12 CapitalPress.com
December 8, 2017
‘We’re fortunate to have so much ag representation’
FARMERS from Page 1
Five of the Idaho Senate’s
10 committees and five of
the House’s 14 committees
are chaired by legislators in-
volved in agriculture.
“We’re fortunate to have
so much ag representation in
leadership positions,” said
Brackett, chairman of the
Senate Transportation Com-
mittee. “That kind of sets the
tone for the Legislature.”
When the Legislature is
making decisions that could
impact agriculture, it helps
to have that kind of farming
knowledge base in the legis-
lative body, said Sen. Steve
Bair, R-Blackfoot, a retired
farmer who is still involved in
agribusiness.
“It’s nice to have a bloc of
folks who have an ag back-
ground and understanding
of agriculture and how those
bills will affect agriculture,”
said Bair, chairman of the
Senate Resources and Envi-
ronment Committee.
Idaho legislators debate
hundreds of proposed bills
each session and are tasked
with setting the state budget,
which is $3.45 billion in fiscal
year 2018.
Sen. Mark Harris, a Re-
publican rancher from Soda
Springs, said it makes sense
that agriculture enjoys such
good representation in the
Legislature since the state’s
economy and way of life
largely revolve around it.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Sen. Jim Patrick, a Republican farmer from Twin Falls, stands on the steps of Idaho’s Capitol on Dec. 1. Patrick is one of 25 members of Idaho’s 105-person legislature who
are farmers, ranchers or involved in agribusiness.
‘An ag state’
“Idaho is an ag state. That’s
what we do,” he said. “Every-
where you go in the state there
is agriculture, from the north
to the south and from the east
to the west.”
Considering the agrarian
nature of Idaho — 38 of the
state’s 44 counties are clas-
sified as rural — “I think we
represent our population pret-
ty evenly,” Sen. Jim Patrick, a
Republican farmer from Twin
Falls, said about the high per-
centage of ag industry folks
in the Legislature. “We have
a rural-friendly Legislature.”
The large number of Idaho
lawmakers with a solid agri-
cultural background makes it
easier to help the legislative
body understand the unique
risks and challenges farmers
and ranchers face compared
to other businesses, said Russ
Hendricks, director of gov-
ernmental affairs for the Ida-
ho Farm Bureau Federation.
Many other states don’t
enjoy that benefit, Hendricks
said. “We’re happy every day
that we’re not in one of those
other states.”
According to Oregon Farm
Bureau Federation Commu-
nications Director Ann Marie
Moss, it’s safe to say fewer
than 10 percent of Oregon’s
90 legislators are involved in
the farming industry.
She said, “it’s challenging
for us to make sure agricul-
ture’s story is told and heard at
our Legislature because there
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Idaho’s Capitol. Twenty-five members of Idaho’s 105-person legis-
lature are farmers, ranchers or involved in agribusiness.
are so few lawmakers with di-
rect ties to agriculture.”
Based on a quick calcu-
lation, about 7.5 percent of
Washington’s 147-member
Legislature is involved in
farming, said Tom Davis, di-
rector of government relations
for the Washington Farm Bu-
reau Federation.
That low percentage, com-
pared to Idaho, “is a great de-
piction of why (agriculture)
is in such trouble within our
state Legislature,” he said.
“Folks (here) do not under-
stand agriculture even though
it’s the second largest industry
in our state.”
Eight of California’s 120
legislators, or about 6.7 per-
cent, are involved in agri-
culture, according to Dave
Kranz, communications man-
ager for the California Farm
Bureau Federation.
American Farm Bureau
Federation doesn’t track how
many people involved with
farming are in state Legisla-
tures but “that is a very im-
pressive number for Idaho,”
said Mace Thornton, execu-
tive director of AFBF’s com-
munications department.
Willing to learn
Idaho is not only blessed to
have so many legislators di-
rectly involved in agriculture
but “we also have many peo-
ple who have been involved
(in farming) but perhaps are
in another career at this time,”
said Rick Waitley, executive
director of Food Producers of
Idaho, an industry group.
