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CapitalPress.com
Friday, January 7, 2022
Wolf lawsuit targets Idaho trapping regulations
Analyst predicts
geopolitical volatility
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Last year, Peter Zei-
han predicted an “extraor-
dinarily bumpy” 2021 for
trade and agriculture.
That proved to be “a safe
assessment,” he says now.
“We’re living through
the breakdown of the global
system right now,” Zei-
han told the Capital Press.
“We’re going to be seeing a
lot more volatility and chaos
and breakdown before this
gets better.”
Zeihan is an independent
geopolitical analyst, author
and speaker. Before starting
his fi rm in 2012, he worked
for 12 years at Stratfor, a geo-
political intelligence fi rm and
consultancy.
Zeihan has spoken at
such events as the Tri-State
Grain Growers Convention,
the Washington Association
of Wheat Growers’ AMMO
workshop and Northwest
Farm Credit Services’ Ag
Outlook conference.
He sees a lot of uncer-
tainty in China during the
coming year.
China’s political and eco-
nomic system is “imploding”
due to deglobalization and
because it has devolved into
a “cult of personality,” result-
ing in “catastrophic whip-
lashes” in its agricultural
production, “which is the
world’s least effi cient,” Zei-
han said.
For example, China
recently banned exports of
phosphate fertilizer. Chi-
nese farmers use fi ve times
the amount of fertilizer com-
pared to their counterparts in
the U.S.
Pork pro-
duction will
also
con-
tinue
to
struggle, he
said. Some
Peter
2
million
Zeihan
pork produc-
ers in China
entered the market in 2021
to take advantage of price
spikes due to African swine
fl u, “but they haven’t gotten
rid of African swine fl u yet.”
Zeihan expects a further
outbreak of the disease in
China “because these new
producers have no idea what
they’re doing.”
“Anyone who depends on
China for inputs or sales is
going to be in for a wild, wild
ride,” he predicted. “Just
expect shortages for anything
that is China-centered.”
Zeihan doesn’t expect fur-
ther movement on the phase
one U.S. trade deal with
China.
“The Trump administra-
tion did an OK job negotiat-
ing that but never enforced
it,” he said. For Biden, “trade
is just not a priority.”
Removing all the “Amer-
ican drama,” Zeihan thinks
there’s been very little
change between Trump and
Biden. He pointed to China,
trade, populism, unions
and interacting with eco-
nomic forces as examples
where both men are “almost
identical.”
The biggest factors to
watch are deglobalization
and depopulation, with some
nations having fewer chil-
dren as they urbanize and
industrialize, Zeihan said.
Environmental groups
claim expanded wolf trap-
ping in Idaho violates the
Endangered Species Act by
allowing threatened grizzly
bears and Canada lynxes to
be harmed.
The Center for Biolog-
ical Diversity and 12 other
groups have fi led a federal
lawsuit against Idaho offi -
cials for implementing new
rules that allow year-round
wolf trapping on private
lands and remove tag lim-
its on wolves, among other
changes.
“Traps and snares are
indiscriminate and are
known to capture, injure
and kill non-target species at
high rates, including grizzly
bears and lynx,” the com-
plaint said.
The environmental plain-
tiff s have asked a federal
IDFG
A photo of a wolf taken by a remote Idaho Department
of Fish and Game camera. An environmental lawsuit
opposes Idaho’s new trapping regulations for wolves,
alleging they harm threatened grizzly bears and Can-
ada lynxes.
judge to declare that Ida-
ho’s wolf-trapping rules vio-
late the ESA and to require
the state to bring its regula-
tions into compliance with
the law.
“Because trapping and
snaring of protected spe-
cies constitute unlawful
‘take’ under the ESA and
threatens irreparable harm,
state defendants’ contin-
ued authorization and recent
expansion of wolf trapping
and snaring in grizzly bear
and lynx habitat is unlawful
and should be enjoined,” the
complaint said.
The Idaho Department
of Fish and Game is aware
of the lawsuit but hasn’t
yet been formally served
with the complaint and has
no comment on the litiga-
tion, said Roger Phillips, the
agency’s public information
supervisor.
The habitat for gray
wolves in Idaho overlaps
with that of grizzly bears
and Canada lynxes, whose
populations and ranges have
been greatly diminished
from their historical level
in the U.S., according to the
complaint.
Even before the new rules
were enacted, wolf snares
were involved in the deaths
of two grizzly bears in the
state last year, while fi ve
Canada lynxes were trapped
over the past decade, the
complaint said. Similar inci-
dents have been reported in
neighboring Montana.
“Because such inci-
dents are under-reported,
the number of grizzly bears
and lynx captured by Idaho
wolf trappers is likely much
higher than these data indi-
cate,” the complaint said.
Idaho Water Users convention to look at
urbanization challenges, infrastructure needs
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Urbanization-driven
challenges and some
promising opportunities to
add and improve storage
and delivery infrastruc-
ture are key themes of the
Idaho Water Users Associ-
ation’s annual convention,
set for Jan. 17-20 at the
Riverside Hotel in Garden
City.
Population growth and
related development “will
be one of the top issues
that water users will face
in the foreseeable future,”
Executive
Director
and Gen-
eral Coun-
sel
Paul
Arrington
said.
Paul
While
Arrington
I d a h o
has been
one of the fastest-grow-
ing states for many years,
growth-related
impacts
now reach beyond the
state’s population centers
and into rural areas.
“It’s really starting
to impact our smaller
water-delivery organiza-
tions, and it’s not going
away,” Arrington said.
Development of hous-
ing and other uses on
farmland can prompt chal-
lenges that make it harder
for the irrigation districts
to keep systems safe and
clean, he said.
Meanwhile, the cus-
tomer count increases.
“We have scenarios
in which, instead of one
farmer managing 1,000
acres, we now have tens
of thousands of homeown-
ers on those properties,”
Arrington said. “Just the
customer-service aspect of
that is mind-boggling for
many.”
Convention
speak-
ers and panelists also will
address how growth aff ects
water supply and deliv-
ery. One panel will discuss
eff orts to study southwest
Idaho hydrology and water
quality in the context of
changing land uses.
Aging water infra-
structure and the state’s
need for sustainable water
supplies in the future
will also be addressed.
So will participation in
grant, loan and other
programs.
WAWG’s McDonald: We need younger generation to get involved
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Howard McDonald, the new
president of the Washington Asso-
ciation of Wheat Growers, urges
farmers to get involved.
“Especially the younger gen-
eration,” he said. “We need them
involved. They’re our future.
There aren’t many of us left, but
this younger generation is so pas-
sionate about farming. It’s fun to
see, but they need to get involved.
We need their help.”
McDonald got involved because
he was impressed by an industry
meeting.
“Once I was there, I’m going,
‘Wow,’” he said. “The people
around here — Michelle Hen-
nings, Lori Williams, Glen Squires
— we’ve got so many great peo-
ple. I saw that and I’m going, ‘I
want to be involved, contribute a
little bit.’”
Hennings is executive direc-
tor and Williams is outreach coor-
dinator of WAWG. Squires is
CEO of the Washington Grain
Commission.
McDonald farms northeast of
Coulee City with his son, occa-
sionally getting help from another
son and a son-in-law, who are both
agronomists. He raises wheat,
canola and some sunfl owers.
He and his wife have six kids
who are either teachers or involved
in agriculture, he said.
Upcoming issues such as the
next farm bill that Congress will
produce, labor issues such as
overtime rules and preserving the
Snake River dams are priorities, he
said.
He hopes to have made progress
on at least some of those issues
when his term is up at the end of
2022.
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