IdaHome--August

Best of the

WILD WEST

MIKE SIMPSON: Swimming Upstream for Sockeye BOISE HOTSHOTS A Dangerous Day Job

YOU LIVE FOR THIS.

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Dear Reader,

I remember the first time I saw Stanley, Idaho.

I was a war zone reporter from San Francisco, my head and heart full of sad stories from Afghanistan, Iraq, and the world’s broken places. I’d spent a decade trying to balance a comfortable life as a mother and wife with my love affair with a career that nearly killed me several times. The Sawtooth Mountains loomed under pristine blue, and the Salmon River flowed beneath, endlessly affirming its path to the sea. The wide-open beauty spoke to me in a foreign language I’d never heard, but it sounded true. This is the Wild West, it said, where the wild things are.

Welcome home.

So, 20 years ago, I changed my life and moved to that town of 82 people, about 300 dogs, and the third coldest temperatures in the lower 48. I entered Custer County as one of 11 Democrats, a California divorcee, vegetarian, wanna-be cowgirl who paid far too much for a log cabin with only a wood stove, brandishing a new Stetson and a shiny pickup with a Peace Sign on the bumper.

I simply could not fathom why the fifth generation ranching family next door did not say, “Welcome home.” Today, I understand.

The right to freedom is chromosomally inherent in our American DNA, no matter our political party. So too, is the stubborn ideal of the Wild West as forever ours for the taking. From the five cent chronicles of Buffalo Bill’s adventures to the COVID-current population explosion in Idaho and neighboring states: the myth of never-ending opportunities for cityslicker adventure and real estate sustains. This issue of IdaHome salutes the Wild West- real and the ideal.

Harrison Berry tackles Congressman Mike Simpson’s controversial proposal to save the last of the Sockeye Salmon.

Lunacy or legacy? The Congressman offers factual answers. Micah Drew, a Boise-born reporter living in Montana, compares the West of his childhood to the sobering facts of life he writes about every day, including inescapable climate change. Heat and drought haunts global headlines and Sam Stetzer examines the frontline bravery of the Boise Hotshots.

Of course, the West could not have been tamed if not for the cowboy, and yet, none are wilder than the bronc and bull riders on the professional rodeo circuit. Check out the photographic essay that takes you behind the scenes before those electrifying eight seconds.

As always, there’s far more to see than what meets the eye here—so dig in! Whatever your vision of the Wild West, we hope you enjoy what you read in IdaHome!

Let ‘Er Buck!

Karen Day Publisher

Bronc and bull riding is a gender-specific sport-but it wasn’t always that way. Bonnie McCarroll was born near Boise, in 1897. A champion rodeo performer and bronc rider, she was killed while competing at the Pendleton Round Up in 1929.

Her death prompted rodeo officials to eliminate bronc riding as a women’s sport. www.idahomemagazine.com

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ON THE COVER

Kirstie Lambert has been photographing the cattle ranching families in the Mackay valley for more than decade. A former intern of iconic cowboy photographer, David Stocklein, she dedicates her talent to documenting the year-round struggles and rewards of those people who believe there is no greater life than a day on horse, herding, branding, or just riding beneath Mount Borah.

These Idaho families are the "real" cowboys and cowgirls in what remains of the Wild West.

CONTRIBUTORS

Heather Hamilton-Post is a writer and editor in Caldwell.

She holds degrees in both agriculture and creative writing and is herself surprised by that. When she’s not writing, catch her at a socially distanced baseball game with her husband and young sons. Find her work across the web and buried in the lit journals you didn’t know you had.

After graduating from the University of Iowa with a master’s degree in journalism, Harrison Berry returned to Boise, where he spent eight years working for Boise Weekly, rising to the position of managing editor. His work has appeared in publications from Business Insider to American Theatre.

He currently works for Boise State University.

Hailey Minton is a freelance writer and loves painting with her words. She approaches life with inquisitiveness whether in writing, raising her daughter, or developing her hobbies. With a Bachelor’s in Business Management, she has a love for seeing innovators bring solutions to our ever-changing world.

Mike McKenna is an award-winning author and journalist from Hailey. Mike’s writing has appeared widely, from Forbes, People, and Trout to numerous regional newspapers. He has served as the editor of The Sheet and Sun Valley Magazine and is the author of two prize-winning guidebooks, including Angling Around Sun Valley.

Micah Drew is a writer currently based in northwest Montana. A multiple Montana Newspaper Association award-winning journalist covering politics, sports and the outdoors, he has written for Edible Idaho, Boise Weekly, and High Country News. When not in the newsroom, he can be found trail running throughout the West.

Sabina Dana Plasse is a professional writer and editor from Baltimore, Maryland who moved to Idaho more than 15 years ago. Besides writing and editing, she launches startup events, assists businesses with publicity and marketing, and is an active film reviewer. When not working, she is enjoying the outdoors, traveling, and watching movies.

Rick Just is the author of several books about Idaho including A Kid’s Guide to Boise, Keeping Private Idaho, and Fearless—Farris Lind, the Man Behind the Skunk. He writes a daily history blog on Facebook called Speaking of Idaho which has more than 10,000 followers.

Samantha Stetzer holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and has written for newspapers, magazines, and blogs for nearly a decade. She loves writing about the stories that make us unique, and when she isn't weaving tales, she enjoys hiking with her husband and pups or visiting a local brewery.

Amber Daley is a fifth-generation Idahoan who appreciates potatoes in all their forms — but also finds opportunities to politely inform newcomers of our official nickname: the Gem State. She finds writing inspiration through spontaneous road trips, mountain bike rides, and long walks down the cheese aisle.

AUGUS T 2021 publisher K A R E N DAY karen@idahorem.com features editor H E AT H E R H A M I LT O N POST heather@idahorem.com copy editor C A R R I E L IGH T N E R technically speaking editor H A I L E Y M I N T ON art and design J S NGR A F I X K A L E Y BE LVA L design@idahorem.com director of operations and sales manager M A R IELLE W EST PH A L admin@idahorem.com staff photographer K A R E N DAY cover photograph K I R S T I E L A M BE RT Marketing, Sales and Distribution karen@idahorem.com IdaHome Magazine is publishing by Idaho Real Estate Marketplace P.O. Box 116 Boise, Idaho 83701 208-481-0693 © 2021 IdaHome Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed by the authors and contributors to IdaHome Magazine are not necessarily those of the editor and publisher.

Community + Culture + Recreation + Real Estate

CONTENTS FOOD, ARTS & CULTURE 11 Many Wests:

Artists Shape an American Idea at BAM 21

Celebrate:

The Traditions of the Old West 37

Basque in a Bite:

A Beginner’s Intro to Pintxos COMMUNITY 16 Boise Hotshots:

Life on the Fire Line 19

Fire Lookouts:

A History 22 25 27 30 32 38

Swimming Upstream Tying One On The Mythos of the Wild West Let 'Er Buck Funny Men: The Unsung Rodeo Hero Keeping It Green:

Treefort Tackles Sustainability 40

Listen Up!:

Own Your Years TECHNICALLY SPEAKING 34 Saving the Planet With Seaweed — For Cows?

