ICA Committee Updates

In an effort to keep our ears close to the ground on issues that are impacting Idaho’s cattlemen, we have recently beefed up our ICA committee structure. With a two-fold purpose of providing greater opportunities for member engagement at the local level which in turn informs and guides our efforts, the new committee structure will provide sharper focus for ICA on the issues that are impacting our industry.

DIRECTOR

BY KAREN WILLIAMS ICA Natural Resources Policy Director

year is for each of the committees to meet via Zoom or conference call at least three times a year: once during the state legislative session, once prior to our summer conference, and once in the fall to gear up for the resolutions process at our annual convention.

The Federal and State Lands Committee and Wildlife Committee meetings were held recently while the remaining committee meetings have been scheduled. So that you can be in the loop on our discussions and aware of current hot topics, below is a breakdown of the issues discussed within each of those committees.

Federal And State Lands Committee

• BLM Grazing Regulations – BLM continues to work internally on revisions to the grazing regulations and we continue to wait. We have been told they will likely be released for public review and comment this summer.

ICA’s policies are managed under five standing committees and 4 councils, each of which is guided by a chairman. The committees are:

Cattle Health and Well Being : Scott Holt, Chairman

Federal and State Lands : Darcy Helmick, Chairman

Marketing : John Nalivka, Chairman

Private Lands & Environment : Norm Wallis, Chairman

Wildlife : Richard Savage, Chairman

The four councils are:

Cattlewomen : Maggie Malson, Chairman

Cow/Calf : Brayden Eliason, Chairman

Feeder : Shawna Gill, Chairman

Purebred : Val Carter, Chairman

Under our updated structure, each committee has at least one representative from each of ICA’s five districts that cover the state. Our goal for the

• Sage Grouse Plan – Like the grazing regulations, we are also playing the waiting game with expected revisions to the BLM sage grouse plans. BLM is working on the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) now. It will also likely be released for public review this summer. We are hearing that there will likely be one range wide EIS, containing provisions from the previously released and frequently litigated 2015 and 2019 plans, with several state specific EISs under it. Also in the sage grouse realm, the University of Idaho is wrapping up its 10-year spring grazing and sage grouse study. They will be collecting data through July and plan to publish results in 2024.

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State Legislature

• Fence Law – In an effort to protect Idaho’s open range law, Senator Harris is working on preemptive measures that would involve updates to fence laws. In a nutshell, the amendments establish that if a fence is on ground or in disrepair, the landowner has 10 days after notification from the county sheriff or a $150 fine is imposed. Committee members expressed several questions and concerns including whose responsibility the fence is when federal lands border a county road or state highway.

• Rangeland Improvement Act – During his previous term, Representative Raymond drafted legislation to create a program similar to Utah’s successful Grazing Improvement Program in which funds are leveraged to help with range management projects. After coordinating with ICA, the plan is to sit on the legislation this year as we work to improve language and educate legislators and others about it, with a goal of introducing it next year.

• Renewable Energy Projects – Several issues were discussed related to the increased push for renewable energy projects on federal lands. The Lava Ridge Wind project in the Magic Valley is out for public review now with a comment deadline of March 21. ICA continues to express concerns related to disruptions to livestock grazing allotments within the project. Additionally, the comment period on the western-wide BLM programmatic EIS for utility-scale solar energy planning just closed and ICA expressed our grave concerns with solar development on public lands where grazing occurs.

• Farm Bill – 2023 brings the five-year renewal of the Farm Bill and ICA has been asked by members of our congressional delegation to weigh in on Farm Bill issues that impact us along with the opportunity to provide suggestions for improvements to the bill. Committee members expressed questions and concerns regarding how “climate smart” type projects would be incorporated into the update of the bill.

Wildlife Committee

WOLVES

• Status of species, litigation & listing decision

• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is not moving on the 12-month status review even though 12 months is long past.

• There has been no movement on the litigation against the new state law regarding wolf trapping in grizzly and lynx habitat.

• Wolf harvest was down in 2021 with 100 less wolves taken than the previous year.

• Livestock depredation reporting for the same timeframe was down 40%, but Wildlife Services killed more wolves in chronic livestock depredation areas last year which speaks to the success of the state law ICA worked to get approved in 2021.

• The Wolf Depredation Control Board has been able to authorize more collaring.

• Updates to state wolf management plan – Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) has released updates to the state wolf management plan that will increase the population goal from 150 to 500 to keep in line with the delisting decision.

• Potential state legislation – There may be efforts introduced to direct more funding to wolf control efforts. ICA would prefer to hold off on any action until 12-month status review is finalized so as not to draw more attention to this issue and protect our delisted status.

Elk

• This winter, there has been over 2000 elk congregating near Hamer. Herds of similar size have also been congregating by Blackfoot and Weiser, and likely other areas. IDFG has worked with locally affected ranchers and is implementing a feeding plan trying to draw them back to the Wildlife Management Area (WMA), although the viability of this approach remains in question. In other areas, depredation tags may be sold.

• Elk calf crop is increasing each year due to these habits. Research has found that when elk winter at higher elevations, the calf crop is around 40%. Now that the herds are wintering at lower elevations, the crop is 60%.

• Committee members suggested that when depredation tags are made available, the landowner should not have to purchase the tag.

• IDFG should improve management of WMAs so that wildlife are attracted to them. As the WMAs currently are ungrazed, wildlife are not attracted to those areas which results in the opposite of the intended outcomes of WMAs. This may even mean growing crops in WMAs that would attract elk. Also IDFG, should create a grazing management plan for the WMAs.

• Committee members expressed concerns about the potential impact of congregating elk on Idaho’s brucellosis-free status.

Grizzly Bear

• A string of happenings in February put the grizzly bear issue on the front burner again. Because FWS has not responded to delisting petitions, including one from the state of Idaho submitted last March, Governor Little filed a notice of intent to sue the Biden Administration for its failure to make a finding on the state’s petition within the timeframe required by law. Then, FWS announced that they are initiating a 12-month status review on creating two separate Distinct Populations Segments (DPS) of the species in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

• IDFG Director – IDFG Director Ed Schriever retired at the end of January. Committee members were encouraged to reach out to IDFG commissioners to express the need for a director who understands and respects the importance of Idaho’s cattle industry. ICA feels optimistic about the promotion of Deputy Director Jim Fredericks to be the new Director.

• USFWS State Supervisor – Idaho also has a new FWS state supervisor for Idaho. Lisa Ellis comes most recently from the Washington, D.C. office and began in Idaho in February.

• The Wildlife Committee also reviewed and shared opinions on issues discussed by the Federal and State Lands Committee including sage grouse, fence law, and the Farm Bill.

If you are interested in the work and issues associated with any of these committees, we would gladly welcome your participation and input. Please send an email to me at karen@idahocattle.org and I will add you to the list so that you get committee