CAFOs and GAO

By Courtney Washburn, Community Conservation Director-

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations(CAFO) are large livestock operations that raise animals in a confined environment.  Large operations produce millions of tons of manure each year which can and usually do pollute our air and water. Most of the CAFOs in Idaho are dairy and livestock operations in the southern part of our state so the Idaho Conservation League has been working to protect air and water.

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a report that says the Environmental Protection Agency which is responsible for regulating CAFOs, needs more information and a clearly defined strategy to protect air and water quality from pollution.

I wish I was surprised by the findings but it is heartening that our concerns about the impacts of CAFOs are being validated.

Fire up your ipod

By Jonathan Oppenheimer, Senior Conservation Associate –

Not to be left behind by the techno-revolution that brings us texting, streaming video and ipods, the Forest Service developed a podcast to talk about fire.

The video podcast features a discussion of the South Barker Fire on the Sawtooth National Forest. South Barker was designated as a “Wildland Fire Use” fire, which means that it was allowed to burn to reduce the buildup of brush and small trees, to restore the natural role of fire and to improve wildlife habitat. In addition, managing these fires can also reduce the cost of fire suppression, which are will exceed $1.6 billion this year.

The Idaho Conservation League recently released a report that found that Idaho’s forests are a national leader in managing these types of fires.

The Forest Service has come a long way since forest rangers manned lonely outposts scattered throughout the West.

Dry me a river…

By Justin Hayes, Program Director -

Every once in awhile you see somebody do something really stupid.  So stupid you have to ask, “Did you really think that through?”

Last year several Southwest Idaho irrigation districts and canal companies decided that they owned pretty much all the water stored behind Lucky Peak Dam on the Boise River.  And, that the Bureau of Reclamation – who owns and operates the dam – was violating their water rights by allowing water to be released from the dam during the winter months.

To the average person on the street, a little water in the river during the winter seems like a good thing.  It ensures that trout don’t die off, it dilutes the wastewater discharged from the Boise sewage plants and – least we forget – it helps the river look like a river instead of a dry ditch.

To the irrigation districts, however, winter time water releases smacked of theft.  They argued to the State’s water court that these winter flows were robbing them of their water and needed to stop.  Unless, of course, the good citizens of the Treasure Valley coughed up a bunch of cash to buy water from the companies, the river would run dry.

I can’t think of a more sure fire way of angering pretty much every man, woman and child in the entire Treasure Valley than to dry up the Boise River.  Except maybe to dry up the river and then try to extort a bunch of cash out of folks to put water back in the river.

Which gets me back to me original premises… “Did you really think that through?”

Fortunately, for everyone’s sake, a judge at the water court just issued a ruling that denies the irrigation districts’ claims and reaffirms the Bureau of Reclamation’s authority to release water from the dam during the winter time.  Crisis averted.

Word on the Street

By Sara Cohn, Community Conservation Associate-

Times, they are a-changing in the Treasure Valley. Sky-rocketing gas prices, poor air quality, and concerns over global warming have caused a few interesting shifts in the lives of urban Idahoans, of late. Here are a few examples:

• Last week, Valley Regional Transit provided me with an update on how many people are riding the bus. One particular statistic caught my eye — folks traveling riding the bus between Ada and Canyon Counties is up 62% in the last year.

• Today, ACHD started counting bikes to see if gas prices have caused more folks to commute via bicycle in the last year. Find out where they are counting.

• Next month, the City of Boise is expecting to take action on recommendations related to climate protection. They include everything from using hydrid vehicles to green roofs.

Going to the birds…

By Justin Hayes, Program Director –

Birdlife International, a global partnership of conservation organizations that works to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, has just issued a report chronicling the decline of many species of birds.

All told Birdlife has identified 1,226 bird species (1 in 8 ) as threatened, and 190 facing imminent risk of extinction.

Somewhat surprisingly, the declining species are not just those that live full time in exotic places like tropical rain forests.  Twenty species of the most common North American birds have seen their populations cut in half over the last 40 years.

The report concludes that humans are responsible for the threats to birds. Expanding and intensifying agriculture and forestry destroy and degrade habitats. Inadequately managed fisheries, ever-spreading infrastructure, invasive alien species, pollution and overexploitation all pose serious problems. Climate change, with impacts already visible, may be the most serious threat of all.