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 3 Publisher's Letter 6 Contributors

CORRECTION: In August IdaHome, the article "Wolves In the Crosshairs" wrongly named Garrick Dutcher as the producer of the documentary, Wolves At Our Door. He and his wife produced, Wolf: Return of a Legend. Jim and Jamie Dutcher produced the film, Wolves At Our Door.

LET US WELCOME YOU HOME.

BOI www.r als t ong r ouppr oper t ies.com

SUN Ra l ston G ro up P ro p e r t i e s is a Bo ise, Id ah o - b ase d resid ent i al an d com me rc ial re al e state fir m w ith o ffices in d ow n town B o is e an d Ketch u m.

MANY WESTS Artists Shape an American Idea at BAM JULY 31, 2021 – FEBRUARY 13, 2022 www.idahomemagazine.com

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BY SABINA DANA PLASSE

Two years ago, pre-pandemic and before a nationwide “woke” movement, Boise Art Museum (BAM) Executive Director Melanie Fales began working on a traveling art exhibition to embrace the voices and recognition of men and women integral, but missing, in historical chronicles of the American West. Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea is part of a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Art Bridges Initiative, which works to expand access and broaden traditional definitions of American by directly empowering museums. The Boise Art Museum was selected to collaborate with an esteemed list of museums, including the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington.

“The museums were chosen through a very competitive review process,” says Fales. “We wanted to see if we could bring

our art collections together to offer multiple perspectives about real people, artists, and experiences of the West, especially since there will be an opportunity for this exhibition to be shown in the East, at the Smithsonian. This collaboration became the American West Consortium, which showcases all of our collections, along with the Smithsonian’s.”

Divided into three sections—Caretakers, Memory Makers, and Boundary Breakers—Many Wests presents and examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists representing the West with a more inclusive view. Confronting misconceptions, questioning racist stereotypes, and highlighting multiple communities and histories, the exhibition sheds a bright light on those previously underserved or misrepresented in American history.

Through a carefully curated process, the work offers a clear perspective and history that may be unknown to some and unnoticed by others, focusing on mostly contemporary art by artists who are Black, white, women, men, LGBTQ+, Native American, Asian American, and Latinx.

HUNG LIU born Changchun, China, 1948; active Oakland, California

As the pandemic forced indelible change in our personal lives, it also forced a seismic shift in cultural connectedness. Embracing this change in awareness, the consortium created a prolific traveling show with more than 80 pieces of art, including paintings, sculpture, film, and other works. BAM has more than 20 artworks in the exhibition.

“The timing coincides with what is happening in the world today, which makes it especially relevant,” says Fales.

“It’s a unique project because it includes the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection along with four other museum collections. However, what is most important was to be able to collaborate to bring the strengths of our collections together to dispel those myths of the West—that it was this expansive place that was here for the taking, and that there is only one story of the West. These stereotypical associations of the West took place after westward expansion, when the U.S. government aggressively took over through colonialism.”

Boise will be the first in the museum consortium to open the exhibition, which will travel to the other partners and

RICK BARTOW (Mad River Wiyot) born Newport, Oregon, 1946; died Newport, Oregon, 2016

Mandarin Ducks, 2005, oil on canvas

Buck, 2015, acrylic on canvas

Boise Art Museum Permanent Collection, Gift of Anita Kay Hardy in Loving Memory of Her Parents, Earl M. and LaVane M. Hardy

Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Gift of the Estate of Rick Bartow and Froelick Gallery.

(PREVIOUS PAGE 11) ANGEL RODRÍGUEZ-DÍAZ born San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1955; active San Antonio, Texas

WENDY MARUYAMA born La Junta, Colorado, 1952; active San Diego, California

THE PROTAGONIST OF AN ENDLESS STORY, 1993, oil on canvas Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program

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Minidoka, from the Tag Project, 2011, paper, ink, string, and thread

www.idahomemagazine.com

Boise Art Museum Permanent Collection, Collectors Forum Purchase, 2015

(LEFT) ROGER SHIMOMURA born Seattle, Washington, 1939; active Salina, Kansas

American Infamy #2, 2006, acrylic on canvas Boise Art Museum Permanent Collection, Purchased with donations to the Roger Shimomura Acquisitions Fund (BELOW) WENDY RED STAR (Apsáalooke/Crow) born Billings, Montana, 1981

Four Seasons: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, 2006, archival pigment print, edition of 27 Boise Art Museum Permanent Collection, Collectors Forum Purchase, 2019

conclude in Washington, D.C., allowing many people to see these countervailing views of the West. “BAM and other art organizations have been leaders in showing diversity and sharing the voices of a wide range of people. This exhibition, in part, is making a very strong statement that there is not one perspective but there are diverse perspectives and they all come together to shape the West,” Fales says.

MANY WESTS: ARTISTS SHAPE AN AMERICAN IDEA Boise Art Museum Boise, Idaho July 31, 2021 – February 13, 2022 Whatcom Museum of Art Bellingham, Washington March 19, 2022 – August 21, 2022 Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Eugene, Oregon September 26, 2022 – December 31, 2022 Utah Museum of Fine Arts Salt Lake City, Utah February 4, 2023 – June 11, 2023 Smithsonian American Art Museum Washington, D.C. July 28, 2023 – January 14, 2024

For Fales, it is very important that BAM serves as a place where everyone can see themselves and feel welcome. “If this was not clear in the past, this exhibition makes it very clear now,” she says.

“I’m excited about all of the artists in the exhibition. There are some artists in our permanent collection whom people may not know, including Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke/Crow), Hung Liu (Chinese-born American), and Marie Watt (Seneca). We also have an amazing Native American print portfolio, which includes 15 artists who are part of the exhibition.”

In addition to creating this landmark show, BAM is also undertaking an accessibility and inclusivity project for the exhibition, so that information provided about Many Wests is accessible through new interpretative strategies, including reaching people with low or no vision and other physical disabilities.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this exhibition, especially for art lovers and BAM, is the number of artworks to view that are in other museum collections, including the Smithsonian. “The Smithsonian collection is very strong in Latinx artwork, which is a nice compliment to the Asian American and Native American works we have in our collection,” says Fales. “It’s a unique and wonderful opportunity to bring all these works together to share the diversity of perspectives.” www.idahomemagazine.com

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Life on the Fire Line

BY SAMANTHA STETZER

Deon Berner first experienced the rush of defeating fire when he worked on a firefighting crew as a young man. “[We] got this fire before it went to houses,” Berner says. “It was that sense of catching a fire before it could do anything bad.”

He’s been chasing that feeling and fires ever since.

After more than 30 years of fighting fires, Berner now heads the Boise Interagency Hotshot Crew as superintendent.

He hates the spotlight, often speaking with a quiet, humble tone, but the dedication of Berner and his crew can’t be ignored as wildfire seasons get longer, hotter, and drier every year.

The Boise Hotshots are just one crew in a federal network of Hotshots teams 16

across the nation. Each is made up of a few dozen trained experts, including permanent and seasonal firefighters.

Often, their work encompasses an exhausting 16 hours a day and can vary from trenching to prevent fire spread to assisting with medical rescues to fire suppression. It’s physically demanding, too, as teams frequently traverse crumbling mountains with shovels, axes, and camping gear, relying on one another for support and motivation.

