Conservation: As American as Mom and Apple Pie

By Bas Hargrove, senior policy representative, The Nature Conservancy in Idaho

After election day, the main storyline was the Republican wave that washed over the country. But there was another wave, a conservation wave, that touched shore that Tuesday as well.

Voters in 20 states approved 26 state and local ballot measures that will dedicate more than $28 billion – with a “B” – to natural areas, land and water protection, parks, and trails in the coming years. This is an investment far exceeding any amount approved by voters in previous election cycles.  From Maine to Montana, from Ohio to Oregon, from sea to shining sea, Americans voted to invest public funding to conserve their land, water and wildlife.

The bald eagle, national bird of the United States, in Idaho. Photo ©Ken Miracle/TNC

For example, in Florida 75 percent of voters said yes to a Constitutional Amendment to acquire and restore conservation and recreation lands, crushing the 60 percent needed to pass. Voters rallied around conservation even though they split on the candidates. (Republican Governor Rick Scott eked out a narrow victory over Democrat Charlie Crist with just 48 percent of the vote.)

Like mom and apple pie, conservation of our natural heritage cuts across partisan lines and is as American as Old Glory. Idaho – “the reddest of the red states,” as Governor Otter declared in his victory speech on election night – is geographically and politically distant from purple-hued Florida. But conservation can be conservative. Just like Floridians, Idahoans care about conserving their land, water, and wildlife.

The Nature Conservancy knows this from our work with landowners in places like Bonner’s Ferry, Island Park, Carey, Salmon, Boise, Swan Valley, Leadore, Hagerman, and Marsing. Landowners see first hand how clean water, abundant wildlife, and healthy lands sustain our people, our economy, and way of life. And they’ve put their money where their mouths are to protect Idaho’s natural heritage.

These landowners know a good investment. Clean water and healthy lands drive Idaho’s economy, from our $7.6 billion agriculture industry and the nearly 40,000 jobs it sustains, to our $6.3 billion outdoor recreation economy and its 77,000 jobs.

Camping at the Little Wood River in Idaho. Photo ©Hamilton Wallace/TNC

But as a state, Idaho hasn’t yet become a full partner in its own conservation. To be sure, certain sectors have ponied up. Hunters and anglers support wildlife through license fees. Voters in Boise City and Blaine County have anted up to pay for natural area conservation. Boaters pay user fees to protect water resources. And other interests have also contributed to our current patchwork of conservation funding. But we don’t have a statewide conservation fund like neighboring Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

We inherited an amazing natural legacy in Idaho, and it’s our job to make sure we leave it better than we found it. This will only happen if we care enough to invest in ourselves and our land, water, and way of life. It’s a matter of pride, self-determination, and even liberty itself.

For we are at our most free when we’re outside, whether at work or at play. We’re free to challenge ourselves, putting up a fence or chasing down an elk. We’re free to exercise our bodies and our minds. We’re free to partake in that most American of activities: the pursuit of happiness.

So next time you see your Mom, compliment her apple pie, and take her outside to enjoy your other Mother, Nature. After all, what could be more American?

Curlew Tracking Update from the Flat Ranch Preserve

by Jordan Reeves, East Idaho conservation manager
 

As you may recall from earlier blog posts, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the annual late spring arrival of long-billed curlew to our Flat Ranch Preserve. While we are always excited to witness the birds return to nest at the ranch, this year was particularly exciting because we have been planning for months to place a satellite transmitter on a curlew in order to track its annual migration.  

 

Curlew at the Ranch ©Megan Grover-Cereda/TNC

On May 28 we successfully fitted “AH,” a beautiful female curlew with a tracking device that will provide us with hourly GPS coordinates of her whereabouts throughout the year.  AH is the curlew’s temporary name while we await the results of a voting contest to choose her name. You can cast your vote here until July 11.

Fitting a curlew with a satellite transmitter is no small feat.  To capture AH, fit her with the transmitter and release her, we needed a team of scientists and volunteers. Skilled scientists from the Intermountain Bird Observatory and Idaho Department of Fish and Game used a mist net to very carefully capture AH while she was sitting on her nest. While they took her measurements and fitted her with her a solar-powered micro-transmitter, we watched over AH’s vacant nest to ensure no predators took advantage of her momentary absence to snatch her eggs.  After a transmitter was placed on AH and scientists were confident the lightweight device would not hinder her mobility, we released her and wished her the best for the long journey ahead. 

 Volunteers keeping watch ©Shyne Brothers

As AH flew away she left behind one of her feathers for Ellie, the youngest (and cutest!) volunteer. “This is the best day ever!” Ellie exclaimed. It was a poignant end to an exciting day. Ellie is the granddaughter of Debbie Empey, a local rancher who partnered with the Conservancy to ensure curlew and other species have the lands and waters they need to thrive.

Ellie with her feather ©Shyne Brothers

Now we sit back, cross our fingers for AH’s safety, and follow her movements over the next year as she travels to wintering grounds further south and (hopefully) returns to Idaho next summer for another nesting season.  We don’t know where East Idaho’s curlew travel during their annual migration so AH has many things to teach us!

