Gilliam and Wheeler NRCS Local Workgroup Meeting Minutes

February 6, 2013

Topics discussed are organized according to Land use.

Rangeland –

1. Upper Rock Creek watershed – transition this existing funding pool, that expires this year, into a funding pool with a focus on Prescribed burning as a viable option to treat juniper.

2. Consider developing a CIS for the Ferry Canyon watershed. This CIS would focus on treating rangeland and items needing treatment are juniper encroachment into non- historical habitat, cross fencing for better livestock distribution, development of alternative watering sources, and re-vegetation of degraded rangeland.

3. The need for a county grassbank was discussed. The grassbank would help alleviate the loss of forage after a landowner has voluntarily undertaken conservation practices that would deplete the existing forage base of the treated land unit. This would, in most cases, be needed after using Prescribed burning to treat juniper issues. Several meeting participants cited the loss of forage as an obstacle to treating range land with burning.

4. Rangeland contained within cropland fields was discussed and one landowner brought up how CREP has hurt his ability to graze neighbor’s cropland due to the water sources being excluded from livestock due to the program.

5. The adverse effects of juniper on Mule deer habitat were discussed. Annual grass invasion, primarily Ventenata and Medushaea, was cited as being extremely detrimental to Mule deer habitat. CRP monocultures were also discussed as having negative impacts on Mule deer.

6. The annual grass invasion in both counties was discussed at some length. Discussion centered on developing a CIS to start addressing the problem and conversation centered around the treatment options and how to design the CIS to intelligently treat annual grasses in order to garner support for the endeavor. 7. The impending Soil Health initiative was talked about and there might be an opportunity to utilized National money to work on rangeland. There is ongoing work to determine the best use of this money on rangeland to accomplish the goals of the initiative.

8. A landowner broached the subject of sagebrush control and that there is a herbicide, Spike, that proven to be very effective in killing sagebrush. He talked about the cost being prohibitive for landowners but NRCS cost share may make it affordable. This subject was mentioned since there are many areas in Gilliam county that sagebrush has increased the percentage as described in the ecological site descriptions.

9. Mention was made of the continuing efforts of several State agencies to monitor and quantify water quality. The discussion centered around the need to better describe the beneficial effects of upland conservation on the stream corridors. Comments were made about the conflict between measurable outcomes (i.e. the use of science) and the use of expert, local knowledge in evaluating condition. One is measurable and the other is visual, experience orientated.

Cropland –

Recently, Gilliam county has struggled to find a new resource concern in the Dry cropland arena that is of importance to the area and its inhabitants. There was a concerted effort to seek input on a new direction that NRCS can pursue in the dry cropland resource areas of Gilliam County.

1. Infrared mapping was discussed as a new technology. The District, along with partners, may be interested in writing a CIG grant to develop a plan to use infrared photography to monitor crop stress, etc..

2. The increasing use of Canola as a rotation crop was discussed. The benefits of planting in the early summer, the addition of nutrients, the breaking of the pest cycle, and using the Canola for forage in the first year were all discussed. Canola is a new crop to Gilliam County and some experimentation will be needed to see if its use will be beneficial.

3. The Energy Initiative was a topic of conversation with mention made of the availability of money from the National level. The process was explained, i.e. audits and then implementation. The Wy’ East RC&D is involved in this process and Chaz talked about the role of the RC&D and the opportunity to use BPA money to help defray or completely pay landowner costs in upgrading systems that were highlighted in the audit. 4. The potential Soil Health Initiative was brought up and the potential for cost share to improve dryland cropping systems. There is not much known about the initiative at this time but it will be watched closely to see if, primarily, Gilliam operators can take advantage of this new conservation funding opportunity.

Forestry –

Forestry was discussed in relation to Wheeler County since Gilliam County has no forestland of significance. The Mountain Creek Forestry funding pool was discussed with reasons (forest health) and extent highlighted. Eligible landowners will need to be within ½ mile of the National Forest. This is due to dangers posed by catastrophic wildfire from publicly owned forest and the hope is that by treating within the ½ mile buffer the private land can be “armored” to better withstand a fire.

Other forestry items discussed relate to:

1. Juniper expansion into forestland

2. Pine tree expansion into rangeland

3. The need to re-introduce prescribed fire into the forests to maintain forest health and keep junipers in check

4. The devastating effects that catastrophic wildfires can have on, not only the forestland, but the entire watershed

Irrigated land –

Gilliam County has a tough time engaging the landowners with irrigated land. The specific areas are few in the county but several efforts in the past to engage these landowners have failed. There was discussion on how to connect with the affected irrigators and get them interested in improving their delivery systems. The Wy’ East RC&D has programs designed to help with improving on farm efficiencies which would/could include irrigation. There is the potential of NRCS partnering with the RC&D and the local SWCD to increase landowner interest in improving inefficient irrigation systems.

In Wheeler County, the discussion centered around the current Mountain Creek Irrigation funding pool that is in its second year of implementation. The major obstacle facing irrigation improvement in Wheeler County is due to lack of a baseline on irrigated acres and where improvements need to be made. There are no Irrigation Districts in the county so irrigation work has not been as “well designed” as it could be.