“You’re doing it with 19 other folks,” says Boise Hotshots Captain David Rogan. “They’re pushing themselves both physically and mentally. It’s up to everybody to put that effort into it.”

As a result, this Herculean position requires swift thinking, continuous physical training, medical knowledge, and

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time away from family for 14-day tours (travel not included) — in addition to being a trained fire expert.

The job has changed a lot over the years, Berner explains. He began with the Hotshots in 1992, and back then, the crews worked until they were called off, enjoying a few days leave at home before being called up again.

Today, Hotshots are required to take two days off after 14 days of work. That can still be difficult with a family at home, Berner says.

In addition to being a captain, Rogan is also a husband and the father of a four-year-old. In the summer, he’s often away from home for 17-18 days at a time, so not a moment is wasted when he has cell service or when he is on two days of leave.

ALL PHOTOS BY KARI GREER

(Right) Hotshots Superintendent Deon Berner (center R, facing camera, smiling), conferring with Operations Section Chief Carl Schwope (R-white hardhat) and Sawtooth Hotshots Superintendent Mike Krupski (L-blue hardhat), and another firefighter (center L, unknown-black hardhat): Happy Camp Complex, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California

(Left) Boise Hotshots holding line, Erickson Air Crane in flight behind. Superintendent Deon Berner (L), Erica Reed, Slay Windham, Superintendent Deon Berner (L); Happy Camp Complex, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, California

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PHOTOS BY KARI GREER

Boise Hotshots saw team Allison Lund and Dan Walker working on the Mack Fire, Boise National Forest, Idaho

“Sometimes it’s hard if there’s a lot going on at home, [and] I’m not there to help out,” Rogan says.

In addition to better regulating the time that crews spend working and at home, the Hotshots have had to develop new skills and adapt to climate change.

After years in the field, Berner believes that this summer has been the driest season he’s experienced, and the Na-

Boise Hotshots working on the Mack Fire, Boise National Forest, Idaho

tional Interagency Fire Center reports that about 90% of the West is currently facing drought.

For the Hotshots, extended dry weather and extreme high temperatures have exacerbated the difficulty of the job, but facing seemingly insurmountable challenges has always been part of the job description.

Berner and Rogan personally confirm dangerously close calls. Both recalled

What You Can Do to Prevent Wildfires Protect your home and Idaho’s wildlife with the following fire prevention tips: • Completely snuff out campfires. The area where it burned should be cool to the touch.

• ATVs, chainsaws, and other outdoor equipment need spark arrestors.

• Chains should not drag on the roadway when towing. Sparks can ignite grass fires.

• Don’t shoot at rocks or explosive targets.

• Make your home “firewise.” Learn more at IdahoFirewise.org.

This list is by no means exhaustive — to learn more about fire restrictions and how to prevent wildfires, use the following resources: • Idaho Wildfire Locations: IdahoFireInfo.com • Fire restrictions: Idaho.gov/Fire-Management • Boise National Forest: USDA.gov/Main/Boise/Home Tips and resources provided by Venetia Gempler of the Boise National Forest.

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times when they were scaling a mountain and a boulder came hurtling toward them as a wildfire blazed on all sides.

Berner helped battle the 1988 Yellowstone fire, the largest recorded fire to date in the National Park’s history. Last year, he stood in smoke so dense, he had to rely on his headlamp at noon to read papers in his hand.

That same year, the September 2020 Creek Fire in California created smoke shafts that reached 25,000 feet and sparked thunderstorms. And fire conditions are worse this year. Yet, despite climate challenges, the danger, and weeks away from home, Berner and Rogan explained that crews become more like family than co-workers. These brave and sacrificing souls see and save some of the country’s greatest landscapes. In doing so, they feel that same rush of satisfaction that Berner felt all those years ago.

“I’m just proud to do the job and glad we are out serving and helping people as much as we can,” Berner says, adding, “It is a dangerous job...

[But] you get to know other people and other crews… and achieve some pretty impressive goals.”

As the smoke thickens around us all in the West, let’s remember we owe a collective “Thank You” to the Hotshots.

GETS IN YOUR EYES:

The History of Fire Lookouts

Bertha Hill, 30 miles northeast of Orofino, was named by some college boys working for the Clearwater Timber Protective Association. The rounded mountain reminded them of a girl they knew in Moscow in the way the Tetons reminded French trappers of certain women they knew.

The hill might better be named Mable Mountain and not for a sophomoric anatomical joke. Mable Gray spent many hours on that mountain in 1902, sitting on a tree limb looking for smoke. For her vigilance, Gray is remembered as the first fire lookout working strictly to protect a forest in the Western states.

Mable Gray’s days started early, making breakfast for the timber camp and cleaning up the dishes. If thunderstorms had rolled in overnight, Mable cleaned up quickly, hopped on a pony, and rode to the top of Bertha Mountain. It wasn’t enough for her just to stand there gazing out over the million-acre Clearwater-Potlatch private forest looking for smoke. She’d tie up her horse and climb a crude ladder—two rough-cut poles with severed limbs nailed on them—to the beckoning branch of a hemlock snag 12 or 15 feet up. She sat in a makeshift seat on that limb for hours, protecting the company’s investment. If she spotted smoke, Mable scrambled down the ladder and back onto the horse to alert the crew to the fire.

Mable’s perch in that tree is long gone today, but there’s a fire lookout on Bertha Mountain, one of about 177 still operating in Idaho today. Close to 1,000 lookouts have dotted the state since that first crude perch.

Most were eventually abandoned,with aerial and satellite imagery largely taking the place of on-the-ground spotters.

The U.S. Forest Service, founded in 1905, saw the wisdom of fire spotters early on. If a crew could reach a fire while it was still small, they stood a better chance of putting it out. The Forest Service unofficial firefighting motto became, “Spot Em Quick, and Hit Em Fast.”

Just spotting a fire wasn’t enough. A spotter needed to provide an accurate location to send crews. So William Osborne, a Forest Service employee, invented the Osborne Firefinder in 1915. It’s a circular table overlaid with a topographic map of the area fitted with moveable sights an operator looks through to pinpoint smoke. A spotter lines up the sights to get a horizontal reading in degrees and minutes and uses an attached tape to estimate the miles between the smoke and the lookout. You couldn’t use a sophisticated instrument like that while sitting in the crook of a tree as Mable Gray did. Lookout towers grew more complex and substantial as years went by.

In 1929 the Forest Service began using a design called the L-2, first implemented on Lookout Mountain above Priest Lake’s Cavanaugh Bay. The standardized model was a 12 x 14-foot building complete with framed glass. There was a sleeping and living area on the first floor. The spotter who worked in a lookout did their fire spotting from a cupola above. These structures cost only $500 to build. The L-2s started popping up on mountains and on metal towers all over the West. Some 5,000 lookouts of various designs were active in their day.

Spending days alone in a tall, windowed contraption with a 360-degree view of nature seems like a dream job for writers. So thought Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Norman

Mable Gray got a little help the first time she climbed the snag where she perched on top of Bertha Hill. Courtesy of the University of Idaho Potlatch Lumber Company Digital Collection.

Maclean, and Edward Abbey, all of whom served as fire spotters.