To read more about our curlew project read an earlier blog we posted on this charismatic bird.  We also hope that AH is a pioneer in our Henry’s Fork curlew monitoring efforts.  To support us in tracking the migrations of more long-billed curlews, please donate here.

From Silver Creek to Argentina

Editor's note: Conservation manager, Dayna Gross, traveled to Argentina this month to participate in a exchange that aims to bridge the gap between the Conservancy's programs across the globe. The Idaho and Argentina programs have some similar conservation approaches, including grasslands and grazing management. This program presents an opportunity for staff in both locations to expand their knowledge and learn from each other. Dayna will be sharing her experiences on this blog while she is in Argentina.  

By Dayna Gross, conservation manager, Silver Creek watershed

Almost 40 years ago, the community surrounding Silver Creek made a huge leap forward for conservation and for The Nature Conservancy – bringing the Conservancy to Idaho to manage the Silver Creek Preserve. Over ten years ago, I showed up at Silver Creek, starting my career in conservation with open eyes and very little knowledge. Today, as I sit in Bariloche, Argentina, trying to understand the landscape and the community of conservation, I feel very much the same as I did first starting out at Silver Creek.  However, this time around I do feel a stronger sense of excitement and opportunity because the Argentina chapter of the Conservancy is teetering on a development nearby similar to Silver Creek—and this time, I am here at the beginning.

Boys looking for ‘crabs’ along the Limay River, Fortin Chacabuco. Photo ©Dayna Gross/TNC

Fortin Chacabuco is a 12,000-acre ranch about a twenty-minute drive from Bariloche, Argentina.  Bariloche is a picturesque town, called “the gateway to Patagonia.” Located on Lake Nahuel Huapi, it attracts visitors from all over the world who come to see the mountain vistas and enjoy the recreational opportunities of Patagonia.

The Nature Conservancy of Argentina has been here for six years, working on such things as sustainable grazing projects, conservation easements, biological assessments, oil and gas exploration issues and strengthening the Land Trust movement in Argentina. The owners of Fortin Chacabuco have offered to sell the ranch to the Conservancy for a substantially reduced price—offering the chapter a Silver-Creek-like deal of a lifetime. The ranch could be a gateway to the Conservancy for the community, a recreational haven (six miles of river and two smaller trout streams on the property), a place to demonstrate sustainable grazing, an educational center and scientific research station.

Bariloche is located in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains and therefore receives more rainfall than the surrounding area. The vegetation in and around the city and in the hills is diverse – pines, firs, cotoneasters, roses and spirea.  As you move east, the landscape dries out and from a distance looks very much like Idaho sagebrush steppe.

Limay River which runs along the property line of Fortin Chacabuco. Photo ©Dayna Gross/TNC.

With the similarities in landscape, Fortin Chacabuco and Silver Creek struggle with similar management issues – invasive species, climate change, inadequate grazing buffers, trespass and overuse.  Some things are different, however. Here, the invasive species are rose, willows, and pine – the very plants we often plant for habitat at Silver Creek. Fishing and recreational pressure appear to be less than the Silver Creek area; although, that remains to be seen because we are here during the “slack” season. While we allow for duck hunting at Silver Creek, Fortin Chacabuco will be controlling red deer, rabbit, and wild boar, which are nuisance species in their hunting plan. In Argentina, there is little public land. The national parks compromise approximately 8 percent of the land and they can include “category 6” lands which allow for private land holdings, development, grazing, and other uses. This is compared to more than 60 percent public lands in Idaho. Land ownership itself presents very different challenges and opportunities. Owning a large ranch like Fortin Chacabuco (actually small for Argentina) creates a rare opportunity for the Conservancy to showcase a new way of doing conservation in Argentina and the public benefit of conservation on private lands.

These are the similarities and differences that I notice as a land manager. It is funny to hear the similarities and differences my kids notice as we play this game. This morning we made a list and this is what they came up with:

Same- the trees, the rivers, people, lakes 
Different- Motorcycles, buses, the toilets, the ice cream, more noise, Spanish, street dogs

This is how I think of the Silver Creek and Fortin Chacobuco comparison.  In the end, the big things are the same—the nature, structure, and opportunities. It’s just the specifics and the noisy things that are different.

Addressing the Global Food Footprint Locally

By Justin Petty, development officer

When I first began dating the woman who would later become my wife, she was a farmer.  Organic, one acre, highly labor intensive, cut the baby arugula by hand with scissors, and let’s have “greens” at every meal.  I spent many weekends on the farm, working for free and still being reprimanded about the quality of my work.  The farm had a reputation to uphold, a standard I was not meeting. I felt like a threat to the brand at times.

Mid-summer greens. Photo ©Lynea Petty.

This was a model of for-profit Ag production that I hadn’t seen from the inside.  Hoop houses, raised beds, net coverings for insects, no space sparred. An incredible amount of produce was harvested annually in what used to be a large corral for livestock. Nestled at the base of the Soldier Mountains, it was an idyllic setting and at a scale that did not distract from its surroundings.  Feeding the masses it was not, but providing a high quality product for a small community is a bill it could fill.  

Cutting baby greens. Photo ©Lynea Petty.

