According to a press release from the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office, on Wednesday, March 25, at approximately 12:35 p.m., the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office, Ravalli County Search and Rescue, Victor Volunteer Fire Department, and Stevensville Volunteer Fire Department, along with Emergency Medical Services from Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, responded to an emergency on the Bitterroot River between Tucker Crossing and Victor Crossing. The investigation to this point indicates that three adult men were fishing when their boat struck a submerged log, tipping the three men from the boat. Two of them were able to get back into the boat but one of the men, 74-year-old Jeffrey Benjamin from Conner, was swept away by the current.
Another man fishing from the bank saw the victim going downstream and called 9-1-1. The victim was not wearing a life jacket or flotation device. When emergency crews arrived they located the victim submerged in the river north of Victor Crossing. The seventy-four-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene. The preliminary manner of death is being ruled as an accident and an official cause of death is pending autopsy results. The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification of family.
Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman reminds all river recreationists that the Bitterroot River is dangerous, and particularly so during the spring season when the water is high and current very swift. Users should always wear floatation devices and be extremely aware of changing channels and underwater obstructions that can cause accidents.
There is another well-known and hazardous obstruction that boaters should beware of located at the Supply Ditch dam on the east branch of the Bitterroot River between Woodside and Tucker Crossing West.
Around 2011, the Bitterroot River shifted its primary flow from the west channel to the east channel and over the Supply Ditch Diversion dam. The diversion has a deceptive, recirculating hydraulic that has capsized and trapped boats. After 2011, accidents were reported, and FWP placed signs at access sites and on the river to notify users of the danger. Despite efforts to educate river users, there were several accidents and one fatality in 2013. Further notification occurred through signs and newspaper articles after the fatality, and there were no more accidents in 2013. However, in early spring of 2014, at least two more accidents occurred. Therefore on April 11, 2014, FWP initiated an emergency rule closure for user safety on a five-mile section of the Bitterroot River, from Woodside Crossing FAS downstream to Tucker Crossing (West) FAS. The closure allowed FWP to install signs at more locations along the river and larger signs at the appropriate Fishing Access Sites. There were no more accidents in 2014, but this year’s situation is unpredictable.
The decision in 2014 to close that stretch of the river was contested in court. One claim in the case contested the right of FWP to use an emergency declaration to close the river. It was argued that the emergency powers used were not legal and cut the public out of the process. As a result the agency has drafted a rule that would specifically allow such a closure. The FWP Commission will be considering the proposed rule at a meeting scheduled for April 15, 2015. FWP plans on taking no action until the new rule is adopted.
The proposed rule allows the Fish and Wildlife Commission to close all or a portion of the Bitterroot River from Woodside FAS to West Tucker FAS, if conditions warrant. More specifically, a closure may be implemented if: 1) danger at the dam is heightened, and 2) alternative routes past the diversion are impossible or difficult to use.
FWP is advising people during high flow to use the west branch of the river. According to the agency, if all floaters could and would use this channel to avoid possible dangerous conditions at the diversion dam, a closure would not be necessary.
If a closure were to be implemented, FWP would re-open that stretch of the river by Friday, July 10 or when the USGS gauge at Missoula drops below 4000 cfs, whichever occurs earliest.
“FWP would prefer to keep the river open,” states the supplemental document that accompanies the draft closure rule. “We educate the public about the unpredictable nature of the rivers and the hazards we are aware of. Individual users decide what’s appropriate based on the current river conditions, craft they are using and their skill level. It is impossible for us to know or anticipate unsafe conditions for each user.” Nevertheless, the agency claims, “keeping the option of a river closure is important in this case because: 1) of the potential frequency and severity of accidents, and 2) interviews with people involved in past accidents at the Supply Ditch Diversion have revealed a wide variety of skill levels and craft.”
FWP and stakeholders have been actively raising funds to modify the diversion so that river users can pass the dam safely and irrigators receive their water. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2016.