetlands. Nature’s Water Filters Wetlands act…
What do you value and why?
The following reflection was written and delivered by Post Falls resident, Jamie Esler, as part of Boise State University’s “Idaho Listens” event held at the Hagadone Event Center this past October. To learn more about Idaho Listens, or to watch all of the local speakers from the Coeur d’Alene Event, visit https://www.boisestate.edu/americanvalues/idaho-listens/ What do you value and why? The two of us sat on the ground within a few feet of each other but the berries were so thick we…
Coeur d’Alene Basin Bull Trout
This story was written by Graham Freeman on behalf of the Our Gem Collaborative team for the CDA Press on Sunday, April 23, 2023. Read the original article. The Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation (OSC) is dedicated to planning, coordinating and implementing the State’s actions to preserve, protect and restore species listed as candidate, threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). This work is done in coordination with the State’s natural resource agencies and with input from…
IWRRI Grant Recipients Work on Sediment Transport Physics
Gianluca Blois, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Idaho’s Boise campus, works at the Center for Ecohydraulics Research (CER) with students to study how water moves through streams and rivers. Their research focuses on how stationary objects, like plants, affect water flow and the movement of sediments. This study used a specialized laboratory flume—a controlled stream environment—to measure water speed and pressure in aquatic systems. While scientists have long studied how landscape features like riverbanks and terrain…
OUR GEM: k’wne’ ‘ulchiyark’wmtsut – Fisheries Restoration Connecting Two Restored Reaches
By Bruce Kinkead, Fisheries Biologist, Coeur d’Alene Tribe The Hangman Creek Fisheries Restoration Project began in 2002 and is funded by Bonneville Power Administration under the Fish Substitution Policy to compensate for lost salmon harvesting. Early research found the limiting factors to be lack of connection between channel and floodplain, lack of large woody debris (LWD), excess fine sediments, and high stream temperatures associated with a lack of tree canopy. Initial work on Hangman Creek below the Sanders townsite began…
OUR GEM: Hygiene, it’s not just for people…
Author: Ben Scofield, Coeur d’Alene Tribe Water Resource Specialist In all seriousness watercraft hygiene is an important subject in these days of increasing pressure upon our shared waterways. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture which operates watercraft inspections stations throughout the state recorded about 125,416 inspections in 2025. Each of these watercraft trips represent an opportunity for an aquatic invasive species (AIS) to jump from an infested waterbody to an un-infested one. With the detection of quagga mussel in the…