Opinion
A4
Thursday, February 17, 2022
OUR VIEW
States can
best manage
wolves
or all of the gnashing of teeth and wor-
ries about the impending decline of Idaho’s
wolves, any predictions of their demise are
greatly exaggerated.
Last year, the Idaho Legislature modifi ed the law
related to hunting and trapping wolves. Since it’s
the state’s job to manage them, such laws were well
within the purview of lawmakers.
Wolf advocates said the legislators were threat-
ening the state’s 1,500 wolves and any eff orts to
reduce that number would mark the beginning of the
end for the predators.
In the year since the law was passed, not much
has happened. The state’s wildlife managers keep
tabs on the wolves that have taken up residence in
Idaho. What they found is — drum roll, please —
the wolf population is about the same as before.
The wolf population peaks in the summer, after
the pups are born. After that, any deaths are counted.
The Idaho population’s annual low point is about 900
in the early spring, before the next batch of pups is
born.
State wildlife managers say that if for some reason
the population began to decrease too far, they could
make mid-course adjustments.
That’s the sort of thing wildlife managers do.
Montana’s Legislature passed similar legislation.
For the vast majority of the state the new hunting and
trapping rules had little impact on the overall wolf
population. However, they found that some wolves
from Yellowstone National Park had a tendency to
drift outside the park and were killed by hunters and
trappers.
When wildlife managers saw this, the hunts in
that area were called off . The Yellowstone wolf packs
will no doubt rebuild.
There is a concept that continues to be circulated
about wolves: They are timid creatures that need the
help of man to survive in the wild. Environmental
groups use that concept to build a case for protecting
wolves, and raising money.
Unfortunately for them, wolves are robust, smart
and reproduce rapidly. Idaho started with 35 wolves
imported from Canada in the mid-1990s. Now the
population peaks at 1,500 each year, even with
hunting, trapping and culling wolves that attack
livestock.
Similarly, the wolf populations in Washington
state and Oregon are healthy, yet the way they are
managed has frustrated many ranchers.
Idaho and Montana have shouldered the respon-
sibility of managing wolves in those states. They are
held accountable and able to make changes as needed
to maintain the health of the wolf populations without
sacrifi cing the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers.
Our hope is that, some day, political leaders in the
nation’s capital, Washington state and Oregon will
allow wildlife managers to do the same statewide.
The last thing any of those states need is for the
federal government to take over all management of
wolves. Idaho and Montana have demonstrated that
it’s not needed, or wanted.
F
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OTHER VIEWS
Managing our irrigation good
for business, good for salmon
TONY
MALMBERG
OTHER VIEWS
roughts are becoming more
frequent and intense. It can
feel like climate change is
stalking farmers and ranchers. The
good news? Irrigators can play a
unique role in helping ourselves
through these trying conditions.
I’ve lived on ranchlands in Nebras-
ka’s Sandhills, Wyoming and now the
grasslands of Northeastern Oregon.
My wife and I have run a direct-to-
consumer, grassfed beef and lamb
business for more than two decades.
Our successes have come when pur-
suing regenerative agriculture, which
means adding more life. When biodi-
versity thrives, there’s a good chance
our revenue will do the same.
This is increasingly urgent for other
reasons as well. Salmon in parts of the
region are perilously close to extinc-
tion. Our livelihoods, regional pros-
perity and the future of salmon are
all linked. It may come as a surprise,
but the irrigator vs. salmon debate is
not a zero-sum game. We can coexist,
prosperously.
Regenerative management prac-
tices — like minimizing overgrazing,
scheduling irrigation and ensuring
plant recovery — can increase soil
organic matter (SOM) and retain water
in our soil mantle.
Better irrigation and grazing prac-
tices during the good moisture years
make us more resilient during dry
years. It’s also good for salmon habitat,
which benefi ts the whole region.
On the fl ip side, over-irrigation, hot-
season irrigation and down-cut rivers
D
make us more susceptible to drought.
Over-irrigation suff ocates our soil
through compaction. Compaction cre-
ates a barrier, preventing roots from
accessing deeper moisture, minerals
and nutrients. By monitoring available
water content, we can avoid this.
Irrigation saturates the soil. If one
were to make a ball of the soil and
squeeze, water would ooze out, indi-
cating there is more than 50% avail-
able water content (AWC). As days go
by, the surface dries. If we can’t form
a ball, that tells us the soil is drier than
50% AWC. On our ranch, we generally
don’t want to irrigate until the available
water content of 50% drops to at least 8
inches. This allows the roots of grasses
to follow water down and build regen-
erative soils for better water retention
and less exposure to drought.
In hot-season irrigation, we
shouldn’t lose sight of the geography
we work within — and use it to our
advantage. High-mountain meadows
in most of the western United States
are composed of cool-season plants.
These plants evolved to shut down, or
senesce, when temperatures reach 70
degrees.
In Northeastern Oregon, this hap-
pens around mid-July. Continued irri-
gation may keep cool-season plants
green, but they will not produce sig-
nifi cant biomass. By keeping this
potential irrigation water in stream
during the hot season, we can keep
rivers alive, grow riparian vegeta-
tion and cool rivers for salmon — a
win-win.
By contrast, down-cut rivers are
a lose-lose. They drain the produc-
tive fl oodplain, dry up meadows and
destroy critical salmon habitat. We
should instead be slowing the fl ow of
water on the uplands with SOM, sat-
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urating the fl oodplain for continued
cold river recharge in the summer and
keeping rivers fl owing during the hot
season.
The health and wealth of our region
is connected to the salmon runs that
defi ne our rivers and streams. The loss
of salmon imperils Tribes, fi shermen,
main street businesses and Northwest-
erners’ very identity, from the Pacifi c
coast to the Rocky Mountains.
Fortunately, a solution is within
reach. Last year, Rep. Mike Simpson,
R-Idaho, presented a plan to remove
the lower Snake River dams to advance
salmon recovery — and replace the
services the dams provide, like irriga-
tion. It’s a far-reaching and visionary
proposal with investments to ensure all
communities remain whole, to trans-
form and strengthen our region.
His proposal includes mechanisms
to ensure ranchers and farmers have
the water they need to do the work
we’re all proud of. And with regenera-
tive management, we can increase our
production as we heal the landscape.
We now know that our sector can actu-
ally build biodiversity, increase SOM,
reconnect rivers to fl oodplains, address
climate change and insulate ranchers
from drought.
When we have regenerative soil and
functional rivers, we better our own
livelihoods — and the sustainable exis-
tence of salmon as well.
———
Tony Malmberg has been a rancher
and practitioner of holistic manage-
ment for more than 30 years. He’s
received numerous awards for his
work including the National Environ-
ment Stewardship Award from the
National Cattlemen’s Association. He
and his wife, Andrea, ranch in Union
County.
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