Party is Not the Point

By Rick Johnson, Executive Director-

The Idaho Conservation League’s job is to protect the environment, and that means working with those with the power to move policy. The old stereotype is that we can only work with Democrats. The Idaho reality, as reported in the Idaho Statesman, is that we work with Republicans, too. (At least some of them.) That’s a good thing given the fact that Idaho is one of the nation’s most overwhelmingly Republican states. If you can’t work with Republicans in Idaho you are limited in the work you can do.

But party isn’t the point. Our job is to demonstrate that conservation is a deeply held Idaho value. We believe it and can prove it. We then work to ensure policymakers understand the depth of public support and then take commonsense measures to protect the environment. If we were doing this in a majority Democratic state, no one would probably notice. Successfully working with Republicans makes news because it breaks the stereotype—both for conservationists and the officeholders noted in the story.

What big eyes you have …

By Justin Hayes, Program Director -

Idaho newspapers recently reported that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has asked a federal judge to allow them to withdraw their proposal to remove wolves from the Endangered Species list.

But wolves are making news for other reasons in States that are up for grabs in this year’s presidential election.  Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is running TV ads highlighting Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin’s record on wolves in Alaska.

It will be interesting to see how folks respond.  I’m guessing that folks outside of Alaska (and probably lots of folks in Alaska) will not think that paying people $150 to kill a wolf and deliver its severed forepaw to state officials is cool.  Go figure.

Sex and drugs and rock and roll…

By Justin Hayes, Program Director -
The spin masters at headquarters who started spouting that gibberish about  “Drill here, drill now, pay less”   clearly were fantasizing about oil and gas.

But the federal employees who work on oil and gas were clearly fantasizing about something else.

The headlines in today’s New York Times paint a nice picture: “Sex, Drug Use and Graft Cited in Interior Department.”

The story, which reports on the findings of an internal review of the shenanigans of high ranking officials at the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service tasked with overseeing the royalties paid by companies that pump oil and gas out of federal lands.
The report which was released yesterday (9/10/08) found: “A culture of ethical failure” and documents ethics violations, conflicts of interest, illegal gifts from industry, and even sex and drug use!  At 27 pages it is a pretty quick read – and worth it so you can better understand how big oil and the federal government get business done.

Off-Road Excess in Meadow Creek

By Brad Smith, Conservation Associate -

Meadow Creek, a tributary of the Selway River, has long been regarded as one of the most important drainages for native salmon, steelhead and trout in Idaho. The 212,000-acre Meadow Creek Roadless Area provides habitat for cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, bull trout, steelhead and Chinook salmon. Meadow Creek is also of important cultural significance to the Nez Perce Tribe.

In an important first step to protecting the fisheries of Meadow Creek, The Nez Perce National Forest issued a closure order on Monday to stop resource damage stemming from irresponsible off-road vehicle use.

The resource damage was discovered in sensitive meadows and fish habitat this summer by the Idaho Conservation League and The Wilderness Society. What was once a quiet pack trail to Meadow Creek has been converted into a messy, eroded and abused 4-wheeler route.

Unmanaged use of off-road vehicles has been called one of the top four threats to our public lands by high level Forest Service officials.

Everyone has the right to use our national forests, but no one has the right to abuse them the way that Meadow Creek has been abused.

Innovation Pays!

By Sara Cohn, Community Conservation Associate-

Feeling blue about the rate at which our nation is making changes to address climate change? Here is something to brighten your day.

The X Prize Foundation, a group that offers large prizes for breakthroughs in science, has announced its most recent offer. The Progressive Automotive X Prize will award a cool $10 million  to anyone who can design a marketable car (one you can actually sell, drive, and feel safe in) that gets 100 miles to the gallon.

In the meantime we are setting a new standard so that all automobiles will get 35 miles per gallon by 2020!

This Wednesday, the Foundation will be meeting with our nations “thought leaders” at MIT to develop an entire series of prizes aimed at creating clean, renewable, and cost-effective energy technologies –the combined prize value could be over $100 million.

Even cooler – there is a prize for the best prize idea. The Foundation wants to hear from anyone who has a good idea about potential invention opportunities. You can submit through an online form if you think you might have a great idea.