Friday, December 17, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
BLM eyes land purchase east of Boise
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
BOISE — The U.S.
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment wants to buy 275 acres
east of Boise.
The Alta Harris Family
Foundation offered the par-
cel to BLM. The agency said
acquiring it would help pre-
serve intact winter range for
big-game animals, enhance
protection of wildlife habitat
and recreational uses, and
preserve open space in the
Boise foothills.
Mike Williamson, a BLM
spokesman in Boise, said the
agency does not have a spe-
cific wildfire-related goal
associated with the proposed
acquisition, though buy-
ing the property would pre-
vent future development and
the expansion of the wild-
land-urban interface.
The
agency
would
assume fire suppression and
other related responsibilities
for the parcel, which is adja-
cent to state-owned land and
has a private road nearby.
“The big value for this
property is that it is critical
wintering range for mule
deer and elk,” Williamson
said.
Domestic sheep graz-
ing occurs on adjacent BLM
land in the Boise Foothills.
Williamson said if the
new parcel is acquired, it
will be evaluated to deter-
Capital Press File
A band of sheep grazes in the Boise foothills. The U.S.
Bureau of Land Management is considering buying
land in the area.
mine if grazing would con-
tinue to take place on it,
and how much. That would
be part of a grazing per-
mit renewal evaluation for
the Boise Front Allotment,
which the parcel borders.
“So it is possible it will
be considered for sheep
grazing because it is adja-
cent to (grazing), but that
wouldn’t be determined
until there was a grazing
permit renewal,” he said.
Money for the purchase
would come from the Land
and Water Conservation
Fund. Williamson said the
appraisal is underway and
a purchase price is yet to be
determined.
BLM is taking public
comments through Jan. 7.
The agency said com-
ments from members of the
public, organizations and
other interested parties help
identify issues it may con-
sider in the environmen-
tal assessment, which the
National
Environmental
Policy Act requires. Offi-
cials said comments are
most helpful if they refer
to specific issues, resources
and actions that should be
analyzed.
“The scoping process is
an essential part of our plan-
ning process and ensures
public involvement in the
decision making process,”
BLM Four Rivers Field
Manager Brent Ralston said
in a statement.
Comments should go to
Ralston, 3948 Development
Ave., Boise, Idaho 83705;
or BLM_ID_FourRiversOf-
fice@blm.gov.
Meta seeks ways to boost water
reserves in rural Oregon county
By MICHAEL KOHN
EO Media Group
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Beef prices are helping drive up inflation not seen since the early 1980s.
Back to the early 1980s:
Inflation hits 39-year high
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
The annual inflation rate
hit a 39-year high Dec. 10,
as the Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics reported a year-over-
year increase in the Con-
sumer Price Index of 6.8%.
Energy and food prices
led the way. Minus those two
volatile categories, the infla-
tion rate was 4.9%.
Central
Washington
orchardist April Clayton
said her farm hasn’t bene-
fited from higher food prices,
but is paying more for fuel,
chemicals and labor.
“We’re not seeing the
increase in grocery stores
reflected in returns on the
farm,” she said. “Everything
in the (supply) chain is going
up, and it’s hitting us hard.”
The 6.8% inflation rate is
the worst since June 1982.
Other large contributors
to inflation included hous-
ing, clothes, household fur-
nishings, and new and used
vehicles.
Energy costs overall rose
33%. Fuel oil rose 59%, gas-
oline 57.5% and electricity
6.5%.
Food prices increased
6.1%, with beef prices ris-
ing 20.9%, the most among
major food categories.
Meat, poultry, fish and
eggs increased 12.8%, while
fruits and vegetables rose
4%. Dairy products went up
1.6%.
President Biden blamed
inflation on the global pan-
demic and said the Build
Back Better Act would help
families pay for health care
and child care.
“For anyone who, like me,
is concerned about costs fac-
ing American families, pass-
ing BBB is the most imme-
diate and direct step we can
take to deliver,” he said in a
statement.
White House Economic
Council Director Brian
Deese and Deputy Directors
Sameera Fazili and Bharat
Ramamurti blamed meat
packers for rising meat prices.
