Nowhere to go but forward!

BY GRETCHEN HYDE Director, IRRC

It’s been a busy year for us, as always, but it’s been nice with Covid issues subsiding to have more in-person meetings, work on education outreach directly with Idaho’s K-12 teachers, show more teachers and students our IROAM education trailer and learning materials, and continue pumping out new, impactful stories in our award-winning Life on the Range video series.

We are scheduled with back-to-backto-back education outreach events going on through the end of the school year. It’s great to be able to interact with students and teachers once again in-person and teach them about Idaho’s rangelands! The new elementary book series “Four Seasons with Sage” tells the story of rangeland and ranching through the seasons from the perspective of a quirky border collie. These booklets are designed for upper-elementary students and fit nicely into the 4th and 5th grade standards. Funds awarded through the Unclaimed Livestock Fund, as recommended by the ICA foundation, helped produce 15,000 of these four-part series booklets which have been distributed all over Idaho.

In the last year, IRRC has been spending quite a bit of time with Boise State University survey experts about our latest statewide public opinion poll. In our IRRC board meetings, we’ve discussed the findings in detail, and dug into the public’s answers to glean important information and nuances.

IRRC has been consistent in polling Idahoans about a variety of rangeland, grazing, wildlife, and conservation issues since 1997. The polls are a great help in forming our public outreach program and strategy. We try to keep many of the questions the same so we can track how the responses occur over time.

One of our big “aha” moments in this go-round was a much higher percentage of “don’t know” answers to many key questions. We inter - preted those responses to mean that a lot of new people have moved into Idaho, and they maybe haven’t spent enough time out on Idaho’s rangelands to form an opinion.

The more we think about it, the more we see that “don’t know” result as an opportunity! Clearly we have more work to do educating Idahoans about Rangelands!

Idaho has led the nation in new residents moving into the state over the last five years. Approximately 500,000 new residents moved to Idaho from 2011 to 2021, according to a University of Idaho study. During the same period, 295,000 Idahoans left the state for a net gain of 271,000 residents. Our total population in 2022 was nearly 2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

So that’s a lot of new residents! Newcomers have moved into our cities as well as our rural areas.

How do we reach these people? We can reach children with education outreach in K-12 schools. We reach them in social media. We reach them with our Life on the Range videos. Our following on the Life on the Range Facebook page increased by another 1,000 people in 2022 to more than 7,500 followers so far. Our drone videos about the sheep crossing Idaho Highway 55 in Eagle each spring have significantly gained in popularity. In fact, last year, we made the TODAY show on NBC-TV with our drone video of the sheep crossing.

When wolves attacked domestic sheep herds belonging to Wilder rancher Frank Shirts last June, people could connect the dots between 2,600 ewes and lambs that crossed Idaho 55 in April and the 145 animals killed in broad daylight by two wolves. The kills were confirmed by USDA APHIS Wildlife Services. Frank’s sheep herders watched the episode occur.

IRRC appreciates working with ICA Executive Director Cameron Mulrony at our quarterly board meetings and getting his thoughts and input on our education and media outreach activities. ICA Past Presidents Mark Pratt and Jay Smith also have been super helpful with their advice and support for IRRC’s outreach activities. Mark Pratt is the newest IRRC board member nominated by ICA.

Blackfoot rancher Mark Pratt recently co-starred with his wife, Wendy, in a new Life on the Range story/video about carbon sequestration in rangelands. The bottom line of that story, from Mark and Wendy’s perspective, is that it’s valuable to think about the effects of livestock grazing above ground, as well as below ground, with the ultimate goal of enriching the soil, the microbial activity in the soil, building biomass, and growing healthy plant ecosystems that benefit wildlife as well as livestock.

“There’s a whole food chain happening below ground that we’re just beginning to understand,” Mark notes.

About half of Idaho’s land mass is comprised of rangeland and half of the world as well, Wendy Pratt points out. About 12 percent of the global terrestrial carbon stocks are stored in rangelands. If those rangelands remain intact, then ranchers can do their part to foster healthy rangelands and enhance carbon sequestration. This video caught the attention of the State Department of Education science director. We are working with their educators to create useful lessons to supplement this video and make it more accessible to high school teachers.

