Over the Pass to a Different Future

By Mary Terra-Berns

Several years ago I worked on Idaho Fish and Game snorkeling surveys of fish above Avery on the upper Saint Joe River, which is federally designated as Wild and Scenic. Twenty-eight snorkeling transects were established in 1969, extending about forty-five river miles from Ruby Creek downstream to Avery. This part of “The Joe” is on the bucket list of anglers across the country.

During the snorkeling surveys, fish species in each transect are counted and their lengths are estimated. I was a rookie at snorkeling and when I floated into a large pool that held hundreds of fish, I popped up and yelled to the biologist on the bank taking tallies, “How do you count this many fish?” He laughed and gave instructions, and I did my best to keep track of all the sleek silvery bodies darting around me.

Right below this large pool was another, smaller pool where a tourist was fishing. He reeled in and waited while we floated through. When we emerged at the other end of the pool, we heard him complain that there weren’t any fish in the pool. With big grins, we told him there were dozens swimming around ignoring his fly.

Avery is forty-seven miles east of St. Maries on the Saint Joe River Scenic Byway. The current population is twenty-five residents, a number that doubles in the summer when Forest Service temporaries and summer residents arrive for a few months.