Note: The information presented below was researched by Madison Leeman, J.D. Candidate 2025 from the University of Idaho College of Law. Madison completed a Summer 2024 externship with the Henry’s Fork Foundation.
Idaho law requires the owner of any boat or non-motorized vessel to buy and display an Idaho Invasive Species Fund sticker to legally launch and operate the vessel within the state of Idaho. This requirement includes motorboats, jet boats, canoes, kayaks, rafts, and drift boats. Inflatable, non-motorized vessels less than 10-ft in length are exempt. These laws apply to resident and non-resident boaters. Non-compliance could result in penalties listed in I.C. § 67-7033.
You can purchase Invasive Species Fund stickers online, at any Idaho State Park, and at select retail locations. More information available at: https://invasivespecies.idaho.gov/invasive-species-sticker-faqs
The Invasive Species Fund is managed by the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture. The Invasive Species Fund stickers are administered by the Idaho Dept. of Parks and Recreation. Invasive Species Fund sticker compliance is enforced by county law enforcement officers.
Idaho residents are required to register boats in Idaho within 15 days of purchase. Water vessels with a motor of any kind and any vessel that is being financed must be titled with a registration number. Titling is optional for vessels acquired before January 1, 2000. Vessels that are not powered by motor and cannot be titled are exempt. These include rowboats, canoes, kayaks, drift boats, rafts, sailboats, inflatables, and others.
Boat registration from other states is valid in Idaho for 60 consecutive days. Out-of-state boaters are required to purchase an Invasive Species Fund sticker and all boaters entering Idaho and passing a boat inspection station must stop for inspection.
Boat registration is outlined in the Idaho Safe Boating Act (Title 67 Chapter 70). Compliance is enforced by county sheriffs and any other law enforcement officer within Idaho, such as state or national park officers within their parks of jurisdiction.
In the Henry’s Fork region, there are 8 river and lake sections that outfitters have licenses to operate on. Each river section is further separated into individual river reaches. For the Henry’s Fork alone, there are three river sections. They are licensed as follows:
Commercial fishing guides and outfitter licenses are regulated by the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board.
In Fremont County, river access sites have various jurisdictions—including the U.S. Forest Service, Fremont County, and Harriman State Park. In terms of river use, the Safe Boating Act provides authority to local counties to regulate waterways within their territorial limits (I.C. § 67-7031). Counties in Idaho can regulate those launching on their waterways through ordinances and county code.
For example, Franklin County Code § 93.02 restricts all types of watercrafts and fishing from Winder Reservoir. In Bonneville County, Ordinance No. 240-21 sets no wake zones on its waterways and two of its main reservoirs. In Teton County, Code Title 14 limits group size, requires parking passes for river-adjacent parking lots, and controls commercial watercraft rental companies via permitting. In Fremont County, Ordinance 2011 created restricted geographic zones that limit or entirely ban motorized watercraft.
As it is the afternoon of December 31, I am closing the year with my annual fish-of-the-month blog, this one at the end of my 11th year of catching a fish in my home waters in each month of the year. To spare you the math, that’s 132 consecutive months of catching a wild trout or whitefish (and in some years I’ve fair-caught suckers and shiners, too) within a three-hour drive of my home in
In this blog post, we 1) present our turbidity and suspended sediment data, 2) explain our suspended load calculations, and 3) provide some additional information justifying why we think that a substantial amount of bed load was transported into the Henry’s Fork in addition to the suspended load. Since first observing high turbidity in Thurmon Creek and the Henry’s Fork downstream associated with the Silver Lake drawdown in November 2025, HFF’s Science and Technology team
Written by Doris Squeri Tom and I met on our first day of grad school back in 1982. We were both broke and stressed, and we both loved the outdoors, so I decided that an affordable way to relieve some of that stress might be to learn how to fly-fish. We had learned to fish with our dads when we were very small, but it was bait fishing, and we wanted to try something new.
The Henry’s Fork Drought Management Planning Committee (DMPC) met on Monday, November 24 to set this winter’s outflow and reservoir-fill strategy for Island Park Reservoir—an annual decision with implications for winter trout habitat in Box Canyon and the Ranch. Winter Outflow: What’s Coming on December 1 Beginning December 1, outflow from Island Park Dam will increase, bringing winter streamflow through Box Canyon to ~380 cfs from December through February*. That equates to 76% of Box
