August 25, 2017
CapitalPress.com
15
Water call settlement yields 50,000-acre feet for recharge
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BOISE — Participants in
a 2015 water call settlement
have agreed to give the state
50,000 acre-feet of storage
water, facilitating an ear-
ly start on the Snake River
Plain’s next round of man-
aged aquifer recharge.
The Surface Water Coa-
lition alleged in the call its
members have suffered injury
due to declining Snake River
spring flows, caused by well
irrigation involving junior
water rights.
Well users, represented by
Idaho Ground Water Appro-
priators, Inc., must give the
coalition 50,000 acre-feet of
storage water per year under
terms of the settlement, in ad-
dition to cutting back on their
well irrigation and meeting
aquifer recovery milestones.
The state vowed to support
the agreement by averaging
250,000 acre-feet per year of
recharge, which entails pay-
ing fees to canal companies
to intentionally inject surface
water into the aquifer through
Idaho Department of Water Resources
Aquifer recharge water spills into the Milepost 31 site along the
Milner-Gooding Canal. In large part due to an expansion last winter
of the recharge site, IDWR expects to have far greater capacity for
conducting aquifer recharge this winter.
unlined canals and adjacent
spill basins.
With the Upper Snake res-
ervoir system still 80 percent
full on Aug. 22, following an
abnormally wet winter, it’s a
near certainty that the Bureau
of Reclamation will have to
evacuate storage space to ac-
commodate the next winter
snowpack, explained IGWA
Executive Director Lynn
Tominaga. So the parties have
agreed to donate the flat stor-
age obligation for this season
to the Idaho Department of
Water Resource’s recharge
program, rather than flushing
it to the ocean unused.
“Everybody is going to
have enough water, so they’re
not going to use any of the
water we purchased,” Tomi-
naga said.
IDWR plans to use spill
basins on the Egin Bench and
within the New Sweden and
Snake River irrigation district
systems to start recharging
with the storage in the Upper
Valley on Aug. 31, well before
the end of the current irriga-
tion season.
IDWR recharge coordina-
tor Wes Hipke expects it will
take the state well into De-
cember to recharge all of the
storage.
In late October, once the
irrigation season has con-
cluded, Hipke also plans to
commence recharging in the
Lower Valley below Minido-
ka Dam, using a state recharge
water right that remains in pri-
ority through the winter, until
irrigation resumes the follow-
ing spring.
“It’s going to be a good fall
recharge season,” Hipke said.
In the campaign that end-
ed last spring, Hipke said the
state exceeded its goal, re-
charging a combined 317,000
acre-feet in the Upper and
Lower valleys, but allowed
more than 3 million acre-feet
to flow through the system
unused.
But the state will head into
this winter with far greater in-
frastructural capacity for con-
ducting recharge, Hipke said.
After irrigation ceased
last season, the state’s Lower
Valley recharge capacity was
about 250 cubic feet per sec-
ond, compared to minimum
flows of 500 cubic feet per
second available for recharge.
Thanks largely to the ex-
pansion of the Milepost 31 re-
charge site, located along the
Milner-Gooding Canal, Hipke
anticipates having capacity to
recharge 800 cubic feet per
second this fall, with surplus
water expected due to the
likely evacuation of reservoir
space. During winter, he ex-
pects to have capacity to han-
dle at least 500 cubic feet per
second, as some systems may
be unavailable because of ice.
In the Upper Valley, Hip-
ke said the state plans to start
work this fall on expanding its
Egin Bench recharge site.
He said additional re-
charge projects are also in the
planning stages in the Upper
Valley, where he hopes to
double his recharge capacity
within the next two years.
Multi-state
specialty
crop grant
program has
$7 million
for this year
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — USDA’s multi-
state specialty crop grant pro-
gram is proving to be popular,
and changes to the application
reviews could make it even
better, say groups that have ap-
plied for the money.
The program will pro-
vide up to $7 million during
the 2017 application cycle to
projects designed to benefit
specialty crops, which include
fruits, vegetables, tree nuts and
nursery and horticulture crops.
It was authorized by the
2014 Farm Bill and is managed
by USDA’s Agricultural Mar-
keting Service,
“It’s been incredibly pop-
ular,” John Hrivnak, a USDA
grants management specialist,
told the Western Association of
State Departments of Agricul-
ture last month.
AMS received 67 applica-
tions requesting more than $43
million during the 2015 appli-
cation cycle, the first year of
the program.
The agency awarded $2.6
million to four projects in 2016
and this year’s round of fund-
ing includes money left over
from the 2016 cycle.
State departments of agri-
culture are the only agencies
that can apply for the funding,
and they are encouraged to
partner with universities and
specialty crop organizations.
As the name of the program
implies, projects must involve
more than one state.
Though popular, the pro-
gram has also received some
criticism related to the review
process.
