Stats: Jim's been with Idaho Fish & Game for 10 years. He’s held the position of Regional Manager, Idaho Falls for the last three-and-a-half-years. Prior to his IDFG service he was a research and fishery biologist in the Panhandle Region based out of Coeur d’Alene. Jim has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Fishery Resources from the University of Idaho.

Jim Fredericks has worked for Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) for over 10 years. Jim's knowledge of his agency and in his area of expertise—fishery management—is one only obtained through years of service and dedication. The IDFG is legally mandated to preserve, protect, perpetuate, and manage all wildlife resources in the state for hunting, fishing, and trapping. To meet that objective, fisheries management policy emphasizes management of wild, native fish, self-sustaining populations, protection of habitat, and preservation of genetic integrity.

The need to accommodate anglers is also high on the IDFG's list of priorities. Angling in Idaho includes hatchery-supported and non-native fisheries. As Jim put it, "IDFG attempts to optimize sport fisheries by protecting and maintaining native fish populations, while still meeting the demands for diverse fishing opportunities, all in the face of a dynamic social and natural environment."

Reprinted with the permission of visitidaho.org.

Jim has responsibility for the upper Snake River drainage, which includes the Henrys Fork, Henrys Lake, Teton River, South Fork Snake River, Falls River, Warm River, and Willow Creek. In addition to these major waters, he also manages the reservoirs of the above-mentioned rivers and the "sinks" drainages: the Big Lost and Little Lost Rivers. (The "sinks" is a local colloquial term used to describe the streams that come out of the Centennial Pioneer, Beaverhead, and Lost River Mountain ranges and "sink" into the desert.  They naturally don't reach the Snake River.  They include the Big Lost and Little Lost Rivers, and the Birch, Medicine Lodge, Beaver, and Camas Creeks.)

Jim sees the “big picture” issues for Idaho fishery management as somewhat similar across the state. Although the species vary from region to region, the native versus non-native fish conflict is felt across all of Idaho (both socially and biologically. One area of difference is that four of seven Idaho regions have anadromous fish management responsibilities. Therefore, to some extent, those regions have a different management focus and deal with issues that the resident-fish only regions don’t have to address. In recent years, the main concern in the south-central and southeastern regions is drought. As Jim explains it, "Three or four years of successive drought greatly changes the management picture in much of this area. Reservoirs that support hugely productive and popular fisheries in normal years have been completely drained annually in recent years, and provide virtually no fishery. In the northern part of the state, the water problem is generally 'too much runoff' with flooding, and rain-on-snow events impacting stream and lake populations of trout. [Here in the southern region], it’s quite the opposite. Along those lines, whirling disease is not generally considered an issue in the northern part of the state, whereas in our lower gradient, drought impacted streams, it is much more of a consideration."

Jim's most important fisheries management considerations are flow regimes and water withdrawal. Both the South Fork and Henrys Fork Rivers are regulated systems with substantial irrigation diversions. His other concerns include: rainbow trout invasions particularly in the South Fork and the Teton Rivers, habitat degradation, and disconnectivity. Habitat problems and disconnectivity have been exacerbated by the drought. Jim also considers whirling disease to be a problem conditionally, "Wild trout recruitment has been a problem in recent years in some systems and whirling disease may be a factor."

One of Jim's primary successes has been his committed work with Friends of the Teton River. Friends of the Teton River is a non-profit dedicated to: the development of a scientific understanding of the Teton Watershed, the implementation of on-the-ground projects to improve conditions in the Teton River, it's tributaries and wetlands, and the creation of educational programs about the Teton Watershed.

In his own words, Jim explains this work best: "It’s hard to say how environmental changes have impacted Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The upper Teton River is very complex from a hydrologic standpoint. In a sense, tributary water withdrawal and flood irrigation have delayed and moderated the natural runoff—so now the river functions more as a spring creek than it historically did. This seems to provide an advantage to rainbow trout over cutthroat trout. Furthermore, the major freestone streams that historically probably provided the majority of spawning and rearing habitat for cutthroat trout, are largely disconnected now. There are spring creeks adjacent to the river that have restoration potential, but we have been trying to gain a better understanding of the factors limiting trout recruitment before we (collectively) invest a huge amount of resources into what could be a misdirected effort.