If a bit of solitude appeals to the writer in you, check with the Forest Service to find out what spotter jobs are available. Or try it for a weekend. You can rent some old lookouts in Idaho. Stay in the tower at the self-referential Lookout Butte lookout near Riggins for $40 a night. If mountaintops appeal to you, but you’d rather not perch on those spindly legs, try the Deadwood Lookout recreational cabin near Garden Valley, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934. That will run you about $55 a night. Release your inner Mable Gray and find a rental at recreation.gov.

DEADWOOD LOOKOUT INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR, COURTESY NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE

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CELEBRATE

The Traditions of the Old West

Sheep have been around longer than skiing in Sun Valley and the 25th anniversary of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival celebrates that cultural history in the Wood River Valley, October 6-9. Events include introductions to folk arts, a Sheep Folklife Fair, lamb cooking classes, farm to table dinners, demonstrations and workshops in Andean music, dance, storytelling and championship Sheepdog Trials. Not to be missed is the always entertaining, Big Sheep Parade with 1,500 sheep hoofing it down Ketchum’s Main Street.

PHOTOS BY CAROL WALLER

THE WAGONS ROLL AGAIN! The Big Hitch Parade is back for Labor Day weekend, Sept 3-5, when WAGON DAYS returns to Ketchum. The largest non-motorized parade in the West brings historic buggies, carriages, horses, and cowboy culture galore to the former mining town. Pancake breakfasts, Stetsons, and plenty of old-time fiddlin’ fill the streets. The grand finale, the Big Hitch, the 20-mule team Lewis Ore Wagon, will again delight all ages. Look for ‘yours truly’ as an IdaHome announcer!

— Karen Day

PHOTOS BY KAREN DAY

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COURTESY IDAHO RIVERS UNITED

Swimming Upstream

Can Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s plan to breach dams end the ‘Salmon Wars’?

BY HARRISON BERRY

a bold move to save an iconic symbol of the Northwest, it has been an object of intense criticism from industry, water rights groups, Idaho’s executive and legislative branches, and other stakeholders who don’t like what they see in the crystal ball.

The price tag on the Columbia Basin Initiative, in Simpson’s own words, is “very

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson spent years talking to stakeholders about how to save the salmon in the Northwest. Now, he’s waiting for someone — anyone — to give him a better option than breaching four dams on the lower Snake River.

“Nobody who looks at this seriously believes you can save the salmon without taking out the dams,” he “I listen to the says. “I listen to the experts, and what they’re telling me is that to experts, and what save the salmon, the dams need they’re telling me to come out.” is that to save the In February, Simpson, who represents Idaho’s second consalmon, the dams gressional district and is running for re-election in 2022, released need to come out.” a video outlining his plan, the Columbia Basin Initiative. If COURTESY MIKE SIMPSON adopted, it would remove the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower expensive.” At $1.4 billion, actual dam Monumental, and Ice Harbor dams by removal represents a small fraction of the 2031, making it easier for migrating fish $33.5 billion package. Ten billion dollars to reach their spawning grounds. It would would go toward replacing electricity also spend billions smoothing over the generated by the dams. Still more money effects of dam removal on electricity genwould enlist agricultural entities to improve eration, inland shipping, and other things watersheds and cut agricultural nutrients supported by the dams. Hailed by some as that end up in waterways, send funds to di22

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rectly affected communities like Lewiston/ Clarkston and the Tri-Cities area, and pay to rehabilitate or pivot away from affected industries. These line items are the products of long conversations that Simpson has had with people for whom the downstream consequences of dam removal could be dire.

“That’s how we came up with the Columbia Basin Initiative. And that’s why, frankly, it costs $33 billion: because those dams do have a value,” Simpson says.

There are many incentives for stakeholders to buy into Simpson’s plan, but perhaps the most significant is a 35-year litigation moratorium. In 2031, when the last of the four dams would be breached, current litigation over migrating fish under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Clean Water Act (CWA) would be halted or stayed. In addition, $500 million would go toward liability protection for irrigation districts, energy interests, and other entities that own dams.

It would effectively end decades of lawsuits against those groups over salmon.

Paul Arrington, Executive Director and that investment can help farmers get their get closer to extinction.

General Counsel of the Idaho Water Users products to market without jacking up Hayes says that the Idaho Conservation Association, thinks it’s an attractive profood prices.

League has a part in driving that change. posal, but questions whether it would really A similar, though not exactly the same, The organization is committed to saving bring an end to what many have called the principle applies when it comes to energy. salmon, and that has meant long, pitched “Salmon Wars.” A complex tangle of lawThe four dams facing removal would cut battles with people and organizations suits, alliances, and hard-won agreements the region’s ability to produce electricity, whose activities can harm them. That’s what between governments, water users, energy even as the region divests itself from coal makes Simpson’s plan so attractive: Though producers, polluters, Native tribes, environ- power. Again, the Initiative calls for billions it’s no promise that salmon will survive, mental advocates, and others, the Salmon in investment to replace the power generit does remove salmon from the Salmon Wars are a long-term problem that many ated by the four dams and power grid effiWars, opening the region up to more prosee as nearly intractable. The Idaho Water ciency, but whether that can be done with ductive conversations about a whole host of Users Association represents water users solar, wind, or other green power sources is issues. In other words, it buys a better set of from cities and agri-businesses to hydroa matter of debate. Between logistics and problems. power and aquaculture in the development, the fact that so many people and organiza“[Simpson] wants to end the Salmon preservation, and use of the Gem State’s tions have a stake in water and electricity Wars. My observation is, that’s one of water resources — and if water quality or issues, Arrington says that it’s a heavy lift. the drivers of the change. Litigation is salmon advocates can’t sue them under the “The difficulty is that those who want the in response to the fish circling the drain.

ESA, NEPA, or the CWA, Arrington says, dams gone say, ‘Oh, it’s super simple. Let’s We’re observing the same thing, and we they’ll find some other way. just do it,’” he explains. “But the [Bonnewant similar outcomes,” Hayes says. “We “I don’t think the litigation moratorium ville Power Administration] and the co-ops want fish saved, communities made whole will work. That’s a big carrot for the folks I will tell you it’s very, very complicated.” with the resources they need to chart their represent: the ability to focus on what we Ask Idaho Conservation League futures; but people are actually going to need to do and not worry about litigation,” Executive Director Justin Hayes, though, have to get together and collaborate.” he says. “But there’s just a lack of faith and and he’ll say that leaving the dams alone Saving fish and supporting communities trust amongst the parties. The folks I repre- will not guarantee the sustainability of the is exactly what Simpson expects his plan sent have a difficult time trusting that these physical infrastructure, legal environment, to do. Breaching dams is a big ask for the plaintiffs’ organizations would back down. or political relationships of the status quo.

Northwest, but he says that he believes the Or they’d find different ways to sue.”