Tyson Foods, JBS Food
and other meat packers are
profiting from an uncompet-
itive marketplace, the eco-
nomic advisers claimed in a
White House blog.
In response, the North
American Meat Institute,
which represents meat pack-
ers, said the White House was
making a desperate bid to
shift blame for inflation.
The Meat Institute said
the White House was ignor-
ing rising fuel costs, labor
shortages and supply-chain
problems.
“The White House Eco-
nomic Council is again
demonstrating its ignorance
of agricultural economics and
the fundamentals of supply
and demand,” Meat Institute
President and CEO Julia Ann
Potts said in a statement.
R-CALF CEO Bill Bull-
ard, whose organization rep-
resents ranchers, endorsed
the White House’s view. Cat-
tle prices continue to slump,
even as retail prices rise, he
said.
“There is no question that
the marketplace is broke and
that the White House is cor-
rect,” Bullard said. “We are
grateful that this administra-
tion has focused on this very
serious problem.”
The CPI includes spend-
ing by 93% of the U.S. pop-
ulation, missing some rural
residents and farm families.
Clayton, who operates an
orchard with her husband,
Mike, near Wenatchee, said
the farm’s costs are rising
faster than the 6.8% inflation
rate.
Labor makes up about
three-quarters of the orchard’s
budget, and it must compete
for workers with three larger
nearby farms, she said. Piece-
rate pay rises along with min-
imum wages guaranteed
under state and federal laws,
she said.
“All of this is having an
effect on us,” Clayton said.
Unlike some other manufac-
turers, farmers can’t be pass
on the costs, she said. “Unfor-
tunately, in agriculture that’s
not something we can do.”
PRINEVILLE, Ore. —
Crook County is situated in
one of the driest parts of the
state — it’s one of two coun-
ties in Oregon to be com-
pletely in the highest level
on the U.S. Drought Moni-
tor. Now, one of the county’s
biggest employers is trying
to combat the drought with
an aggressive water resto-
ration program.
Facebook’s parent com-
pany, Meta, which oper-
ates a data storage center on
the outskirts of Prineville, is
implementing two projects
it says will improve water
availability in Crook County.
The social media giant
says the projects will help it
to achieve its water conser-
vation goals, which include
being “water positive” by
2030, meaning that it will
return more water to the
environment than it con-
sumes at its facilities.
Meta, which also owns
Oculus, Instagram, Messen-
ger and WhatsApp, plans to
accomplish this feat by part-
nering with environmental
groups and federal regula-
tors to restore degraded hab-
itats in Oregon and five other
states. It is also upgrading its
technologies to make its data
centers more water efficient.
Technological develop-
ments in the last decade, as
well as the use of outside air
for cooling, have allowed
Meta’s data centers “to oper-
ate 80% more water effi-
ciently on average compared
to the industry standard,”
said Melanie Roe, of Meta.
“We see opportunities
for additional gains in the
coming years, particularly
as our infrastructure grows,
and we’ll need to develop
water-efficient designs for
different climates,” Roe
added.
Meta is under a micro-
scope in the places where it
operates as its data centers
use large amounts of water to
cool their servers and main-
tain optimal humidity lev-
els. In Prineville, data cen-
ters get their water from the
municipality.
In Prineville last year,
Meta used 117.5 million gal-
lons — enough water to fill
178 Olympic-sized swim-
ming pools. Meta’s use of
water is increasing. The data
center, a collection of build-
ings, is still under construc-
tion and when complete will
be a 4.6 million-square-foot
campus.
To counter that water
use, Meta is helping to fund
an aquifer recharge project
with the city of Prineville.
A second project is restor-
ing the degraded Ingram
Meadow in the Ochoco
National Forest.
Meta says the aqui-
fer recharge project utilizes
the natural storage found
underground in the city to
store water during cooler,
wetter winters. A portion
of the water can be recov-
ered during hotter summer
periods when water is less
available.
The project, which
became operational ear-
lier this year, works by con-
veying a portion of winter
stream flows in the Crooked
River to the local groundwa-
ter supply through injection
and extraction wells.
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