July 2016 • Volume 20, Issue 5 ® Idaho Farm Bureau
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July 2016 • Volume 20, Issue 5 ® IDAHO FARM BUREAU Soda Fire: Update on IDL Rural Depopulation Rehabilitation Efforts Grazing Restructure Trends Alarming for Continuing3 6 some7 Counties Tide Beginning to Beyond the Turn on EPA Fencerows By Zippy Duvall ter an agency determines it can port of the Hawkes family and AFBF President regulate part of their property. the Pacific Legal Foundation. The Environmental Protection This ruling—United States Before this ruling, the Army Agency and the Army Corps of Army Corps of Engineers v. Corps would tell farmers they Engineers are finally getting a Hawkes—is among the most had no right to challenge its de- much needed check on their run- important court opinions we cision that it had legal authority away overreach. A unanimous have seen. Along with other over what it had determined to ruling by the Supreme Court in groups, including the National be “navigable waters” on their May means farmers and ranch- Cattlemen’s Beef Association, land. Landowners would have to ers can take the federal govern- AFBF was proud to contribute a apply for a permit to work their ment to court immediately af- friend-of-the-court brief in sup- See DUVALL, page 10 portance of telling our story. holding facility for wild horses and Understanding Farm Bureau - burros in Utah. He expected to see Consumers are bombarded daily a rolling grassy pasture filled with with images, articles, blog posts, The Importance of Telling healthy horses happily munching Facebook posts, videos and pod- on clover. After laying eyes on a casts. Many of them are not sym- our Side of the Story few hundred mustangs swishing pathetic to the challenges we face. flies and stomping around the hot, Our industry is misunderstood and dusty corrals, his mind changed By Bryan Searle activists are using that to their ad- and he became much more inclined vantage. President Idaho Farm Bureau to learn more about the plight of the Federation As an example, last month I had the wild horse in the western states. His In my last column the discussion privilege to spend time with Amer- pre-conceived notions didn’t match centered on the Idaho Farm Bu- ican Farm Bureau President Zippy up with the unfortunate reality. reau’s policy development process. Duvall. He is a Georgia native and a This time, I’d like to stress the im- lifelong farmer. We visited a BLM See SEARLE, page 16 meetings, government hearings, Besides being a farmer in Maui, The Slow and Painful court rooms or halls of state and Mae works for Hawaiian Commer- national Capitols. We have known cial and Sugar Company (HCSC). and watched this couple, but par- Recently, HCSC announced it is Death of an Institution ticularly Mae for many years. At closing at the end of the year, the our first meeting with Mae she was last sugar cane plantation and mill vice president of the Hawaii Farm in Hawaii. Sugar cane was the eco- By Rick Keller Bureau. It took place in crowded nomic driver for this most isolated CEO Idaho Farm Bureau Federation hotel meeting room in Washington, archipelago island group in the D.C. We’ve been guests eating in world. Sugar brought the immi- I sat across the table of a dear friend their home on the beautiful island grants, jobs, infrastructure, econo- this week, Mae Nakahata. Mae of Maui. Mae has always been en- my and lifestyle to Hawaii. Maui is iconic in Hawaiian agriculture. ergetic with a quick smile, but this Gold sugar will be no longer, after She and her husband Warren, fight week, the quickness has slowed and 145 years. tirelessly for agriculture, whether the smile has weakened. at county planning and zoning See KELLER, page 16 2 IDAHO FARM BUREAU PRODUCER / JULY 2016 Volume 20, Issue 5 IFBF OFFICERS President ........................................Bryan Searle, Shelley Vice President ..................................Mark Trupp, Driggs Executive Vice President .............................. Rick Keller BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mark Harris ................................................ Soda Springs Chris Dalley ...................................................... Blackfoot Stephanie Mickelsen........................................ Idaho Falls Danny Ferguson .......................................................Rigby Scott Steele .................................................... Idaho Falls Gerald Marchant ................................................. Oakley Rick Pearson .................................................. Hagerman Rick Brune ...........................................................Hazelton Luke Pearce ............................................ New Plymouth Cody Chandler ...................................................... Weiser Tracy Walton ....................................................... Emmett Marjorie French .............................................. Princeton Alton Howell ............................................... Careywood Tom Daniel .............................................. Bonners Ferry Judy Woody ............................................................... Filer The BLM recently hosted a tour in Owyhee County to look at rehabilitation efforts after the Cole Smith ..................................................... Montpelier Soda Fire. Photo by Steve Ritter STAFF Dir. of Organization .............................. Dennis Brower Director of Admin. Services ....................... Cara Dyer Commodities & Marketing Assistant .......... Peg Pratt Secretary of the Interior Member Services Assistant .................... Peggy Moore Public Relations Assistant ....................... Dixie Ashton Dist. I Regional Manager .......................... Justin Patten Dist. II Regional Manager ............................. Zak Miller Tours Soda Fire Scene Dist. III Regional Manager .................. Charles Garner Dist. IV Regional Manager .........................Brody Miller Dist. V Regional Manager ...................... Bob Smathers By Jake Putnam Dir. of Governmental Affairs ...............Russ Hendricks Asst. Dir. of Governmental Affairs ... Dennis Tanikuni Grandview—Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell saw the transformation for her- Director of Public Relations ............. John Thompson self, a quarter of a million acres of range reduced to ash last summer now lush and Video Services Manager ........................... Steve Ritter green. Broadcast Services Manager .................... Jake Putnam Office Manager, Boise ......................... Julie Araquistain Last August great waves of fire swallowed up the Owyhee range destroying sage, Member Services Manager ....................... Joel Benson Assistant Treasurer.................................. Tyler Zollinger rangeland and cattle operations. Energy/Natural Resources ..................... Braden Jensen When the smoke cleared great walls of dust and blowing ash swept the plain and Printed by: Owyhee Publishing, Homedale, ID the next environmental disaster was just a flash flood away. The BLM sent teams of GEM STATE PRODUCER scientists to work out a plan. The massive fire started last August 10 and scorched USPS #015-024, is published monthly except February, May, August and November by the more than 280,000 acres of rangeland stretching from Grandview to eastern Or- IDAHO FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, 275 Tierra Vista Drive, Pocatello, ID 83201. egon. POSTMASTER send changes of address to: “The amount of science that’s being learned here is nothing short of incredible,” GEM STATE PRODUCER P.O. Box 4848, Pocatello, ID 83205-4848. Jewell said at a news conference at the Interagency Fire Center, “and I think all that Periodicals postage paid at Pocatello, Idaho, knowledge will advise us for many years to come.” and additional mailing offices. Subscription rate: BLM Natural Resource Specialist Cindy Fritz was one of hundreds of experts that $6.00 per year included in Farm Bureau dues. MAGAZINE CONTACTS: hit the ground running last summer to aid the parched land. She says the BLM was Idaho Farm Bureau Federation committed to the rehab effort from the start spending some $14 million dollars to EDITOR (208) 239-4292 • ADS (208) 239-4279 E-MAIL: [email protected] date and says things are off to a good start. www.idahofb.org “We’ve been doing the reseeding efforts since last fall. This was the first step to Cover: BLM officials recently held a tour in Owyhee County where the Soda Fire burned last year. They restore the range and have sage grouse habitat out here again,” said Fritz. “First and discussed fire rehabilitation and changes planned for foremost is soil stabilization and includes attacking the spread of invasive species. future land management. Photo by Steve Ritter See SODA FIRE page 4 IDAHO FARM BUREAU PRODUCER / JULY 2016 3 SODA FIRE Continued from page 3 Clearwater Complex 1 – Clearwater Complex 2 – Clearwater Complex 3 – Reseeding efforts have gone well and the extra spring rain has helped the desirable grasses to take hold. Photo by Steve Ritter After a fire it’s an open palette said Owyhee County rancher Cheatgrass’s big advantage is prime habitat for the threat- out here because after a fire we Ed Wilsey. “They took the the roots; they can grow more ened sage-grouse - in the mid- have the power to put in peren- sheep off the range and all this than 30 inches deep and grow dle of 50,000 acres designated nial grass and not only stabi- organic overburden built up, later into the fall and earlier in by BLM as a Priority Habitat lize the soil but be competitive that duff was a foot deep under the spring than native plants, Management Area. against