I think there is a consensus that the ultimate long-term 'best fix' for cutthroat is reconnection of the major tributaries. Unfortunately, from a water management and social standpoint, this is far easier said than done.

As we worked with Friends of the Teton River in laying out direction for programs to improve cutthroat populations, we all recognized that although we can see several successive years with poor cutthroat recruitment, we don’t have a clear understanding of why. Was it a lack of spawning habitat, rearing habitat, overwinter survival, or whirling disease? There were several possibilities, but nothing obvious. Whirling disease seemed to be a strong possibility, but it didn’t explain why cutthroat numbers were plummeting while rainbows were steady or increasing. So we worked together to secure funding—funding that came from private donors, an EPA grant and from the US Fish and Wildlife Sport Fish Restoration Program. We are now working with Martin Koenig, a graduate student, and his advisor, Dr. Jeff Kershner at Utah State University to try to identify the bottlenecks in cutthroat survival."

The Whirling Disease Challenge in Idaho: Jim has been trying to assess the areas of greatest concentration as measured by sentinel challenges and based on those sentinel tests, he's found the parasite throughout the drainage. There are some streams with consistently higher challenges than others, and he is also seeing some relative abundance trends in trout that may be related to infectivity. The frustration lies in problematic or unenlightening results. Jim says his staff isn't finding anything conclusive that demonstrates how whirling disease affects trout populations. "One thing that has been a little perplexing is the difference in challenges to sentinel fish from year to year. The site of our most significant challenge, based on spore counts and histology in 2004, was actually negative in 2003."

As a manager he needs a reliable index; whether it is through spore counts or histology, or with sentinel or wild fish, that can tell him that whirling disease is or is not limiting recruitment. He says his agency has some strong indications that whirling disease may be affecting the population in the Teton Valley, but they also have some serious habitat problems that confuse the issue.

Jim also has to walk the balancing act of all government workers in wildlife-related fields—policy versus nature. Politically the terrain is productive and cooperative with all interested parties working well together; and although working relationships with various stakeholders in the Teton Valley are positive, there are still some challenges. Jim says, "If and when the focus progresses to the point of trying to reconnect tributaries (or even talking about reconnecting tributaries) there will be some significant challenges. Idaho water law is not conducive to retiring water rights for the benefit of instream flow, so it’s not going to be easy to reconnect tributaries with water being in such short supply." The changing resident population also causes some interesting new problems. Jim notes that the Teton Valley is not that much different from its western counterparts. There is a mix of long-time residents with a fairly conservative agricultural focus and newcomers, who place a higher value on the recreational and aesthetic value of the area. Ranches are being sold, which brings a mixed benefit; sometimes the sale of a ranch allows for improved habitat and riparian conditions, other times subdivisions and development take place at the expense of open space.

Some final questions...

What are the current whirling disease issues for your state, region, or agency?

"As I mentioned above, our biggest issue is trying to accurately determine whether and where whirling disease is a real issue with population level impacts, versus where it is more of a reflection of other bigger picture problems."

What do you think the burning whirling disease issues will be in five years?

"The issue of impacts assessment is certainly one of them. The other issue, to me, is trying to get a better understanding of how the whole whirling disease infection plays out in a particular system. In other words, we seem to be learning that some systems experience population level declines that are/were attributed to whirling disease, and then there is a period of recovery. I don’t know if we’ll ever really understand whether it’s an immunity thing, an environmental conditions thing, or what. But it sure would be nice to know. Some systems seem to recover quickly, some don’t, some don’t seem affected at all. It’s a complex relationship between environmental conditions, fish species, and life history, and the presence of the parasite that we don’t fully understand. As a manager, it’s part of the job to try to reliably predict what the future holds and with whirling disease, we still have a whole lot of uncertainty."

What kind of outreach actions concerning whirling disease do you feel would be helpful to fishery managers?

"I would like to see a 'status report' of whirling disease developments around the west. I hear anecdotally that the Madison has rebounded very well, and then I hear accounts of other rivers where it’s thought to be taking a toll—but I haven’t really seen an annual interstate 'what’s new with whirling disease' newsletter or report. I get most of my whirling disease info from our state fish pathologist, Keith Johnson, which is invaluable; but it would be nice to see some periodic management oriented updates from time to time."