The Courier
News from the Heart of Idaho Camas • Lincoln • Gooding
News
May 1, 2019
Vol 43 ~ Num 18
Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame May Begins Firewood Season
On April 9th, five families were inducted into the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame during the organization’s 60th annual banquet in Twin Falls. Along with the Harrisons of Heyburn, the Hooglands of Buhl, and the Naerebouts of Twin Falls, two families from our area were inducted as well - Lou & Teresa Andersen of Fairfield, and Ed & Clarissa Brown of Gooding. As soon as he was old enough to be away from his mom, Lou Andersen’s grandmother took him to the famaily ranch near Malad. His parents tried to keep him at home, but those efforts only last a couple of weeks before he escaped for the summer. After getting a degree in education from Utah State University, Lou taught and coached at American Falls for a couple of years before taking a teaching job in Fairfield. Still, it was hard to get ranching out of his blood. He leased a ranch in Camas County and started doing custom work around the area. Eventually, he leased more ground and pastured cattle for ranchers, including future his father-in-law, Ray Easterday. Lou, and his wife Teresa, have been doing everything together ever since. About ten years ago, Lou partnered with Shannon Wolf to formed S&L Commodities to supply organic hay and feedstuffs to dairies in the western U.S. and China. Lou became the sole owner of S&L after Mr. Wolf’s death in a snowmobile accident in 2010. At the age of 2 or 3, Ed Brown was already riding work horses on the family ranch south of Kimberly. In fact, they did everything with horses - his dad never owned a tractor. A little later as part of 4-H, Ed showed the first Grand Champion horse at the Twin Falls County Fair. While at the University of Idaho pursuing a degree in animal husbandry, Ed met his wife to be - Clarissa. They married in 1964, and Ed went to work as an agricultural loan oficer in Washington state. He also helped his father-in-law build a roping school with a cafe that overlooked the ring. Ed and Clarissa went on to manage J.R. Simplot’s Highland Stables in Boise, then moved back to the Magic Valley to train horses for Howard Conrad in Murtaugh. All this time, Ed was earning performance points (roping, cutting, and pleasure & reining) as well as managing a 700 cow/calf operation. In 1979, Ed and Clarissa put together enough money to buy a ranch northeast of Gooding. Along with the struggles of keeping their ranch going, Ed judged horse shows and presented horsemanship and colt-starting clinics. Not surprising, he and Clarissa were directors for the Gooding High School Rodeo Club. Yet, if you ask them, their biggest success/adventure began five years ago when they started up Cowboy Church at the Gooding County Fairgrounds. Regarding his faith, Ed said, “The life you have lived on the way to the end of the journey is what is valuable.”
Personal use fuelwood permits for the Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth National Forests will be available beginning May 15th.
Firewood permits can be purchased at USDA Forest Service Ranger District offices, and private vendors. Please recall that they are no longer selling permits of only 2 cords. If you want all 10 cords, permits must be purchased in combinations of 5 cords and 5 cords, or 4 cords and 6 cords, or all 10 cords at once. Fuelwood permits were reduced in 2018 from $12.50 to $6.25 per cord with a 4-cord minimum and a 10-cord maximum per household. Two reasons drove the changes: 1) aligning the overall price of the fuelwood with other Idaho forests; 2) helping remove forest fuels since woodcutting is limited to dead trees. (PLEASE NOTE: some trees may look dead due to various reasons. If trees have any green needles, please do not cut.) Cutting fuelwood within a closure area is prohibited. Check on the Alerts & Notices pages of Forest websites for closure information. Check this year’s fuelwood brochure, fuelwood map, and the current Motor Vehicle Use Maps to make sure you are cutting in an area open to fuelwood gathering, and pay special attention to closed areas and roads with restoration activities. Regulations prohibit the cutting of dead or living Whitebark pine trees due to that species decline, and they are critically important to several wildlife species. All motorized travel related to fuelwood gathering must be in full accordance with Forest Service travel regulations. Permit holders are encouraged to cut fuelwood early in the year because fire restrictions may impact the cutting season later in the summer. Early season fuelwood cutters are asked to use caution to avoid wet muddy roads, where travel may cause resource damage. Fuelwood cutting is not allowed within riparian areas (adjacent to creeks and rivers). Regulations are available when permits are issued. For additional information, contact the local Ranger District offices, or Forest websites. Check with forest vendors for weekend hours.