California Department of
Food and Agriculture Secre-
tary Karen Ross told Hrivnak
that USDA should take another
look at who is reviewing the
grant applications. She said the
comments attached to some
marketing-related applications
that were not selected for fund-
ing “showed me it was not any-
body with any understanding
of marketing.”
“I would say that based on
the first round of funding, they
need to really look at who’s
reviewing those grants,” Ross
said.
Members of a newly
formed multi-state dry bean re-
search consortium that includes
Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming
told Capital Press they have a
similar concern about the re-
view process.
That group applied for grant
funding in 2015 but was not
selected.
Mike Moore, manager of
the Wyoming Seed Certifica-
tion Service, said the review
comments were harsh and im-
plied that the work the group
was proposing to do related to
fertility in dry beans had no
value.
John O’Connell/Capital Press
An organization of ranchers and conservationists called the Pioneers Alliance is working to protect ranch land in the Pioneer Mountains
and the Craters of the Moon area of southcentral Idaho from development.
Alliance protects rangeland from development
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
HAILEY, Idaho — The
new owners of a 10,000-acre
ranch in the heart of the Pi-
oneer Mountains place as
much importance on protect-
ing sage grouse habitat and a
pronghorn antelope migration
corridor as they do on raising
cattle.
The Nature Conservancy
bought the ranch last year,
furthering the goals of the Pi-
oneers Alliance. The informal
organization of ranchers, local
residents and conservationists
with the Nature Conservancy,
Wood River Land Trust and
the Conservation Fund is ded-
icated to preventing develop-
ment of the scenic mountain
range and the Craters of the
Moon region of southcentral
Idaho.
The alliance came together
in 2007 to fight the proposed
Mountain States Transmis-
sion Intertie. Ranchers in the
path of the proposed power
line, who worried about re-
duced property values, found
common ground with conser-
vationists, concerned about
its impacts on wildlife.
Though the power proj-
ect is defunct, the group has
continued hosting regular
meetings, sometimes inviting
politicians and agency offi-
cials to speak about issues
of local importance, such as
sage grouse and public lands
management.
But the alliance’s primary
mission has been acquiring
conservation easements on
ranch land within an ecolog-
ically important area where
a broad swath of habitat re-
mains intact.
“We look at it as a really
long-term risk (of develop-
ment),” said Dayna Gross,
the local Nature Conser-
vancy’s senior conservation
manager. “There might not
be much risk right now, but
certainly 20 to 40 years down
the road there could be.”
Under the Pioneers Alli-
ance banner, partners have
acquired conservation ease-
ments for 85,000 acres,
Gross said.
She said the Nature Con-
servancy is leasing the land
it recently purchased to a
rancher who agreed to raise
cattle using practices intend-
ed to protect wildlife, such as
avoiding grazing of riparian
areas and wildlife-friendly
fencing. The rancher plans
to buy the property soon,
though the development
rights will remain protected
in perpetuity. Gross said the
Nature Conservancy is also
working to secure a conser-
vation easement for another
8,000-acre parcel.
Monte McDonnell, who
ranches 20 miles west of
Arco, is selling conservation
easements for 500 acres. In
2012, he sold easements for
4,000 acres and has encour-
aged neighbors to work with
the alliance. McDonnell likes
knowing that his land should
look no different when his
grandkids are ranching it.
Though he’s prohibited from
constructing new roads and
buildings on his land, Mc-
Donnell hasn’t had to change
his ranch management sig-
nificantly.
Hailey rancher John
Peavey sold conservation
easements for nearly 25,000
acres, which he continues
grazing with 1,000 cows and
3,800 sheep.
“When the opportunity
came along to protect that
land from subdivisions and
Walmarts and parking lots, it
was an easy choice,” Peavey
said. “We liquidated a great
deal of debt and did what we
really like for the land.”
USDA’s Natural Resourc-
es Conservation Service pro-
vides much of the funding
for the alliance’s easement
purchases through its Agri-
cultural Land Easement Pro-
gram. An NRCS official said
the agency has $2.7 million
allocated toward purchasing
Idaho easements in 2017 and
is enrolling new applicants.
Program participants must
follow approved grazing
plans.
Researchers focus on diversity, flexibility for dryland wheat farmers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A team of Inland North-
west researchers is testing
new cropping strategies to
help dryland wheat farmers
adapt to changing climate
conditions.
The four-year project —
Inland Pacific Northwest
Wheat-based Systems: Land-
scapes in Transition — is
funded with $3.4 million from
USDA National Institute of
Food and Agriculture.
It will build on research
findings from the previous
Regional Approaches to Cli-
mate Change project, a sev-
en-year collaborative project
involving the University of
Idaho, Washington State Uni-
versity, Oregon State Univer-
sity and USDA Agricultural
Research Service.