In fact, change is the guarantee. Shipping, larger problem is how the issue of saving Arrington is also skeptical about hydropower, agriculture, and much more salmon will continue to take the future of whether the Columbia Basin Initiative have all been affected by efforts to save the the region out of the hands of the people can deliver on its economic and energy salmon in the past, and the rate and severwho live there and put it into the hands of promises. The plan calls for a $600 million ity of change will only intensify as salmon judges enforcing the Endangered Species barge transportation Act. expansion in the “The biggest form of a Tri-Citchallenge in all “We’re either going to decide the future of the ies/Mid-Columbia of this is that it Basin Intermodal involves change,” Northwest or somebody else is going to do it, Transportation Simpson says. and it’s going to be imposed on us.”

Hub and a full $1 “I say to people, billion for waterway ‘Give me an alshippers, barging ternative.’ We’re reconfiguration, and either going to economic adjustdecide the future ment payments. Add of the Northwest to that another $1.5 or somebody else billion for farmers is going to do it, to adjust their grain and it’s going to transportation. The be imposed on issue is whether all us.”

COURTESY MIKE SIMPSON

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Tying One On Jeff Sheldon Shares His “Trout Candy” ILLUSTRATIONS BY DONNA STACKHOUSE

BY MIKE MCKENNA

Jeff Sheldon’s fishing buddies call him “Jefe.” The Spanish version of his name also translates as the “boss” or the “big man.”

After examining some of Jeff ’s hand-tied flies, you can see why his buddies chose the nickname, especially since he’s always giving them some of his “trout candy.” Jeff ’s unique flies flat-out work on the high-mountain lakes and streams he loves to fish, so his friends are always happy to cast them.

“I’d like to think I’m the man,” Jeff joked from his home in McCall, “but I’m really just a flatlander gone good.”

Beetle

Jeff was born in Kansas and discovered his passion for angling while casting for bass and sunfish in the Sunflower State when he was a kid. In 1977, he moved to southern Idaho and really got into fly fishing. Jeff moved to McCall in 1982 where he met his wife, Toni, and he’s been chasing trout all over Idaho’s high country ever since.

“My secret passion is hiking and fly fishing in the high-mountain lakes,” says Jeff, who retired in 2010 after a career teaching elementary and middle school. Jeff also likes to mountain bike and often works that into his fishing adventures.

“I get to fish more than I have a right to,” Jeff comments, adding, “My wife is very forgiving.”

All this fishing not only means that Jeff goes through a lot of flies, it also means that he spends lots of time studying what trout like to eat, from the big terrestrials to the small aquatic insects. So “Jefe” took to tying his own flies many moons ago and has now pretty much perfected a half-dozen flies.

We asked “Jefe” to share some of his favorite “trout candy,” as he calls the flies. His six-pack of flies for high-mountain fisheries includes: Beetle, Caddis, Damselfly, Griffith’s Gnat, Mayfly, and Red Ant.

Caddis www.idahomemagazine.com

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Damselfly

Griffith’s Gnat

Mayfly

Red Ant

Beetles are somewhat simple flies that are often overlooked as an option, but Jeff says they shouldn’t be. “When the afternoon winds pick up in the mountains they push insects into the water and the fish take notice. Terrestrials like beetles are a big part of a trout’s diet in the warmer months,” Jeff says. “I didn’t have a lot of luck with other people’s beetles so I created a pattern that really works for me. I’m proud of this one. It’s become one of my go-to patterns.”

“Trout love caddis, which is why patterns like the Elk Hair are so popular,” Jeff says, explaining that the key to a good caddis fly is its ability to float.

He uses a tent wing that looks like a 26

“pup tent” to keep it buoyant. “You skate it across the surface and there’s a big splash and it’s gone.”

Damselflies, like their larger cousin the dragonfly, are some of the most striking insects out there.

They are not easy to tie or fish, but when the trout key into one of them, there’s nothing like it. “Trout will literally jump completely out of the water or even up onto a log to grab one and then slide back in the water.

All of my fishing buddies have seen it happen,” Jeff says.

Griffith’s Gnats are usually thought of as a winter fly, but Jeff loves to use them when hunting cutthroats in moving water, especially if it’s a little

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windy. As he advises, “Give it a shot. It just might work for you.”

“Mayflies are the most famous dry flies there are. They are just a beautiful, amazing aquatic insect,” Jeff says, pointing out that size is usually more important than color.

“If I had to choose one pattern for the summer season it would be the red ant,” Jeff explains. “All through the summer, red ants are hatching and getting blown onto the water and the fish go crazy for them.”

By all accounts, trout go crazy for any of the flies that “Jefe” ties for himself and his friends. His advice for aspiring fly tiers is simply to be creative and have fun with it.

The Mythos of theWild West

BY MICAH DREW

“I’m just so mad that there is smoke everywhere, and it’s so hot.”

“It’s really not what we were expecting.”

This year, more than ever before, comments like these are echoing louder across Idaho and the western states known for their scenic vacation spots. From the Gem State to Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and California, visitors, recent transplants, and even longtime residents can be heard bemoaning another summer shortened by smoke and restrictions. Welcome to the West of 2021 and beyond, where the future is sure to offer another crack in the illusion that life in the Wild West is always magical.

PHOTO BY KAREN DAY

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Not that I’m a pessimist. I’m a journalist and it’s my job to deal with facts.

Fire season is not new to the forested Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, but to many who have never seen brown skies or the eerie glow of flames from across a lake, the world can appear apocalyptic, jarringly at odds with the storybook images of beautiful mountains and blue skies that have long been peddled on postcards.

The idea of a ‘Wild West’ as an idyllic concept has been rooted in America’s mindset since its founding. Beginning with Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the concept of Manifest Destiny inspired a constant migration toward the setting sun that continues to this day.

A Wild West, however, one that is pristine and ripe for the taking, is and always has been a contrived notion. The West has never been an empty land, bereft of people.

That mythos started in the early days of

settlers pushing across the Oregon Trail, fueled by dreams and the U.S. Government’s expansion strategy, and eventually led to the corralling and erasure of Native Americans and their culture.

The myth continues today. There remains a sense of privilege and ownership in western lands, whether from energy companies fighting for their rights to extract resources from public lands, tourists looking for new backgrounds for their social media posts, or transplants of the COVID cultural-shift to an era of remote work. The West keeps a romanticized hold on the minds of many people, and I understand why.

I was raised in Boise, and like many people from similar western communities, I spent summers among mountain vistas, diving into glacially carved lakes and generally gallivanting around our bountiful, wide-open wildernesses.

I have always taken the public lands I’ve

recreated in for granted, for the simple reason that I cannot remember a time of my life without them. My earliest memories are of camping and fishing near Featherville, attending summer camps in the Sawtooth Mountains, and spending family vacations among the elk in Yellowstone or moose in the Tetons.

In my privileged youthful view, no thought was given to the policies that made public lands possible. Even with a healthy dose of Idaho history education in the fourth grade, I never realized that the areas I was playing in once belonged to Native peoples who had been reduced to a few names in my books, like Sacajawea and Chief Joseph. I paid no attention to the original intentions behind the establishment of national forests and designating wilderness areas. I simply enjoyed the ubiquitous luxury of knowing the public lands I grew up around were there for all of us to enjoy.

“Fire season is not new to the forested Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest, but to many who have never seen brown skies or the eerie glow of flames from across a lake, the world can appear apocalyptic...”

