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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 11, 2022
Idaho ranch loses legal claims that public trail violates easement
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A federal judge has rejected an
Idaho ranch’s legal claims that a
proposed public trail through its
property violates the terms of a
government easement.
In 2019, Sawtooth Mountain
Ranch filed a lawsuit opposing
a 4.4-mile public trail planned
by the U.S. Forest Service to
connect Redfish Lake with the
nearby town of Stanley, Idaho.
While the agency owns a con-
servation easement across a por-
tion of the ranch’s 1,780-acre
property, the plaintiffs claim
the government’s “construc-
tion activities” are inconsis-
tent with the terms of that 2005
agreement.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge
Candy Dale in Boise has now
rejected those arguments, rul-
ing that the ranch’s easement-re-
lated claims are time-barred
by a 12-year statute of limita-
tions based on when the proper-
ty’s previous owners signed the
agreement.
“The statute of limitations is
not tolled simply because the
Forest Service had not officially
proposed until 2014 a trail that
could actually be used by the
public for bicycle, horse and
foot travel within the easement
area,” the judge said.
The only route between Stan-
ley and the “Redfish recreation
complex” has long been a state
highway that experiences “high
speed traffic and heavy sum-
mer traffic volumes,” which
prompted the Forest Service
to consider an alternative trail
beginning in the 1990s, accord-
ing to court documents.
The previous owners of the
ranch sold a conservation ease-
ment, which prevents develop-
ment, to the agency for $1.8
million in May 2005, but they
later protested upon learning
that some of the easement would
encompass the public trail.
However, that easement
included terms that specifi-
cally excluded the trail from the
ranch’s ability to “prevent tres-
pass and control access to the
property,” the judge said. The
Forest Service began planning
for the trail despite the previous
owner’s objections that it would
interfere with cattle grazing.
The property was bought in
2016 by David Boren and Lynn
Arnone, the current owners
of Sawtooth Mountain Ranch,
a year before the Forest Ser-
vice formally approved the trail
project in June 2017, the ruling
said.
The agency’s approval to
construct the project didn’t
expand the public use rights
granted to the government in
2005 by the previous owners,
regardless of whether the trail is
well-hidden or “gravel-paved”
and more than six feet wide, the
judge said.
“Simply put, the limitations
period is triggered when a land-
owner has reason to know that
the government claims some
type of adverse interest in that
land,” she said. “Here, adver-
sity did not arise simply because
the Forest Service began ‘con-
struction’ of the trail. Rather,
the adverse interest of permit-
ting or otherwise facilitating
public use of a trail within the
easement area was known at the
time the conservation easement
deed was executed and recorded
in May of 2005.”
While the judge has thrown
out legal claims under the Quiet
Title Act, which allows the fed-
eral government to be sued for
title to real property, the ruling
does not end the litigation.
The plaintiffs have also
claimed the Forest Service’s
trail project violated a fed-
eral statute that governs the
756,000-acre Sawtooth National
Recreation Area, as well as the
National Environmental Pol-
icy Act, the National Forest
Management Act, the Endan-
gered Species Act and the Clean
Water Act. The complaint seeks
an injunction against the trail as
well as compensation for litiga-
tion costs.
“The Forest Service failed
to take into consideration the
environmental impacts of con-
nected, similar and cumulative
actions when it failed to con-
sider the impacts of the trail in
conjunction with the impacts
from the contemplated ‘Redfish
recreation complex’ and trans-
portation network,” the com-
plaint said.
Fresh potato access to more of Mexico delayed
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Capital Press
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Unanticipated
new
requirements by the Mexi-
can government will make
U.S. fresh potato shippers
wait longer to access the
entire country, according
to National Potato Council
CEO Kam Quarles.
Mexico limits U.S. fresh
potatoes to an area within
16.15 miles of the U.S. bor-
der. The Mexican Supreme
Court on April 28 lifted the
restriction.
Quarles said in a Feb. 17
memo to state potato orga-
nization managers that for
table stock, Mexican regu-
lators “are demanding a new
requirement that is not in the
work plan. That requirement
is for additional site vis-
its during the growing sea-
son prior to granting access.