A good example, he said,
is Rep. Caroline Troy, R-Gen-
esee, who was previously
involved in a wheat farm in
North Idaho.
Another example, Wait-
ley said, is Sen. Jim Rice,
R-Caldwell, an attorney who
is chairman of the Senate Ag-
ricultural Affairs Committee.
While not directly tied
to agriculture, he grew up
around farming and his “in-
volvement in 4-H and love for
agriculture has resulted in him
being a tremendous advocate
for agriculture,” Waitley said.
Agriculture is such a key
part of Idaho’s culture and
economy that most non-farm
legislators inherently under-
stand its importance or are
willing to learn about it, sev-
eral lawmakers and lobbyists
told Capital Press.
“That is where I am sure
we would outshine those
states to our West,” Waitley
said. “I hear other lobbyists
in other states talk about how
difficult it is to get lawmakers
to listen. That would not be
true of most Idaho lawmak-
ers over the years. They may
represent a lot of blacktop in
their district ... but they are
still open to listening about
the issues that make Idaho’s
agriculture industry a back-
bone to the economy....”
Rep. Mat Erpelding,
D-Boise, represents one of the
state’s most urban districts,
but that doesn’t stop him from
appreciating how important
agriculture is to Idaho.
Timber sales in expanded area have been canceled
DEADLINE from Page 1
The American Forest Resource
Council hopes the president takes ex-
ecutive action scaling back the monu-
ment before that date, said Travis Jo-
seph, the group’s executive director.
However, AFRC won’t be easi-
ly satisfied: Unless the monument’s
boundaries are revised to entirely ex-
clude so-called O&C Lands, which
are dedicated to timber production, the
group won’t drop its lawsuit, he said.
Congress enacted the O&C Act to
make those federal lands permanently
available to logging, so the president’s
authority to create national monuments
under the Antiquities Act doesn’t over-
ride that statute, Joseph said.
“The O&C Act applies to all of the
acres by the plain meaning of the law,”
he said. “It’s not about the specifics of
the designation. It’s about the law.”
If a president were allowed to wipe
out such decisions made by Congress,
it would have “extraordinary implica-
tions for land management in the West-
ern U.S.,” Joseph said.
The prolonged interruption of the
litigation has been frustrating because
the plaintiffs want to delve into the
merits of the case as soon as possible,
said Rocky McVay, executive director
of the Association of O&C Counties.
“Timber sales that were in the
works in the expanded area have been
canceled,” McVay said.
While commercial logging within
the national monument is banned, the
Erpelding, who has served
on the House ag committee
for six years, said he’s “al-
ways had a deep reverence
for the farming and ranching
community” since his career
as an outfitter and guide also
revolves around the land.
“I know how important it
is to our economy,” he said.
“If I can help people in my
district understand the im-
portance of agriculture, then
I think I’m doing the state a
service.”
Ag backgrounds
The list of 25 Idaho law-
makers involved in farming
or ranching would be much
higher if it were expanded
to include people with some
type of involvement or inti-
mate familiarity with agricul-
ture, said Rep. Judy Boyle,
a Republican rancher from
Midvale.
“A lot of legislators grew
up in rural areas and their
dad was a farmer or their
grandpa was a rancher,” said
Boyle, chairwoman of the
House Agricultural Affairs
Committee. “Just because
they’re not actively involved
in agriculture doesn’t mean
they don’t have an ag back-
ground.”
“A lot of people in the Leg-
islature not involved in agri-
culture are not that far away
from it,” Harris said. “Even
legislators not involved in ag-
riculture see the importance
of it.”