The earlier research identi-
fied a trend toward increased
summer fallow in wheat crop-
ping systems in the Columbia
Plateau, and even more is ex-
pected with changing climate
conditions, said Jodi John-
son-Maynard, a University of
Idaho soil scientist and team
leader for the new research.
The team will look for
ways to diversify cropping
systems to be more resilient to
change in the future, she said.
Those changing conditions
have researchers expecting
more variability in weather
patterns, with warmer, drier
summers and perhaps wetter
springs, she said.
The research focuses on
the challenges to fall moisture
in rain-fed cropping systems.
Residual moisture in the seed
zone is needed to germinate
fall-planted seeds, but farmers
can’t always count on ade-
quate fall rain. The majority of
those fall-seeded winter crops
is wheat, and researchers will
be looking for new options
to give growers diversity, she
said.
“We’re trying to deal with
seasonality of our moisture
and harsh conditions in the fall.
Anything we can do with our
cropping system to try to deal
with those variables would be
helpful,” she said.
One thing the team will be
looking at is new winter pea
varieties that maximize yield.
Peas can be planted a little
deeper than wheat and might
be a better choice in a dry fall
without adequate seed zone
moisture to germinate wheat,
she said.
Researchers will also look
at cover cropping, which has
attracted interest from grow-
ers. The challenge is the rela-
tively short season before win-
ter hits and before spring crops
have to be planted, which
doesn’t allow for enough bio-
mass to protect against winter
erosion or benefit soils.
The team will be looking at
cover crop mixes to maximize
biomass going into winter and
provide good forage quality for
cattle in the spring. Instead of
killing the cover crop to plant
a spring crop, the crop will be
grazed – allowing farmers to
make money off the weight
gain in cattle rather than plant-
ing a spring crop.
“The biomatter on the
ground and the roots below
the ground would improve soil
structure and infiltration rates
and add nutrients to the soil.
Then they could put in another
fall crop after that,” she said.
The research is looking at
how alternative crops fit into
the rotation and how they can
improve productivity, she
said.
File Photo
An appeals court has ruled that
wildlife managers must take an
entire population of wolves into
account when deciding whether
they warrant protection under
the Endangered Species Act.
Wolf ruling
expected to
have impact
on endangered
species
decisions
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A federal appeals court
has ruled Endangered Species
Act protections for wolves
were unlawfully lifted in the
Great Lakes region, potential-
ly complicating delisting the
predators elsewhere.
The “distinct population
segment” of wolves in the
Western Great Lakes region,
which centers on Minnesota,
Wisconsin and Michigan, was
removed from the federal list
of threatened and endangered
species in 2011.
With a population of
roughly 4,400 in those three
states, wolves had more than
doubled recovery goals set
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
The Humane Society
of the U.S. challenged the
delisting decision, arguing
the agency couldn’t carve
out such a regional “distinct
population segment” with the
goal of stripping its federal
protections.
A federal judge overturned
the delisting action and the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit has now upheld
that decision, albeit on some-
what different grounds.
Contrary to U.S. District
Judge Beryl Howell’s de-
cision, the D.C. Circuit has
ruled that protections for “dis-
tinct population segments”
can be downgraded.
However, the D.C. Cir-
cuit has decided the Fish and
Wildlife Service unlawfully
failed to study the effects this
regional delisting would have
on the entirety of the U.S.
wolf population.
For a protected species,
“the Service cannot review a
single segment with blinders
on, ignoring the continuing
status of the species’ rem-
nant,” the opinion said.
This finding is significant
for a proposal in 2013 to re-
move Endangered Species
Act protections for wolves
elsewhere in the U.S., which
the Fish and Wildlife Service
based partly on the delisting
of the Great Lakes distinct
population segment.
The agency determined
that wolves outside the Great
Lakes were no longer a valid
species, but the D.C. Circuit
said this “leftover group”
cannot be left as an “orphan
to the law.”
“Such a statutory dodge
is the essence of arbi-
trary-and-capricious
and
ill-reasoned agency action,”
the ruling said.
The D.C. Circuit’s de-
cision indicates that feder-
al authorities should try to
delist wolves across the U.S.
all at once, rather than re-
gion-by-region, said Ethan
Lane, executive director of
the Public Lands Council,
which represents public lands
cattle grazers.
“What they got their hand
slapped for here is trying to
do that in a piecemeal fash-
ion,” Lane said.
It’s clear from the wolf
population’s spread in the
Northwest that the species
has recovered, he said.
“You have a growing and
thriving population,” Lane
said. “It is time for that spe-
cies to be removed from the
endangered species list.”
Ralph Henry, attorney for
the Humane Society of the
U.S., said the Fish and Wild-
life Service has become too
“hyper focused” on certain
populations of wolves with-
out looking at the bigger pic-
ture.