ICA Past President Jay Smith costarred in another recent Life on the Range video with his wife, Chyenne, about the emotional angst caused by the 130,000-acre Moose Fire in the Salmon River canyon northwest of Salmon. The fire was caused by a careless camper leaving a campfire unattended in mid-July. The sparks from that campfire turned into a full-on crown fire by late afternoon and evening. The Smith’s summer range, the Diamond-Moose Allotment, ended up getting burned, and half of their cattle herd was caught inside the fire lines for 4 months.

Chyenne Smith talked about the helpless feeling she had during those very long months, knowing that their livelihood could go up in the smoke. By late October, the Smiths had retrieved all of their cattle, amazingly enough, and that part of the story had a good ending. It was generous of Jay and Chyenne Smith to openly share their story. We know it was hard for them.

A note about IRRC’s funding. IRRC is funded in part by assessments on cattle and sheep AUMs on state and federal grazing allotments and private rangeland. About half of IRRC’s $400,000 budget is covered by revenue from assessments, followed by federal and state grants ($107K) and growing rangeland license plate income ($75K) and other sources, such as the Unclaimed Livestock Fund recommendation by the ICA Foundation. Regarding the grants, you’ll all be glad to know that we stretch our dollars multiple times by working with our many different funding partners each year. Thank you for your support!

Look for upcoming events, IRRC board meetings, and all the Life on the Range videos at http://idrange.org.

BUREAUCRACY, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

Comments can be submitted by mail to U.S. Department of the Interior, Director (630), Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C St. NW, Room 5646, Washington, DC 20240, Attention: 1004–AE92. They can also be submitted online at https://www.regulations.gov. In the Searchbox, enter “1004–AE–92” and click the “Search” button.

ICA will continue to take every step possible to educate about the dangers of the proposed language and to halt its implementation, with the help and backing of the Public Lands Council who is working every possible angle in Washington D.C. on our behalf on this issue.

126.22 +/ ACRES–Canyon Rim Develop ment Ground Twin Falls $5,500,000

892.86 +/ ACRES –Weiser $1,427,000

3.91 +/ Acres Industrial Grain Mill – With Railroad Spur Twin Falls $1,650,000 *SOLD*

86.16 +/ Acres– 1022 CAFO/Feedlot Buhl $2,550,000

2.38 +/ Acres–Kimberly $2,500,000 yield grade; identify various meat cuts and place carcasses from first to last; and identify wholesale and/or retail cuts. Students are challenged to develop analytical skills, critical–thinking strategies and effective communication skills.

During the Livestock Evaluation CDE, a team of four stu dents rank breeding and market classes of beef, sheep and swine from best to worst and give oral reasons to back up their decisions. Students participating in this CDE make ac curate and logical observations of livestock, decide on the desirable traits in marketing and breeding livestock, and se lect and market livestock that will satisfy consumer demands and provide increased economic returns to producers.

During the 2022 National Convention, the Rigby FFA team received a gold award in Meats Evaluation and Technology CDE, with two individuals placing in gold and two placing in silver. The Livestock Evaluation CDE team from the Hagerman FFA chapter took 10th place

Member Member Member Recruitment Recruitment Recruitment

2023 Program

5 MEMBERS 5 MEMBERS RECRUITED RECRUITED

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1 CONVENTION 1 CONVENTION REGISTRATION! REGISTRATION!

To be eligible : -Membership forms must be received by the office between Jan 1 - Oct 31

-Must have your name listed in the recruitment space,

-Recruitment must be a new member or outdated 2+ years in the nation, with two students receiving gold emblems and two receiving silver.

Beef Production Proficiency Awards

Three students received a financial award of $100 each, as part of the Beef Production Proficiency awards in Entrepreneurship, Ag Placement & Ag Business. This award recognized each student as the top production student in their respected SAE project area.