by Kathy Peter and Liz Paul On April 8, 2006, Cottonwood Creek reached its highest flow in the 16 years the current US Geological Survey (USGS) stream gage has been in operation. At 78 cubic feet per second (cfs), the flow was more than twice as high as the second highest peak flow recorded on… Read more »
News
Category: High water
Cottonwood Creek: “It Will Cost a Pretty Penny”
It must have been a dry July when the City of Boise founders platted the first streets in 1863. They established the city in the channel of Cottonwood Creek. Although Cottonwood Creek is a large tributary to the lower Boise River, it can dry up for months between rain storms and snow melt. The natural… Read more »
Plant List for Riparian Enhancement
By Roger Rosentreter PhD, plant ecologist and river lover: High water! Means you have an opportunity to improve your little bit of the Boise River. Control of invasive species to improve the function and value of critical riparian habitat is a top recommendation of the Boise River Enhancement Plan, and now’s the time everyone can… Read more »
What is growing along the Boise River?
This year’s high river flows deposited sediment and scoured new ground surfaces for a variety of native and non-native plants to grow. So what is growing along the Boise River? Thanks to wetland expert Chris Murphy from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, joined by botanist Dr. Roger Rosentreter and riparian ecologist Dr. Rob… Read more »
Weeds Fall Prey to High Water and Citizens
By Alan Crockett This year, 2017, the big news regarding the Boise River is the high flow. And while that’s challenging news for some homeowners and we who recreate on the Greenbelt; there’s good news too. The most desirable trees along the Greenbelt are the native Cottonwoods and Willows; both can withstand the flooding. In… Read more »
Science Proves Benefits of High Flows
by Rob Tiedemann, Ph.D. “What do we want . . . empirical science. When do we want it . . . after peer review.” (April 22, 2017 Sign displayed at the March for Science, Boise, Idaho) By any objective measure employed by peer reviewed science – including species diversity, number of habitat types, and community… Read more »
A Place for Floods to Go
BY ROCKY BARKER rbarker@idahostatesman.com The moment of truth for the development of Ada County since 1955 has arrived. For more than 27 days, the flood-swollen Boise River has rolled through Boise, Garden City and Eagle at 8,000 cubic feet per second with only minimal damage and inconvenience. Today it flows at 8,600 cfs as measured… Read more »
Floodplains Are Refuge for Fish in High Water
by Michael K. Homza, PE It’s humbling to stand on the banks of the Boise River as it roars by above its official flood discharge of 7,200 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs). It’s deep, cold and fast. I wonder if I could survive an attempt to swim across to the other bank. I shudder at the thought. Luckily,… Read more »
Boise: A River Runs Through It
By Charlie Woodruff, Building A Greener Idaho Our theme of From Snow to Flow continues this week with a conversation about the Boise River with Idaho Fish and Game Regional Fisheries Manager Joe Kozfkay and Freshwater Trust Idaho Program Manager Christy Meyer. Our beloved Boise River brings life to the high desert and flows through… Read more »
Boise River System Snow and Water Review
by Steve Sweet, PE, Quadrant Consulting Good news, as of March 11, 2017, according to data provided by the NRCS SNOTEL sites, the Boise basin snow-water equivalent moved up 7 percentage points since earlier in the week to 152% of normal. You can see in the Boise System Storage graph below, that as of March… Read more »