Idaho Matters is a wonderful way to stay up to date, meet people and understand there’s much more to this great state. Hosted by Gemma Gaudette on Boise State Public Radio News, it features arts and politics, growth and education, and the interesting stories that make Idaho unique. Send us your questions, comments or story ideas by emailing idahomatters@boisestate.edu or sending us a voicemail using the “Talk To Us” feature on the free Boise State Public Radio app.
The book is filled with essays about the microjoys that have kept Cyndie moving forward, even in the toughest times of her life. She joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable: March 3, 2023
Mar 03, 2023
Show notes(Frank Schulenburg/wikimedia)
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up-to-date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
Rewilding the Boise River is a labor of love
Mar 02, 2023
Show notes
Along the banks of the Boise River a scrubby, weedy landscape is being transformed back to a living, vibrant ecosystem thanks to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers from across the Treasure Valley.
It’s called the Boise River ReWild Project and it’s the brainchild of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society. The goal is to restore more than 50 acres of habitat along the river.
Idaho Matters producers Samantha Wright and Hannah Gardoski drove down to the river on a very windy day and walked along the bank and many rows of tubes of plastic webbing with tiny plant sprouts inside.
They were joined by Danae Fails with the Golden Eagle Audubon Society who is the project coordinator for the Boise River ReWild Project and Sean Finn, who volunteers as the Project Lead.
A stretch of the Boise River, not far from Barber Park. ( Hannah Gardoski)
Finn says the whole idea is to increase the native biodiversity along the Boise River. He says we’ve lost that biodiversity since the very first days of the Oregon Trail.
“There were people who were on the Oregon Trail who were camping right here. It's hard to believe, but it's true. And of course, those people, they stopped here, their horses and their cattle fed up on the grass and the other plants. And when they were done and ready, they moved on,” says Finn.
He says that’s been the story of the river for decades. Each time someone used the river for its resources and then moved on, leaving an area behind that degraded over time.
“All those native plants that were out here, from time immemorial until about 1850, have slowly been lost just because we weren't paying attention. And now we want to pay attention.”
As the native plants died, weeds took over. And Finn says those weeds should not be there.
“The weeds serve no purpose to our pollinators and our other insects, very little purpose to our small mammals. They do nothing for the birds. They don't carry high energy nectar. They don't provide high energy berries,” Finn says.
So one of the goals of the project is to bring back the native biodiversity of wildflowers, native grasses, native shrubs that bear berries and other kinds of fruit. And they’re taking out the weeds and invasive species like Russian Olive trees.
Jon Mathews is a volunteer with the project. As a Plot Lead, he coordinates dozens of volunteers who weed the areas and plant the new sprouts.
“We planted about 2000 plants in our plots and then we go back out and kind of nurture them, throw water at them and cage them up and protect them from the deer and everything so they grow,” says Mathews.
Each plot is about half an acre. Volunteers plant dozens of kinds of plants including several kinds of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, chokecherry, bitterbrush, gooseberry leaf, globemallow, and a ton of milkweed plants.
Inside each plastic mesh tube is a tiny native plant sprout. The plastic tubing protects the plant from becoming a "chicken nugget" for deer, according to Sean Finn. ( Hannah Gardoski)
They rely on experts to help them figure out what plants to plant and where to plant them. Other experts donate their time to help teach the volunteers “who maybe don't have the knowledge but have the passion about caring for the river and caring for wild things. And so that's how we try and build communities,” says Finn.
The project relies on hundreds of volunteers, from dozens of classrooms of kids to people who grow some of the seeds and sprouts in their backyard to folks who come down to the river and pull the weeds up by hand.
Finn says they’ll maintain the plots for two years to let the native plants get established.
( Hannah Gardoski)
“We will be monitoring plant survival. We're monitoring pollinators, our attendance at these plots, and we're monitoring bird populations around these plots. And we'll do that through the end of 2024 to evaluate what our actual conservation outcomes are,” says Finn.
He says our big government agencies are working on big restoration projects but the smaller areas can fall through the cracks, like a five-acre plot of weeds along the Boise River.
Beavers have already started to rewild this section of the river. ( Hannah Gardoski)
Mountain West libraries temporarily close due to meth contamination
Mar 02, 2023
Show notes(Alexandre Magalhaes / Flickr)
For years, police in our region have dealt with crimes triggered by methamphetamine abuse. Now there’s a surprising new problem – meth contamination in libraries.
A number of libraries have closed recently for cleanup, including the main branch in Boulder, Colorado. KUNC's Leigh Paterson reports for the Mountain West News Bureau.
Answering your questions about the Oscars with Idaho Matters
Mar 02, 2023
Show notesOscar statues are seen backstage during the 88th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.(Christopher Polk / Getty Images)
The Oscars are less than two weeks away and we have questions! Who will win, who will lose, will there be another scandal and since viewership has gone down over recent years, will it be a good show to watch?
Our resident movie expert, George Prentice joined Idaho Matters to help us find the answers to some of these questions.
Idaho Matters Doctors Roundtable: March 1, 2023
Mar 01, 2023
Show notesA computer rendering of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.(Radoslav Zilinsky / Getty Images)
Earlier this week the Director of the FBI said the bureau believes COVID-19 most likely originated in a Chinese government-controlled lab and that there was a leak, which caused the virus to spread.
However, the White House has said there is no consensus across the U.S. government on the virus’ origins. And a joint China-World Health Organization investigation in 2021 called the lab leak theory extremely unlikely. So how have we gotten back to this theory?
Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and current member of the Idaho Coronavirus Task Force, joined Idaho Matters to help break this all down.
How do your sleep habits impact your day?
Mar 01, 2023
Show notes(istock)
Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi is a psychiatrist and medical director at Included Health and she joined Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about our sleep habits.
Grocery prices in Mountain West rise above national average
Mar 01, 2023
Show notes(Fiona Goodall / Getty Images)
If you’ve been to the supermarket lately you’re aware of the dramatic rise in the cost of food, and Idaho is not alone in feeling this pain.
A new survey shows that most of the Mountain West is paying more for food than the national average. Emma VandenEinde is the Mountain West reporter for KUNC and she joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
'Enchantment:' An author interview with Katherine May
Mar 01, 2023
Show notes( Riverhead Books)
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