PHOTO BY DANKA PETER

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PHOTO BY HANS VETH

PHOTO BY JOHN THOMAS

PHOTO BY DAN MEYERS

“National Parks in the West have enjoyed record visitation in recent years, leading to online reservations and limited admissions. Redfish Lake is turning recreators away for lack of parking. Visiting Glacier National Park to catch a glimpse of grizzly cubs requires surviving bumper-to-bumper traffic.“ Today, public lands (and the communities that serve as access points) are being overrun by the very people they have been set aside for, and that overconsumption is destroying some ideals. Since COVID, a mass exodus has occurred. Urbanites by the thousands have moved to small mountain towns that offer good wifi and better views.

A new term has been coined: “Zoom towns,” as ski towns and larger cities, like Boise, explode with relocators.

The growth has led to a multitude of problems. Mountain towns with heavy seasonal workforces like McCall and Sun Valley are struggling to keep workers around, or attract new ones, because affordable housing options are disappearing. From Whitefish, Montana, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Boise, Idaho, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants have cut hours or even closed entirely, lacking staff who have exited due to lack of housing.

The Wild West can now be defined by wildly inflated housing prices, driving out long-timers and decreasing accessibility for day-jobbers. Several reports in June

showed that Boise had the fastest growing median home price in the nation, with Realtor.com showing a nearly 72% increase in the last four years, while data from the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service showed Ada County’s median home price rising 45% in the last year alone, cracking $500,000 for the first time.

The dream of replacing freeway traffic with a lake or mountain view is idyllic, but today those views come with the consequences of population expansion and environmental unconsciousness. National Parks in the West have enjoyed record visitation in recent years, leading to online reservations and limited admissions. Redfish Lake is turning recreators away for lack of parking. Visiting Glacier National Park to catch a glimpse of grizzly cubs requires surviving bumper-to-bumper traffic. Checking Yellowstone’s webpage today, the first popup is red alerts on camping restrictions and fishing closures in lakes and streams.

And nowhere is America’s political divisiveness more rife than where the gentrified blue take up residence in historically red, rural communities.

This is the problem with writing realistically about the West today—it’s hard to please people who insist on holding an ideal in their heads.

In 2014, author Brendan Leonard wrote an article for the online Adventure Journal wherein he compiled the 17 Best Bad Reviews of National Parks on Yelp.

The chosen reviews included gems such as, “Doesn’t look anything like the license plate,” for Arches National Park and, “Every 500 feet a new vantage point of the same thing: a really big hole in the ground” for the Grand Canyon.

And yet, almost magically, despite the challenging realities and disillusionments, the West remains mythical, especially to me. The postcard images are true—a land where the rivers run clear, with jagged mountains touched by clouds, where it’s possible to run across moose and grizzlies and huckleberry bushes in one afternoon. Beyond the smoke and civilization, the West is still everything you dream of. I’m just wondering—are we loving that dream to death?

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Did you know that Idaho is home to more than 400 rodeos each year? Bulls and broncs are bucking every weekend from June to September somewhere in the Gem State. From the oldest rodeo, The War Bonnet Round Up in Idaho Falls (110 years old) featuring the Shoshone-Bannock tribe, to mutton-busting in the town of White Bird, (population: 95), cowboys and cowgirls saddle up for an adrenaline rush and family-friendly entertainment. But no rodeo offers more Vegas-style excitement than the annual Snake River Stampede in Nampa’s Ford Idaho Center. Glory, grit, and the risk of life and limb lures sold-out crowds of 12,000 for six days to the arena where contestants as young as five-years old compete for deafening applause in the spotlight. A rare, backstage glimpse at this granddaddy of Idaho rodeos reveals what happens during those dangerous eight seconds.

The ice-wrap after a bareback bronc ride.

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East meets West with Chinese “cupping” therapy to increase blood flow to sore muscles.

Ballet stretches reduce injuries.

Waiting ...

Taping to prevent torn and dislocated wrist, elbow, and shoulders.

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Funny Men — The Unsung Rodeo Hero

BY AMBER DALEY

Any rodeo fan knows that eight seconds can mean the difference between triumph and defeat for a bull rider. And despite the potential for serious harm (or worse), thousands of intrepid cowboys reenter the arena every year, eager to demonstrate their mastery of the sport.

But while bull riders are typically the stars of the rodeo, there are others behind the scenes — and sometimes in plain sight — who are integral to keeping the competition running smoothly. And for some of these individuals, the same rules apply: they must be able to anticipate a 2,000-pound bull’s next move and be quick on their feet. No one would know more about these unusual and unsung rodeo heroes than a retired rodeo clown/bullfighter and Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame inductee.

Meet Tim Oyler, retired rodeo clown (a title synonymous with “bullfighter” until the 1970s). He began his career around the age of 12, while helping his father run the world’s first Miniature Rodeo Company.

After finding himself underfoot one too many times, he remembers his dad saying, “Why don’t you go out and learn to be a clown and you can entertain the rodeo?” So that’s what he did.

Oyler recalls, “Some friends who were clowns in big rodeos took me under their wing and taught me how to be a clown.

My best friend in high school, Jim Udy, and I developed a clown act. Jim became a barrel man and I started working larger

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PHOTO COURTESY TIM OYLER

amateur rodeos, and I learned to start fighting bulls.” The work came naturally to Oyler, who worked 34 years in the rodeo circuit. “That’s what my love was. Plus, I was the world’s worst bull rider,” he jokes.

But just as bull riding demands physical strength, skill, agility, and fortitude in the face of mortal danger, so too does bullfighting/clowning. Oyler recalls several serious injuries over the years, an all-toocommon result of his profession.

“I lost my knee to a big bull in Calgary that stepped on me and took out my ACL,” says Oyler. “And in St. George in 1973, a Scottish Highlander put a horn between my legs and threw me 45 feet in the air. I remember looking down at the

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rodeo announcer and saying, ‘Oh, shit.’ He caught me again and threw me head-first into the bucking chutes — beat me up badly before the cowboys could get him off.” That rodeo, Oyler suffered a fractured wrist, a broken hand, a broken foot, and broken vertebrae.

“If you’re a bullfighter, you’ll realize the second time you get injured whether or not you want to continue,” he says. “I’ve got pictures of myself fighting bulls with a big cast on. I’d go through two cases of athletic tape every summer. That’s just part of the life. When you’re healthy you tend to think you’re bulletproof. Now I have arthritis from broken joints, so you pay for it in the end. But it’s worth it when you’re doing it.”

PHOTOS COURTESY TIM OYLER

Despite several painful, life-altering injuries and the solitary, sometimes lonely, traveling with the rodeo circuit, Oyler looks back fondly on his years as a bullfighter, and “still misses the clowning, the comedy, and the kids.” And he has no regrets. “I loved to entertain, to be in front of a crowd,” he says. When asked what

he’d tell a young person looking to go into his field, Oyler says, “I’ve tried to teach my kids and grandkids one thing: Decide what you want to do, give it a try, and do your absolute best.”

So what made Oyler decide it was time to hang up his clown hat? “I once told the young man I was teaching, ‘The day I no

longer want to be in that arena is the day I will quit.’ Well, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was doing the Island Park Rodeo and I looked at Henry’s Lake and said to myself, ‘What are you doing here?

