Friday, March 4, 2022
CapitalPress.com 11
ISDA gets a handle on invasive aquatic plant at two sites
the Idaho State Department
of Agriculture. “In weed
control, there is no silver
bullet.”
Hydrilla
and
other
aquatic invasives can reduce
water quality and impede the
delivery of irrigation water.
“There’s a real-world
impact on the ability to grow
crops and raise commodi-
ties,” Varley said. “Water is
paramount, and when inva-
sive species hinder that,
many ag producers feel it
when their water can’t be
delivered.”
“And invasive plants
decrease
biodiversity,
which leads to a plethora
of other negative ecological
impacts,” said Bethany Muf-
fl ey, noxious weed and inva-
sive species program spe-
cialist with the department.
The perennial Hydrilla
plant fragments and pro-
duces tubers. After upper
vegetation dies at the end
of the growing season, the
tuber remains in sediment
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Idaho State Depart-
ment of Agriculture and its
partners are winning the
battle against the invasive
aquatic plant Hydrilla at two
sites.
Eradication of the plant,
which reproduces easily and
can grow an inch a day, will
not be proclaimed until sites
are free of the plant for 10
years after it was last found.
It can lie dormant for that
long.
But the countdown
is underway in Owyhee
County after crews did not
fi nd Hydrilla plants in the
Bruneau River in 2021 fol-
lowing 12 years of work.
It has been nearly seven
years since the plant was
found in a north Boise proj-
ect area.
“We’ll continue to mon-
itor and survey,” said
Jeremey Varley, noxious
weeds section manager at
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
Jeremey Varley, Idaho State Department of Agriculture
noxious weeds section manager, and Bethany Muffl ey,
noxious weeds and invasive species southwest region
ag program specialist, view reports on Hydrilla plant
declines in a Bruneau River project area.
and will regrow when con-
ditions are favorable.
“One fragment can undo
an entire season’s worth of
work,” Muffl ey said.
Work on the Bruneau
River included chemical
applications and mechani-
cal and biological removal.
Divers used a dredge-like
system. Non-reproductive
triploid grass carp, held in
ponds to eat uppermost veg-
etation at sprouting, were
placed in consultation with
Idaho Fish and Game.
All modes were used
from 2010 to 2012. Chem-
ical usage ended in 2012.
Crews that year began see-
ing individual rooted plants
rather than dense monocul-
tural infestations.
Monitoring and removal
eff orts increased in 2013
and steady decreases materi-
alized two years later.
Since 2015, “we’ve sur-
veyed the same places
over and over,” Muffl ey
said. Going back to where
Hydrilla plants had grown
is important because “with
tubers left behind, there
is a high probability of
regrowth.”
The Bruneau River proj-
ect area covers about 14
miles, from Hot Springs
down to C.J. Strike Reser-
voir. She said the biggest
concentration of Hydrilla
was in the upper 5 miles,
where geothermal springs
enter the river.
A U.S. Bureau of Land
Management
employee
partnering on the Bruneau
project during surveying
at the end of 2007 said the
same plant was seen in a
north Boise backyard.
The Boise population
was confi rmed as coming
out of a geothermal ditch.
That water fl ows into a canal
and back to the Boise River.
Hydrilla was likely
introduced “as an escaped
aquatic hitchhiker in a ship-
ment of tilapia received by a
local aquaculture hobbyist
who was using the geother-
mal water for fi sh propaga-
tion,” a state Department of
Agriculture report said.
Muffl ey said Hydrilla
was found in 400 meters,
just over 437 yards, of the
geothermal ditch. Removal
was by hand only.
Recent fi ndings included
208 plants in 2013, 101 in
2014, seven in 2015 and
none from 2016 to 2021.
Crews check the area twice
a year.
Both projects involve
multiple
agencies
and
landowners.
New CPOW president: Wolves, water
EPA, Army Corps plan regional
biggest concerns for Washington ranchers roundtables on WOTUS
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Wolves and water remain
the biggest concerns for ranch-
ers, the new president of the
Cattle Producers of Washing-
ton says.
“Those are what could crip-
ple our industry the quickest,”
Josslinn Schoesler told the
Capital Press.
CPOW supports the control
or eradication of any predator
that endangers or negatively
impacts the livestock indus-
try, or the people involved in it,
Schoesler said.
