Silver Creek Alliance Inc. a 501(c)3 P.O. Box 663 Picabo, ID. 83348 info@silvercreekalliance.org (208) 720-4525

Silver Creek

Silver Creek, what is it? Why protect it? To those who know Silver Creek, fish it, bird watch around it and have visited it, know why. The “Creek” as it is known to locals, is a memory, a story, or a place they store in their hearts as something that must be protected. Silver Creek has history, memories and a role in the community that should never be lost. A spring creek in nature, it is unique in its own right. Spring creeks are rare and even more rare is the size of this spring creek and its ease of accessibility to the public. Rising from an underground aquifer with clear, cold water and rich with aquatic habitat, Silver Creek is perfect for cold water trout and an amazing diversity of wetland habitat. Birds of many species thrive at Silver Creek and wildlife diversity is abundant on its turf. In 1939 Earnest Hemingway once wrote “You’ll love it here, Schatz…There’s a stream called Silver Creek where we shoot ducks from canoe…Saw more big trout rising than have ever seen…Just like English chalk streams…We’ll fish it together next year.”–Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway hunted more than he fished Silver Creek, but his son Jack was very passionate about its fishery. Fly fishermen from all over the world come to its waters to test their skills, usually walking from it humbled and vowing to always return. There is a saying among trout fishermen, “trout don’t live in ugly places” this is true of Silver Creek. Silver Creek has had several landowners along its shores, but every one of them without exception, is there for the “Creek”. The Purdy’s have owned land along Silver Creek for nearly 100 years. The Nature Conservancy bought their property from Sun Valley Company in the early Seventies and have never looked back. Once you walk its banks or step into its waters you know why.

But Silver Creek is different now than it was a hundred years ago, or even twenty years ago. The “Creek” as locals know it, has undergone changes. Not by design or even intentionally, but inadvertently due to a lack of understanding and land use practices. Siltation from over grazing of cattle, agriculture encroachment and invasive species have taken a toll over time and it is now our time to help and protect it. Silver Creek now faces a threat that can bring it to its very collapse due to both environmental and human caused intervention, a lack of water. Since it is a spring creek, receiving its water from underground, it is subject to what it receives from above ground. Drought, a lack of recharge and groundwater extraction all play a part in a very fragile water system. New science, data, water models and awareness have shown us that we can work together and reverse negative trends that threaten Silver Creek. Silver Creek Alliance is working with landowners, growers, agencies, conservation groups and the public to educate and bring everyone together to find solutions that benefit Silver Creek and the surrounding land and in turn, our community. We are in a unique position to permanently protect Silver Creek’s water and its importance to all who know it or have heard of it, or even now, hopefully want to visit it. With your help, good science, insightful people and community involvement, Silver Creek can thrive for generations to come.