You should be fishing.’ We had two more rodeos to do, but as soon as they were over I retired.”

THE NEW ERA OF CLOWNIN’

PHOTO BY KAREN DAY

These days, it’s uncommon to see a clown doing any bullfighting — these are now two separate roles. “I’m one of the last of the rodeo clown bullfighters,” Oyler explains. “It was us guys who would go out with a barrel man and would entertain the crowds during the rodeo and the slack time. Then we’d switch to being clown bullfighters. Now you don’t see the bullfighters until the the bull ride,” he says. “But the new, young bullfighters now are very courageous. They work in teams, which allows the clowns to focus on entertaining and not being hurt by the bull.”

For many bull riders over the years, the technical prowess of bullfighters and clowns of yesteryear was sometimes the only thing preventing them from serious injury or even death. And knowing he was not just entertaining the crowd but keeping competitors safe was part of the appeal. “The greatest pleasure is having a cowboy walk up and say, ‘thank you,’” says Oyler. “That’s a great pat on the back.”

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TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

SAVING THE PLANET WITH SEAWEED — FOR COWS?

BY HAILEY MINTON

No. Really. This is a true story!

Dr. Ermias Kebreab and his team at University of California, Davis found that adding 1-3 ounces of red seaweed to a cow’s diet cuts their methane emissions up to 80%. The greenhouse gas that cattle (mostly) burp into the atmosphere is being produced by microbes in the gut of the animal. The seaweed has active ingredients that inhibit some of the enzymes needed by the microbes that result with methane production. Instead of releasing methane, the microbes release hydrogen.

The energy sector emits more emissions than agriculture, however the energy sector emits carbon dioxide whereas livestock more weight and eating less.” emits mostly methane. Both are greenhouse gasses, but methane This means it will cost less for farmers to feed their livestock. has about 28 times the warming potential than carbon dioxide.

The 1-3 ounces of seaweed doesn’t change the taste of the meat Kebreab says that even if all carbon emissions ended today, the or dairy from the cattle either. After performing scientific analwarming is going to continue because carbon dioxide stays in the ysis of the taste of the meat, there was no significant difference atmosphere for thousands of years while methane only stays for between the taste of beef from cattle that were supplemented around ten years. “If we are able to reduce the emissions now, we with the seaweed and cattle that were not. could reduce the absolute greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

As of right now, the red seaweed is not approved by the That will lead to a reduction to Food and Drug Administrathe temperature quite quickly,” tion, but it must be before he explains.

“If they are saying that climate change it can be incorporated. The Reducing methane will cool timeline for approval is difficult is the priority, then they’re going to have the environment in the short to predict. It all depends on to incentivize or ask the FDA to work on term while the world looks for the FDA. Kebreab says that ways to reduce carbon dioxide. the process for some products this and put more resources behind it Reducing methane emissions began four or five years ago so they can approve it more quickly.” from cattle by 80% can make a and is still not approved. “It big impact in Idaho since it is just depends on the regulathe third largest milk-productory processes,” Kebreab says, ing state in the United States. In 2019, Idaho produced 16,241 adding that it is difficult to say when the FDA will complete million pounds of milk. the process. Still, he emphasizes his hope that there will be Kebreab says that when cows eat seaweed it doesn’t interrupt pressure from the current administration to finish it as soon as the digestive process in a way that negatively affects the animal. possible. “If they are saying that climate change is the priorStudies are ongoing, but in the trial they’ve been running for the ity, then they’re going to have to incentivize or ask the FDA last five months, they haven’t seen any adverse effects. “If anyto work on this and put more resources behind it so they can thing, there is better feed efficiency,” he says. “They are gaining approve it more quickly,” he adds.

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Left: Breanna Roque, doctoral student with the UC Davis Department of Animal Science, feeds these steers at the UC Davis beef barn a small amount of seaweed mixed in with their feed. Right: Professor Ermias Kebreab from the UC Davis Department of Animal Science has conducted research with dairy cows and found that feeding them seaweed will reduce methane emissions.

Kebreab notes that there are other options to reduce methane emissions in cattle that are closer to market than seaweed, but in terms of effectiveness, nothing else compares. Kebreab works with organizations like Dairy Management Inc. and the Idaho Dairymen’s Association to disseminate their research.

If and when it gets approved, that is how farmers will hear about it.

The cost of incorporating red seaweed into the cattle’s diet could be an inhibiting factor in getting farmers to adopt it.

As of right now, it is unclear how much the red seaweed supplement will cost since it hasn’t been approved for com-

mercial use yet. “We can speculate what it needs to be in order for farmers to adopt it, but that is work that is being done right now,” Kebreab says. The farmers and organizations with whom he has spoken are very interested. “They see this as part of the solution. I don’t think there will be any issue in terms of adopting, unless it hurts their bottom line,” he explains.

Another potential income source for farmers adopting this comes from carbon credits. Some state governments regulate how many metric tons of carbon a company can release at any given time. These states include California, Washington, and 11 states on the Northeastern coast. There

is a cap for emissions and if a company goes over their allotted amount, they have to buy offsets or pay penalties. They can buy offsets from organizations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With our present systems of energy and land use, preventing carbon dioxide emissions is not currently possible for most organizations. Buying carbon credits compensates for the unavoidable emissions that organizations create by financing projects that reduce or absorb carbon emissions anywhere in the world.

“The research is continuing and this has exciting potential,” says Kebreab. “I’m definitely looking forward to getting this into people’s hands.”

Left: This red seaweed, asparagopsis taxiformis, was mixed with the steer’s normal feed in order to reduce methane emissions from the cattle. Right: Professor Ermias Kebreab from the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis with dairy cows at the UC Davis dairy barn.

TIMOTHY MCCONVILLE/UC DAVIS

GREG URQUIAGA/UC DAVIS

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Basque in a Bite A Beginner’s Intro to Pintxos

BY KRISTINA CASE

In Boise, the Basque-American population swells to around 15,000 people, the second largest concentration in the United States. Their culture is celebrated downtown in an area known as the Basque Block, which includes a museum, restaurants, and market. The Jaialdi Festival, held every five years in Idaho and scheduled for July 26-31, 2022, attracts thousands of visitors and locals with Basque food, drink, music, dance, and cultural traditions during one of the largest festivals in the world.

The Basque country is a small area straddling north-central Spain and southwestern France. Basques immigrated to the United States with the discovery of silver

mines in the mid-1800s, but eventually resorted to ranching and feeding the miners with their sheep and cattle.Their knowledge of livestock proved to be indispensable, leading to Idaho’s thriving Basque community and contributing to the state’s active sheep industry.

As a native Idahoan and long-time Boise resident, my experience with authentic Basque cuisine was lacking, but curiosity led me to a class on Basque cooking. To begin, I started with the humble, albeit delicious, Pintxos (pronounced peen-chos).

These small, tasty bites are similar to Spanish tapas (Don’t call them tapas around a Basque!) and commonly found in pubs shared family-style.

First, I stopped by the Basque Market and ordered a trio of Pintxos that included a tasty beef and pork meatball in a tomato-choricero pepper sauce, a ham and egg omelette square topped with cheese on a baguette, and my favorite—a croquette. These addictive, crispy fried balls of goodness surround a creamy, Bechamel middle.