CPOW also wants to pro-
tect agricultural exemptions
already in place.
“Ranchers do not need a
water right so that their cow
can drink from the creek, pond
or the river,” she said. “That’s
been in place since the 1960s.
We need to keep those exemp-
tions in place.”
A rancher raising more than
300 head of cattle, Schoesler
was elected president of the
organization in January.
Schoesler said her priori-
ties are to protect the interests
of the state’s cattle ranchers
and restore prosperity to rural
Washington.
CPOW’s
founding
members
in
2004 formed
the organiza-
tion to preserve
and promote
beef bred, born
Josslinn
and raised in
Schoesler
the state.
She’s been ranching her
whole life, she said.
Her parents are ranch-
ers Dave and Julie Dashiell,
and Washington Sen. Mark
Schoesler is her father-in-law.
“My grandpa gave me my
fi rst cow when I was not even
in school yet,” she said. “I’ve
always had cattle and continue
to run cattle with my husband
today.”
They winter in Ritzville, and
summer in pastures in Lincoln
and Adams counties.
The people involved are her
favorite part of ranching, she
said.
“They’re just good, salt of
the earth people,” she said.
“They’re not afraid to work
hard every day, and when
things go wrong, they’re there
to help.”
When Schoesler and 22
other ranchers were aff ected
by the Whitney Road fi re
near Davenport in Septem-
ber 2020, followed by drought
in 2021, they received dona-
tions of hay, protein supple-
ments and fencing supplies,
she said.
“We’re not the type to
ask for anything, but it was
amazing to see the support,”
Schoesler said. “Just a great
network of people. They show
up when you need it.”
Schoesler said she fi nds the
most hope in the fact that so
many people are willing to vol-
unteer to support the industry.
“It’s just the satisfaction of
knowing you’re helping keep
a tradition alive,” she said.
“That’s all it takes. This is a
lifestyle that is wonderful, and
it needs to continue. Unless
people are willing to volunteer,
it’s going to have struggles.”
Schoesler felt it was “brave”
of CPOW’s founders to break
away from other groups in
2004.
“I felt a responsibility to
continue what they started,”
she said of accepting the pres-
idency. “We’re here to help
where we can. I’m just here to
keep it going.”
Schoesler will serve a two-
year term, with the option to
serve for another term.
Capital Press
The Environmental Protection
Agency and U.S. Department of the
Army will have 10 regional round-
tables as they continue to work on
the waters of the U.S. rules under the
Clean Water Act.
Participants will represent diverse
perspectives.
The agencies will work with each
roundtable to facilitate discussion on
implementing WOTUS while high-
lighting regional diff erences.
The agencies will host the round-
tables online during the spring and
summer.
“EPA and Army are committed to
listening to all sides and working to
foster a common-ground approach to
WOTUS that protects our environment
and is informed by the experience of
those who steward our waters day-in
and day-out,” Radhika Fox, EPA assis-
tant administrator for water, said in a
press release.
“Through these regional round-
tables, we will work toward a shared
understanding of the challenges and
opportunities to enhance WOTUS
implementation to support pub-
lic health, environmental protection,
agricultural activity and economic
growth,” she said.
The agencies are “committed to
gaining a better understanding of the
various regional perspectives through
these roundtables to develop an imple-
mentation approach that accounts for
these diverse voices and regional vari-
ations,” said Michael L. Connor, assis-
tant secretary of the Army for civil
works.
“In addition, the Army hopes to
identify implementation considerations
and tools that could assist in eff ective,
consistent and effi cient implementa-
tion across the nation,” he said.
The 10 roundtables will include the
following groups:
• Amigos Bravos (Southwest).
• Arizona Farm Bureau (Southwest).
• Cahaba Brewing (Southeast).
• California Farm Bureau (West).
• Kansas Livestock Association
(Midwest).
• Natural Resources Defense Coun-
cil (Northeast).
• National Parks Conservation
Association (Midwest).
• North Carolina Farm Bureau
(Southeast).
• Regenerative Agriculture Founda-
tion (Midwest).
• Wyoming County Commissioners
Association, Montana Association of
Counties, Idaho Association of Coun-
ties (West).
The agencies most recently con-
cluded a public comment period on the
proposed rule to re-establish the pre-
2015 defi nition of WOTUS, updated to
refl ect consideration of Supreme Court
decisions.
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