Access to locally produced healthy foods has continued to have a growing demand in many places, and this is good news for small scale Ag producers.  It is one of our community’s attributes I value most.  The loss of local food producing operations represents more than the loss of places utilized by wildlife for passage, food, and livable habitat, it also marks the loss of key elements of a sustainable community.  Jobs and food are prerequisites. However, the worldwide demand to feed a growing population is changing the face of our planet.  Food is a global commodity, largely mass produced and consumed.  And in order to address the impacts to nature, the Conservancy is working with producers at all scales.  In Idaho we are protecting working farms and ranches that provide benefits to wildlife and people. We are also partnering with businesses, such as MillerCoors, to use water more efficiently on several barley farms. On a global scale we are working with food producers to implement sustainable practices.

Sunflowers. Photo ©Lynea Petty.

We are fortunate to live in a community where it is possible to find high quality locally produced food in relative abundance.  I wish this for everyone, but I recognize the reality.  By 2050 food production will have to double to keep up with need, placing a heavy demand on an overtaxed planet.  We all must make informed decisions as consumers to address the associated increased demands for land, water, and energy.  Last year, with the help of friends and the owner’s blessing, my wife and I turned a vacant residential lot into a maze of vegetables.  It was just as back breaking and rewarding as I remembered.  I enjoy taking local steps to address my footprint on this planet, no matter how small these steps may seem. And I am thankful to work for an organization that sees the big picture and seeks innovative solutions to addressing the global challenges ahead.

The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.

Promising practices to protect and restore the Owyhyees

Editor's note: The first-ever Owyhee Research and Restoration Roundup was held on October 23 and 24 to showcase how research taking place in the Owyhees is being used to inform conservation and management.

By Art Talsma, restoration manager, The Nature Conservancy in Idaho
 
The Owyhee Roundup was a great exchange of ideas and conservation practices that showcased promising and effective ways to protect, restore and enhance rangelands to benefit both wildlife and ranching in the region.
 

Photo ©John Robison/Idaho Conservation League

We shared several innovative and traditional conservation practices where science is being applied across the region. These practices included: 

• Coated seed pods that increase planting success after weed treatments or wildfire.
• Ways to model and predict wildfire flow so we can locate fire breaks in the most effective places.  
• Satellite and infrared images that help locate best places to control juniper near sage grouse lek.
• Which types of sagebrush are preferred by sage grouse for feeding and winter cover and even a robotic sage grouse hen that attracted male sage grouse on the dancing grounds. 
• Understanding of threats from transmission lines and new invasive grasses coming to the west.
• Radio tracking for big-horn sheep and sage grouse as well as way to be more cost effective in aerial surveys of wildlife.

Ranchers, agency land stewards, Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy presented a suite of success stories including:

• Using Air Force aircraft to control cheatgrass and increase survival of native bunch grasses.
• Using mastication equipment and chainsaw crews to control juniper encroachment in sage grouse nesting areas.
• Protecting riparian habitat and cold headwater stream or springs to help redband rainbow trout survive the summer heat and drought.
• Understanding the practical side of ranching economics and helpful sources of funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that assist ranchers in doing conservation practices to benefit the lands and waters on which all life depend.
  
  To find out more about our work in the Owyhees, check out this link. To learn about how you can get involved, contact Art Talsma: atalsma@tnc.org

Brief Thoughts on Buying Local

At last night's entertaining Ignite Boise 2, a recurring theme was the importance of thinking and buying local. Several presenters suggested the current economy provides an opportunity to return to a more local economy. They advocated bartering, growing your own food and buying from Idaho businesses.

Of course, eating (and buying) local has become trendy--but often, would-be "locavores" get excited about buying local foods, but then lose steam when it seems too difficult or expensive.

I love Idaho foods, and it's not unusual for our meals to be 100% local. The quality and variety available is amazing.

But I also recognize that there are some common pitfalls when consumers start out with buying local.

Here are some tips for beginning locavores that will help you avoid those pitfalls.

1. Don't start at 100%. There's a common belief that if you're eating local, you have to commit 100%. But that is difficult, and makes what should be fun stressful. Buying 10% of your food from local farmers and producers makes a huge difference. Start small.

2. Don't get hung up on the details. Some folks decide they want to make a local meal, but then get caught up on some small ingredient, like salt. You won't find locally produced Idaho salt. And it doesn't matter. Trade has been a part of humanity for millenia and that's not going to change. While there is not Idaho salt, we can buy excellent Idaho lamb, Idaho potatoes, Idaho duck eggs and many other products.

3. Try new recipes. One of the real pleasures of eating local is trying new foods. Vary up your recipes and incorporate kale, or blue potatoes, or fava beans. You'll soon realize there's more actual diversity at the farmer's market than crammed into all those aisles at the supermarket.

4. Enjoy it. Buying local isn't doctrine. Don't approach it as a set of rules you must follow. Instead, find high-quality food and enjoy it. Rediscover what a tomato is supposed to taste like. Try grilling grass-fed beef. Stroll around a farmer's market. Plant your own veggies.

In short have fun--while benefiting Idaho's economy, rural heritage and wildlife habitat.--Matt Miller