Idaho Falls – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo will keynote a Pocatello conference aimed at stopping domestic violence this Friday before traveling to the Island Park area Saturday for a ribbon-cutting to dedicate a road and bridge project that will improve habitat for the threatened Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
On Friday, Crapo will speak to more than a hundred local community leaders, health and law enforcement professionals, anti-domestic violence advocacy representatives, educators, victims and others who have gathered to discuss strategies to end domestic violence in Idaho. The Idaho Summit on Developing a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence is being held at Idaho State University’s Stephens Performing Arts Center in the Bistline Theater on campus. Crapo will speak at 2:30 p.m. and discuss a number of initiatives to fight domestic violence. They range from a partnership with Liz Claiborne, Inc.; to place anti-violence curriculum in schools to violence awareness campaigns and continued federal funding to fight violence against women. A dozen Idaho schools have received the curriculum.
“According to a national poll released earlier this year, 30 percent of teens surveyed worry about their personal physical safety in a relationship. One in five teens in a serious relationship has been hit, slapped or pushed by a dating partner,” said Crapo. “As a husband and father, these statistics are unbelievable and unacceptable.”
Idaho Legal Aid is helping sponsor the Idaho Summit. In 2003, Crapo and Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase announced a half-million dollar federal grant to assist with services to respond to domestic violence cases in the region, including a hotline, education, and counseling assistance.
Saturday Crapo will preside over the results of a year’s worth of collaborative efforts to improve habitat for threatened populations of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the Henry’s Lake area. Last August, Crapo announced a partnership of a dozen groups working to restore access to prime habitat for the trout which had been blocked along Targhee Creek and Howard Creek.
Board members of the Henry’s Lake Foundation, local Boy Scouts, Idaho Fish and Game personnel, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and many local homeowners and volunteers have joined with the Idaho Transportation Department on the project. They have rebuilt fish passage along the creeks to Henry’s Lake by replacing the culvert and bridge structure along Idaho Highway 87, one-half mile north of U.S. Highway 20 near Island Park.
The group removed the old culvert structure to restore a free-flowing streambed. Thanks to the Idaho Transportation Department and the collaborative efforts of the group, the culvert and bridge replacement project was expedited to be finished this year because of the critical need for habitat improvement. The Yellowstone cutthroat trout was part of the diet of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery mission 200 years ago. The project is also supported by the Henry’s Fork Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, and High Country Resource Conservation & Development.
Video and digital photos of the event are available by contacting Susan Wheeler at (202) 224-5150 or Lindsay Nothern at (208) 870-1800. The schedule of events includes the following. Times listed are local time and the schedule is subject to change.
Friday, June 2nd: 2:30 p.m. Pocatello Delivers remarks to the Idaho Summit on Developing a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence, at the Bistline Theater’s Stephens Performing Arts Center, Idaho State University Campus.
Saturday, June 3rd: Noon Island Park Joins ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Targhee Creek and Howard Creek culvert and bridge replacement project to restore habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout at Henry’s Lake. The project is located on Idaho Highway 87 one-half mile north of U.S. Highway 20.
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