42-1731. DEFINITIONS. For the purpose of this chapter:

(1) "Alteration" means any activity using mechanized equipment that moves or overturns gravel or earth.

(2) "Board" means the Idaho water resource board.

(3) "Comprehensive state water plan" means the plan adopted by the board pursuant to section 42-1734A, Idaho Code, or a component of such plan developed for a particular water resource, waterway or waterways and approved by the legislature.

(4) "Dredge or placer mining" means any dredge or other placer mining operation to recover minerals with the use of a dredge boat or sluice washing plant whether fed by bucket line as a part of such dredge or by a separate dragline or any other method including, but not limited to, suction dredges which are capable of moving more than two (2) cubic yards per hour of earth material.

(5) "Hydropower project" means any development which uses a flow of water as a source of electrical or mechanical power, or which regulates the flow of water for the purpose of generating electrical or mechanical power. A hydropower project development includes all powerhouses, dams, water conduits, transmission lines, water impoundments, roads, and other appurtenant works and structures.

(6) "Interim protected river" means a waterway designated pursuant to section 42-1734D or 42-1734H, Idaho Code, as protected for up to two (2) years while a component of the comprehensive state water plan is prepared for that waterway.

(7) "Natural river" means a waterway which possesses outstanding fish and wildlife, recreation, geologic or aesthetic values, which are free of substantial existing man-made impoundments, dams or other structures, and of which the riparian areas are largely undeveloped, although accessible in places by trails and roads.

(8) "Protected river" means a waterway protected in the comprehensive state water plan by designation as either a natural river or a recreational river.

(9) "Recreational river" means a waterway which possesses outstanding fish and wildlife, recreation, geologic or aesthetic values, and which might include some man-made development within the waterway or within the riparian area of the waterway.

(10) "Riparian area" means that area within one hundred (100) feet of the mean highwater mark of a waterway.

(11) "State agency" means any board, commission, department or executive agency of the state of Idaho.

(12) "Stream bed" means a natural water course of perceptible extent with definite bed and banks, which confines and conducts the water of a waterway which lies below and between the ordinary high water mark on either side of that waterway.

(13) "Waterway" means a river, stream, creek, lake or spring, or a portion thereof, and shall not include any tributary thereof.

History:

[42-1731, added 1988, ch. 370, sec. 3, p. 1092.]