INNOVATIONS
Special section
Pages 10-12
Capital Press
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Friday, July 22, 2022
Volume 95, Number 29
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Paul Arrington, Idaho Water Users Association executive director and general counsel.
KEEPING THE WATER FLOWING
Idaho’s irrigators, other users depend on Paul Arrington
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
P
aul Arrington lasted one day
as a farmhand.
“We picked rock out of a
fi eld,” the Idaho Water Users
Association executive direc-
tor and general counsel said,
referring to his introduction to farming as
a 12-year-old near Twin Falls in 1989. The
farmer “called Mom and said it’s not going
to work out.”
But the memorably tough day helped
confi rm Arrington enjoys being around
other people — a key to his success advo-
cating for farmers and other water users for
the past 18 years and counting.
“I enjoy interacting with folks,” he said.
“I really enjoy learning what makes peo-
ple tick and learning about
how people view the world
from diff erent perspectives.
I enjoy learning about and
hearing diff erent things.”
Arrington’s
people
skills and enthusiasm help
him keep water a top-of-
Garth
mind issue in the quickly
Taylor
growing state as he leads
the 300-member association.
“This job is 99 percent about building
and developing relationships,” he said.
Association members include surface
water and groundwater users, and support
providers such as engineers and attorneys,
equipment providers, chemical companies,
and headgate and pipeline manufacturers.
Arrington, 45, said members and others
in the sector can be negotiating or litigating
one day and fraternizing the next. “It’s
pretty amazing to watch.”
PAUL ARRINGTON
Title: Executive director
and general counsel, Idaho
Water Users Association
Age: 45
Water is key
Water is the linchpin of Idaho’s agricul-
tural economy.
“There would be virtually no agriculture
in southern and eastern Idaho without irri-
gation,” said Garth Taylor, a University of
Idaho agricultural economist. Those regions
would have some range cattle and sheep as
well as some forage and cereal crops, but
otherwise “would look a lot like Wyoming.”
“All agriculture as we know it in south-
ern and eastern Idaho is created by irriga-
tion,” he said. Benefi ciaries include the
state’s large dairy, potato and sugar beet
industries.
See Arrington, Page 13
Hometown: Twin Falls.
Lives in northwest Boise.
Education: Twin Falls High
School, 1995; associate
degree in business admin-
istration and management,
Brigham Young Universi-
ty-Idaho, 2000; bachelor’s
degree in business and
human resources manage-
ment, Boise State Universi-
ty, 2002; Gonzaga Universi-
ty School of Law, 2005.
Family: Wife, Michelle; four
children.
Suit invites federal judges to change wolf control in Washington
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A lawsuit pending in the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals could upend
for the worse how wolves are man-
aged on federal land in Eastern Wash-
ington, according to the Washington
Cattlemen’s Association.
The suit claims the Forest Service
dodges its duty to prevent wolf-live-
stock confl icts in the Colville National
Forest, leading state wildlife manag-
ers to kill wolves.
In a court fi ling, environmental
groups off er a formula for breaking
the cycle: “No cattle = no cattle dep-
redations = no lethal wolf removal.”
The stakes are high, according to
the cattlemen’s association. If the suit
succeeds, environmental groups can
sue federal agencies for the actions of
Washington wildlife managers.
“Consequently, this case threat-
ens to have signifi cant precedential
impact on the management of wildlife
on federal lands, including grazing
allotments,” according to an amicus
brief fi led by the cattlemen.
WildEarth Guardians, Western
Watersheds Project and Kettle Range
Conservation Group fi led the suit
against the Forest Service. The Dia-
mond M ranch, which grazes cattle in
national forest, intervened.
A U.S. district court judge in Spo-
kane last year dismissed the lawsuit,
ruling she didn’t have jurisdiction to
address the wrongs alleged by wolf
advocates. Wolves in Eastern Wash-
ington are not federally protected.
The
environmental
groups
appealed, and the 9th Circuit may
hear the case this fall, giving the court
its fi rst chance to rule on how Wash-
ington balances wolf recovery and
ranching.
Wolf advocates have sued in state
courts to stop Fish and Wildlife from
ODFW
See Wolf, Page 13
A gray wolf.
Study calls for smarter land use planning to curb farmland loss
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The Pacifi c
Northwest stands to lose more than half a
million acres of farmland to urban sprawl
by 2040 unless cities make smarter devel-
opment choices, according to a new report
by the American Farmland Trust.
The report, “Farms Under Threat 2040:
Choosing an Abundant Future,” also high-
lights threats to farmland by rising sea lev-
els due to climate change, and the acceler-
ated expansion of solar projects needed to
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press File meet zero-carbon energy mandates.
Barns on farmland with Mount Adams in the back-
Addie Candib, Northwest regional
ground.
director for the American Farmland Trust
in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, said
the fi ndings are part of a multi-year eff ort
to come up with solutions for preserving
farmland nationwide.
“In order to be eff ective, we needed to
have good data about what was happening
to farmland,” Candib said.
Other partners in the “Farms Under
Threat” program include the USDA Natu-
ral Resources Conservation Service, Con-
servation Science Partners and the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for
Sustainability and the Global Environment.
The initiative, Candib said, is “really
an eff ort to quantify and map where
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