December 22, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
BLM focuses on productive partnerships
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Sean Ellis/Capital Press File
A 1946 John Deere GM tractor is raffled off at the 2014 Canyon
County Fair. A tractor raffle, started in 2011, has raised $129,000
toward scholarships for Idaho FFA members. Just as importantly,
supporters say, it has helped raise awareness of the importance of
agriculture education and the benefit of FFA programs.
FFA tractor raffle
helps raise awareness
of importance of
agriculture education
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
CALDWELL, Idaho — A
simple tractor raffle that set
out to raise some scholarship
money for Idaho FFA mem-
bers has turned into some-
thing much bigger.
The raffle is a program of
the Idaho FFA Foundation and
the tractors are hauled around
the state each year to generate
interest and boost ticket sales.
The tractor is usually ac-
companied by FFA members
who serve as real-life advo-
cates for agriculture education
and the FFA program.
The tractor raffle has be-
come a visual symbol of
Idaho’s FFA program and
has raised awareness of the
importance of agriculture ed-
ucation across the state, sup-
porters say.
The foundation was able
to award $51,000 in college
scholarships last year and the
tractor raffle was a big reason,
said Idaho FFA Foundation
Executive Director Laura
Wilder.
“The tractor raffle has had
a huge impact on the overall
support to FFA and helped
raise awareness about the
need for scholarships,” she
said. “The tractor raffle is re-
ally what started our scholar-
ship program.”
The raffle was started in
2011 by Middleton farmer Sid
Freeman, past president of the
Idaho FFA Alumni Associa-
tion, and his wife, Pam.
Farmers and agribusiness-
es have donated the tractors,
which are professionally re-
stored by the Freemans with
help from people involved
with the farming industry.
Fifty percent of the money
raised by the raffle tickets goes
to scholarships, 40 percent
goes to the foundation’s gen-
eral fund and local chapters
to help support FFA programs
and the rest is used to cover the
raffle program’s costs.
Since it began in 2011,
the raffle has raised $120,000
through ticket sales, $35,500
in banner sponsorships pur-
chased by dozens of agricul-
tural businesses and $60,000
from in-kind contributions,
Freeman said.
The money has been used
to award $107,000 in schol-
arships and another $22,000
will be awarded in April.
Idaho FFA Executive Di-
rector Clara-Leigh Evans said
the raffle not only raises mon-
ey for scholarships for FFA
members, “but as the tractor
travels the state with tractor
raffle volunteers, it raises vis-
ibility and awareness of the
Idaho FFA Foundation and its
important work.”
Besides raising general
awareness of agriculture edu-
cation, the campaign has also
resulted in many agricultural
businesses partnering more
closely with the Idaho FFA
program, Freeman said.
“The awareness campaign
that the tractor raffle became
was unintentional,” he said.
“But it was big. It was really
big. We were just trying to get
rid of a tractor and raise some
money for scholarships and this
whole awareness thing became
way bigger (than imagined).”
While FFA members sell
tickets for the annual raffle,
they are acting as advocates
for agriculture education, said
American Falls High School
ag teacher Mark Bietia.
“It has increased ag edu-
cation literacy and awareness
throughout the state,” said
Bietia, co-chairman of the Ida-
ho FFA board of directors.
SUN VALLEY, Idaho —
There’s no denying that the
Trump administration is shak-
ing things up at the federal
level, and that movement can
be seen in what’s transpired at
the Department of Interior.
Interior Secretary Ryan
Zinke has crafted a plan for
the department to be a more
productive partner with pub-
lic-lands users, Kathy Bene-
detto, senior adviser to BLM,
told ranchers at the Idaho
Cattle Association annual
convention.
Over the past nine months,
Zinke has been defining his
priorities, including restoring
a regulatory balance, expand-
ing access to public lands, re-
storing trust and being a good
neighbor, she said.
Several secretarial orders
to facilitate executive orders
have already resulted in sus-
pending or repealing dozens
of regulations and revoking
mitigation policies that can
be a burden to some busi-
nesses, she said.
In sync with Zinke’s pri-
orities, BLM is promoting
shared conservation stew-
ardship, supporting working
landscapes that aid job cre-
ation and providing for tra-
ditional uses of public lands,
she said.
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Kathy Benedetto, senior adviser to BLM, talks with rancher Chet
Brackett during the Idaho Cattle Association annual convention in
Sun Valley on Nov. 14.
“We are embracing our
multiple-use mission with
renewed enthusiasm, which
means there will be oppor-
tunities for commercial uses,
including grazing, as well as
conservation and recreation,”
she said.
There is a new focus at
BLM on shared conserva-
tion stewardship, including
efforts to try outcome-based
grazing, revisit sage grouse
conservation plans and re-
consider the land-use plan-
ning process.
In early September, BLM
began soliciting demon-
stration projects for out-
come-based grazing, which
allows livestock operators
more flexibility to make
adjustments in response to
changing conditions, such as
drought or wildfires, she said.
The agency will also work
with ranchers to address fuels
buildup with targeted graz-
ing and fuel breaks and ex-
pand on its partnerships with
rangeland fire protection as-
sociations, she said.
Ranchers can also expect
to see progress in the great-
er sage grouse arena, with
Zinke committed to effective
management and conserva-
tion of the species, she said.
In June, he issued an order
designed to give states more
say in managing the bird and
its habitat, ensuring state and
federal plans are comple-
mentary and remain flexible
to emphasize local econom-
ic growth and job creation,
she said. That led to a notice
of intent to amend land-use
plans and a serious of scop-
ing meetings to get public
input, which closed Nov. 30.
“BLM recognizes that the
states have produced good
plans for sage grouse pop-
ulations. Our next step is to
work collaboratively to bring
our plans into alignment with
theirs,” she said.
And it’s not going to be “a
one size fits all” for all states
because conditions on the
ground are different, she said.
Following up on Trump’s
nullification of BLM’s Plan-
ning 2.0 rule, Zinke tasked
BLM with identifying ineffi-
ciencies and redundancies in
the land-use planning process,
and the goal is to work with
states and local communities
to streamline planning and the
NEPA process, she said.
BLM is putting more time
and resources into managing
public land for multiple uses
and values now and into the
future. It is a priority for Zin-
ke, and agencies out West are
going to see an effort to get
more people on the ground to
accomplish that, she said.
“We really are embracing
the multiple use and sustain-
able yield mission that may-
be wasn’t by the last admin-
istration,” she said.
51-3/102