Basque menus offer a wide variety of croquettes flavored with differing meats, fish, and vegetables.

The recipe for Pintxos is quick and easy and the ingredient list is short. But trust me, the flavors of the garlicky olive oil, crunchy bread, and bright parsley provide a savory surprise in each bite.

GARLIC SHRIMP PINTXOS Ingredients:

Directions:

5 slices baguette brushed with olive oil and toasted

sea salt and black pepper

Add olive oil to a frying pan and heat for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add shrimp that have been seasoned with salt and pepper and after 1 minute, flip the shrimp to cook the other side. After another minute, add smoked paprika, give it a quick mix, and remove from the heat. Spread some garlic oil on a baguette piece, top with shrimp and parsley. Pierce each with a toothpick to hold everything together. Enjoy!

toothpicks

Recipe adapted from spainonafork.com

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 4 cloves garlic, chopped 15 raw jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined 3/4 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika (Don’t use regular paprika!) handful of freshly chopped parsley

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37

K

EEPING IT GREEN: TREEFORT TACKLES SUSTAINABILITY

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

“What would a music festival sound like if not for the hum of generators?” asks David Broderick, Director of Sustainability for Treefort Music Fest. Broderick isn’t asking an existential question. “Our end goal is to replace all of these loud gas generators with quieter battery-operated ones, but running sound equipment is much different than running tablets for token sales like we’re doing this year,” he says.

Of course, it won’t happen overnight.

The team behind Treefort approaches sustainability by focusing on what’s possible, something Broderick learned from John Bernardo, a sustainability/ESG strategist at Idaho Power who served as a mentor for

Broderick. Because sustainability touches each part of the festival, including how people travel there, Bernardo advised Broderick to look at it as three layers, focusing on the things that fell within their control. For Treefort, this meant the main stage and the areas (Alefort, Kidfort) around it. They knew that the second layer

“There are so many tentacles that go out to different things that may be small— but they add up.”

PHOTO BY MAGGIE MATTINSON

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(venues) and the third layer (other stuff ) could also be made more sustainable, but that it would be more difficult.

This gave Broderick a place to start, and they quickly replaced single-use plastic water bottles with canned water. Musicians started recognizing environmental efforts on stage and the festival asked ticket holders to be mindful of their impact as well. Treefort encourages venues and vendors to adopt better practices.

And when things don’t work, they adapt.

In this way, Treefort builds a more sustainable base for their efforts. “There are so many tentacles that go out to different things that may be small—but they add up,” says Broderick.

PHOTO BY AARON RODRIGUEZ

PHOTO BY AARON RODRIGUEZ

Broderick joined Treefort in 2014 when the festival’s efforts to increase their sustainability necessitated the need for experienced leadership. He met with Treefort Cofounder Eric Gilbert and told him that he’d be willing to jump in and see where he could go with it. Immediately, they built trash and recycling stations from recycled pallets and brought attention to their composting program.

Broderick also leads Treefort’s Green Team. With about 75 people, they keep the festival green by designating stage managers who oversee a team of folks to pick up during the festival and educate the public about what and how to recycle, particularly because so many guests come from out of state. “It’s part of being a good citizen of a city, and it’s our city too. And we love it and want to take care of it,” Broderick says.

PHOTO BY GLENN LANDBERG

Ideally, the Green Team works into the festival seamlessly, so that sustainability becomes an easy and necessary part of the festival experience for people.

Treefort doesn’t want to force action, but to gently encourage and hope that people are motivated to continue. The festival’s steel cups were first introduced as optional, and slowly shifted to required, although you could rent a cup and either pay to keep it or get your money back— and it came with more ounces of beer than the canned option.

Unlike many events, Treefort doesn’t actually want people to keep buying things. They stopped changing the cup design because steel cups are more environmentally friendly than single-use water bottles, yet they create a pretty big impact if you keep buying them as

souvenirs. Instead, people can check out the festival’s other merchandise, which strives to recycle old festival materials.

Broderick’s approach, which carries over from his personal life, is to identify an area that has a lot of impact and work to decrease it. This year, the festival is setting up a wash station to clean new reusable bamboo plates and reusable utensils, which is a huge improvement on previous years, when there was a lot of transport and integration with local business kitchens.

“Treefort has always been about lifting up the community. The Treefort values attract the same kind of people, so we’re all working toward the same goal. We’re just trying to make things better,” Broderick says.

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39

Own Your Years Perhaps the best-kept secret in our family was my mother’s age. Dorothy, like many women of her generation, was very intentional about guarding her secret. It was much more than a factor of aging. Menfolk discounted women as they matured. So, she began to perpetuate the myth of perpetual youth at a very early age. Her younger brother, Jack, even took an oath to never divulge that he was, in fact,the

Rhodenbaugh, had great Jazz Jam Sessions at their home; Louie Ventrilla, Cliff Green, and lots of remarkable players rocked North 19th Street. One evening, Dorothy insisted that the guys let her daughter jam with them. I don’t know who dreaded it more, me or the guys, but my mom was a woman of purpose. “She’s just a young thing,” she said, in an effort to distort age, her own more than mine.

“I have earned every single wrinkle and grey hair. I’m owning every one of my years and thankful for every day.”

youngest child. And she got away with that illusion for a lifetime.

When Mom reviewed the first resume I crafted (while in high school) to apply for a job at Mountain Bell, she directed me to remove my age immediately. When questioned, she answered, “Do as your mother says, you will be glad you did.” I didn’t understand, but I clearly got the tone of her voice. I removed it.

I married, moved away from Boise, had children, and returned. I matured, aged. Mom did not, at least in her view, and therefore, neither did I. I remained her dutiful, young daughter as well.

Mom’s neighbors, Bill and Camille 40

I noted the guys rolling their eyes and offering me oh-you-poorchild smiles. Rhody asked, “What can she sing?”

Without hesitation Dorothy replied, “God Bless the Child.”

“What key?” Rhody asked.

“No clue,” I answered.

Again the indulgent looks. The guys found a key for me and we worked that song! When we finished “Love for Sale,” I was all-in. The guys were calling me songbird, and I thought I was somebody. I shocked myself !

The guys were more than encouraging, saying I sounded like a “seasoned sister.” I loved it!

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BY CHERIE BUCKNER-WEBB

Thanks to Bill Rhodenbaugh, my secular music career was launched. I had the joy of making great music with fabulous players in Idaho and across the country. There was a legend that I was underage for the clubs, but it was soon dispelled when some zealous reporter wrote, “Cherie Buckner, Boise High Class of 1970.” I was cold-dead busted. And proud of it.

Mom would not have been pleased.

Today, I’m feeling very fortunate to celebrate the beginning of my seventh decade in a couple of months. I have earned every single wrinkle and grey hair. I’m owning every one of my years and thankful for every day. COVID, scarcity, fear, illness, isolation, the economy, and life pushed me to a new era of Cherie.

I’m looking forward to the future that will herald an even greater time of accomplishment for women the world over. Now, I say to womenfolk, we’ve hidden out long enough. We have proven that age is strictly a measure of time. We are indeed phenomenal women no matter our age—living, working, playing, endowing, creating— and phenomenally. Own it!

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