Feds Open Land for Grazing Another Agency Offers Financial Aid to Ranchers Displaced By Wildfires
By Matt Christensen, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Aug. 3–TWIN FALLS — Nearly one million acres of prime Idaho grazing lands are gone, having fallen prey to a vicious fire season.
But Idaho cattle still have land on which to roam, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter announced Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a request from Idaho’s Farm Service Agency to allow cattle on land set aside for conservation efforts. The emergency grazing allowance opens land in the federal Conservation Reserve Pro-gram in 14 Idaho counties — including Twin Falls, Cassia and Jerome — and provides temporary relief to ranchers who are scrambling to find grazing land as far south as Texas.
“I am pleased that the Farm Service Agency has acted so quickly on our request to provide relief to the state’s livestock producers,” Otter said in a press release. “This year’s fire season continues to grow and with almost each new fire another livestock producer faces tremendous loss. Allow-ing livestock to be moved from grazing land lost due to fire onto available CRP ground will provide meaningful and timely relief.”
The governor and members of Idaho’s congressional delegation asked Idaho FSA’s state committee to seek the emergency grazing allowance. The lawmakers on July 23 asked Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns for emergency grazing authority in the CRP.
The special grazing allowance is open only to ranchers who lost pasture or fences to fire. Cattle are restricted to 60-day stays on the CRP land.
The CRP program pays land owners to set aside property for conservation efforts.
Folks enrolled in the CRP program are encouraged to contact their local FSA office, said Brent Mendenhall, Idaho’s FSA acting executive director, to identify ground they’re willing to open to ranchers. CRP participants won’t see a reduction in their payments.
FSA will review each request on a case-by-case basis and may revise participants’ conservation plans prior to issuing approval.
In related news, the Natural Resource Conservation Service has announced ranchers affected by fire can sign up for financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program until Aug. 15. Ranchers are eligible for a one-time $11-per-acre payment if they agree to rest burned land for one year.
Times-News staff writer Matt Christensen covers the environment. He welcomes comments at 735-3243 and at matt.christensen@lee.net.
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