They have not stated how
many or where.”
The work plan has a pro-
vision for auditing with site
visits, he said. But Mexi-
can regulators “are reinter-
preting that provision to be
a precursor to shipments
rather than an audit to deter-
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mine compliance with a pro-
gram in operation.”
Given the likely timing
of the visits, it will be fall or
later before shipments can
start, Quarles said.
He said Mexican offi-
cials, after a December
2021 site visit to Colorado,
said that was the last step in
the process and full market
access would be available
starting in January or Febru-
ary of 2022.
Quarles
wrote
the
memo following a webi-
nar with USDA and Mexico
regulators.
He said in an interview
that whether “site” means
potato field or packer-ship-
per is yet to be determined.
But Mexican regulators
have said the required addi-
tional site visits would not
occur until the forthcoming
crop is in some stage of the
growing process.
Quarles said the work
plan that was finished late
last year “was largely as
expected. What’s happened
since then is that Mexico is
reinterpreting the work plan.
They are rewriting it, and it’s
clear their intention is not to
Idaho House endorses
increased depredation
claim spending
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
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provide the access that had
been agreed to.”
It’s likely the reinterpre-
tation delays full access for
an additional year, he said.
For each year that Mex-
ico delays granting full
access for U.S. fresh pota-
toes, “it is a direct negative
economic impact to Amer-
ican growers of $150 mil-
lion a year,” Quarles said.
Of that, 70-75% would go to
table stock, the rest to pro-
cessing plants in Mexico.
Mexico for about 20 years
has wanted to ship avocados
from more of the country to
the U.S., and “USDA has
been very strong in saying
you need to follow through
on commitments on U.S.
fresh potato access,” he said.
The Mexican Supreme
Court decision affirmed the
government’s right to issue
regulations on food imports
including fresh potatoes.
Ross Johnson, interna-
tional marketing director for
the Idaho Potato Commis-
sion, said that with shipping
delays challenging fresh
exports to Asia, “we have
really shifted a lot of our
focus to Mexico and build-
ing our market share. … We
have more demand than ever
in Mexico.”
Allowing U.S. fresh pota-
toes beyond the border area
would open opportunities to
build volume, he said.
“I’m hopeful that they can
resolve the issues that they
are dealing with currently
between the United States
and Mexico,” said Jamey
Higham, Idaho Potato Com-
mission president and CEO.
“But new issues keep pop-
ping up.”
The Idaho House of Rep-
resentatives has passed leg-
islation that would provide
the state Department of Fish
and Game with more money
to compensate farmers for
crop depredation.
The department has a set-
aside account for license and
tag fees. The account also
accesses a big game depre-
dation account, out of which
Fish and Game has the
authority to spend $1.1 mil-
lion annually.
The agency’s new bud-
get increases the spending
authority to $2 million this
fiscal year and $1.8 million
in Fiscal 2023, which starts
July 1.
House Bill 702 would
increase the amount of
money coming out of the
department’s depredation
fee account from the current
$500,000 to $750,000.
The legislation also
would change the maximum
individual claim. It is now
limited to 10% of the annual
appropriation to the fund.
HB 702 would change the
limit to $125,000.
If passed, the law would
take effect immediately.
Sal Palazzolo, Fish and
Game wildlife habitat pro-
gram manager, said recent
depredation claim totals
exceed spending authority,
so awards are prorated. The
increased spending authority
would help.
“We have seen steady
increases in both the number
and (dollar) amount of the
claims that we receive,” he
said. Higher commodity val-
ues, and farm diversification
that put higher-value crops
into the mix are factors.
Recent activity includes
59 claims for a total of
$754,834 in 2018 and 89
worth nearly $2.39 million
in 2019.
The department han-
dled 85 claims worth nearly
$1.65 million in 2020 and 87
worth more than $1.72 mil-
lion in 2021.
So far this year, there
have been 39 claims worth
$760,822.
The state Fish and Game
Commission March 3 voted
to support HB 702. One
of the bill’s purposes is to
roughly equalize spending
on depredation and sports-
men’s access.
The department does
not receive money from the
state general fund.