See how a local family is helping

BOISE -- Hundreds of dead fish are turning up north of Boise along Grimes and Mores creeks.

Idaho Fish and Game says people are to blame, probably not realizing the damage they're doing.

It starts out as innocent fun with people gathering up rocks along the creek, then damming up the water to create a pool for swimming.

But it's not all fun and games because fish swimming upstream to spawn can't get past the dams -- and as a result they are dying by the hundreds. 

"The dams are definitely preventing the kokanee from migrating, they can’t jump, kokanee don't jump, so when they come up to a dam that spans the entire creek they just put their noses up to it," said Pam Smolczynski, Trout Unlimited.

She says the fish are simply stopped by the dam and without a way through they're left to die before they can travel upstream and spawn .

John Butler just moved to Meridian from Alabama, and has decided this is a problem he can help solve.

He and his family are taking matters into their own hands by breaking up every dam they can see along the creek.

"I’ve never seen a salmon in my life, somebody told me where I could come up here to see 'em, I came up here and this is what I found, so it’s not a very good first experience with a salmon," said Butler.

Fish and Game officials say the dams are a problem for the fish, but they just don't have the time or manpower to remove them all.

The department appreciates the work of the Butler family and says it is especially helpful this time of year as the kokanee are trying to move up stream and spawn.