Plan recognizes ranching and
farming as ‘important components
of the Oregon economy’
PLAN from Page 1
Courtesy of Bob Wick, BLM
A large basaltic spire known as Pilot Rock is seen in the distance in this 2015 file
photo taken in Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument near Ashland, Ore. Litigation
over President Obama’s expansion of the monument is set to resume Jan. 15 unless
the Trump administration resolves the dispute.
expanded designation is also trouble-
some for ranchers who fear grazing
curtailments within its boundaries.
It’s unclear what the Trump ad-
ministration’s drastic reduction of two
Utah national monuments — Bears
Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalan-
te — may foreshadow for the Cas-
cade-Siskiyou National Monument,
McVay said.
Environmental groups are already
lining up to file lawsuits against that
action, he said. “There will be a lot of
fallout from this decision.”
The circumstances surrounding
each national monument under re-
view by the Trump administration are
unique, said Joseph.
That’s particularly true for the Cas-
cade-Siskiyou, which is the only mon-
ument containing lands devoted to tim-
ber harvest by statute, he said. “That
legal conflict doesn’t exist anywhere
else in the country.”
Future makeup
While Idaho’s Legisla-
ture has a high percentage
of members with a detailed
knowledge of farming, that
might not necessarily be the
case in the future, several leg-
islators told Capital Press.
Idaho is one of the fast-
est-growing states in the na-
tion in population and most of
the new arrivals are moving
to the state’s main urban area,
around Boise in southwestern
Idaho. According to the U.S.
Census Bureau, Idaho ranked
third in percentage population
growth from 2015 to 2016,
behind Utah and Nevada.
The Legislature lost a few
rural seats during the last 10-
year redistricting and that
looks to continue, said Bair
and others.
If someone looked at the
makeup of Idaho’s Legisla-
ture 40 years ago, the percent-
age of people involved in ag-
riculture then would probably
be closer to 40 or 50 percent,
Bair said.
“Each time redistricting
takes place, we lose a couple
more rural seats and we gain
a couple more urban seats,”
he said. “I think that does not
bode well for agriculture.”
The Legislature’s rep-
resentation moving toward
urban and away from rural
Idaho “is always a concern,”
said Rep. Clark Kauffman, a
Republican farmer from Fil-
er. “But I think for right now
we’re in pretty good shape.”
• Much of the state’s poten-
tial wolf habitat is used season-
ally to graze cattle and sheep.
“... (I)t is expected that depre-
dation on livestock will con-
tinue to occur in places where
wolves and livestock are close-
ly associated.”
• The plan recognizes ranch-
ing and farming as “important
components of the Oregon
economy” and says addressing
conflict between wolves and
livestock is an essential ele-
ment of the management plan.
• Oregon has approximately
1.3 million cattle and 215,000
sheep. From 2009 through
2016, ODFW confirmed 89
depredation incidents and the
loss of 45 cattle, 89 sheep, three
goats, one llama and one herd
protection dog.
• “Natural dispersal,” in
which young adult wolves
leave their birth packs to find
new territory and mates of their
own, is providing “continued
expansion and ongoing genet-
ic connectivity” to wolves in
other states. Continued disper-
sal from Idaho into Oregon is
likely; Idaho had 786 wolves in
108 packs at the end of 2015.
• Oregon’s two-zone man-
agement protects wolves in
Western Oregon, where packs
are just getting started, while
allowing the flexibility of “le-
thal control” of wolves in East-
ern Oregon, where most of
them live and livestock attacks
are a major concern.
• “Variation in local con-
ditions will likely cause some
areas to be more prone to live-
stock depredations than others,
and chronic conflict may pre-
clude survival of some wolf
packs in certain circumstanc-
es.” This past August, ODFW
killed four wolves from the
Harl Butte pack for repeated at-
tacks on calves, and authorized
a rancher to shoot a Meacham
Pack wolf for the same reason.
• The draft document said
classifying wolves as “special
status game mammals” pro-
vides the most options for long-
term management. Among
other things, the status allows
“responsive” hunting and trap-
ping when required. Such ac-
tion would require a permit,
and hunters and trappers would
have to be pre-certified by
ODFW.