COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore has weighed in on the impacts of jet boat racing on the St. Joe River, saying the race can proceed without any detrimental impacts on nesting eagles as long as it's done carefully.

"Observations on other river systems (e.g. South Fork Snake River) suggest that bald eagles are often tolerant of boating activity passing by nest sites," he wrote in a letter to Gov. Butch Otter on Wednesday. "And provided boats move past nest sites (as opposed to stopping at the nest site), eagles are not prone to leaving nest sites."

However, he said that lingering human activity in close proximity to the nests could pose a problem, but that could easily be mitigated by the organizers.

Otter sent that opinion along with a letter insisting the U.S. Coast Guard re-assess the merits of the complaint that was filed by one individual last month, who was concerned about the potential impacts of the races on protected bald eagles and bull trout in the river.

The governor, on Wednesday, asked the Coast Guard to exercise its authority to issue a permit for the race today, which would allow the race to proceed.

Idaho's congressional delegation also sent a joint letter to USCG Rear Admiral Keith A. Taylor asking him to reconsider the agency's decision, and to issue a permit based on the new information.

It was signed by U.S. Sens. Mike Crapo, Jim Risch, and 1st District Congressman Raul Labrador.

The congressional delegation encouraged the agency to continue its work on a full-blown assessment that has already begun on the race course to address future concerns.

The move essentially takes the steam out of a complaint made by Calder resident Jim Boyd, whose efforts prompted the USCG to deny "Race the Joe" organizers a permit on May 17-19.

In a series of email exchanges with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and USCG, Boyd used comments made by the IDFG during Shoshone County's permit process for the race.

In those comments, Fish and Game told Shoshone County commissioners that they should be aware of two active eagle nests that are located along the race course and that the St. Joe River has been listed as critical habitat for the endangered bull trout.

However the agency made it clear that it did not oppose or support the event, and the comments were made for information purposes only. The county commissioners voted 3-0 to approve the permit.

Boyd used the "potential" for environmental impacts to get the Coast Guard involved in the permitting process citing a memorandum of agreement that requires the Coast Guard to assess "potential" impacts prior to issuing a permit.

Moore's letter to Otter stated that there certainly is a potential for impacts, but if proper mitigation efforts were enforced those impacts could be eliminated.

He recommended:

* Establishing a quarter-mile zone around the nests on both sides of the river where spectators are prohibited from gathering or parking their vehicles to view the races. That is not to include residents within that area, but it is to include photographers or race officials.

* The nest sites should be monitored prior to and after the races.

"We do not believe the proposed races will have any significant impact on bull trout in the migration corridor," Moore concluded.