Friday, March 2, 2007

New-look Legacy Project passes Senate committee

Farmers? concerns help spur 11 amendments to bill


The Wood River Legacy Project has been altered so that all donated water north of the District 45 Canal would be delivered to the Bellevue Triangle and Silver Creek system instead of the Big Wood River. The Bypass Canal, above, was created in 1920 to benefit farming operations in southern Blaine County. Express file photo.

The Wood River Legacy Project unanimously passed the Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee on Wednesday and is now headed to the Senate floor.

But the proposed legislation has undergone tremendous changes since a Feb. 16 meeting in Hailey, which was called by Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, and might as well be renamed the Silver Creek Legacy Project.

"It doesn't look much like the bill we started with, but it accomplished the goals of the conservation community and addressed the concerns of the Triangle farmers," Stennett said Wednesday night. "We made sausage once again. It's not what we set out to do, but we got it done."

The most significant change to the proposed bill is that all donated water north of the District 45 Canal in Bellevue will be diverted east into the Bellevue Triangle and Silver Creek system, not the Big Wood River.

The project, which originally sought to enhance flows in a 12-mile stretch of the Big Wood River south of Bellevue has faced increasingly heavy opposition from farmers and ranchers in the Bellevue Triangle in the past several months.

The greatest concern is that the legislation would reduce groundwater supplies, injure irrigators in the Triangle and diminish flows at the world-famous Silver Creek.

The Bellevue Triangle is among Blaine County's last agricultural strongholds. The distribution of water in the area has been carefully refined over the past 87 years, when water in the Big Wood River was first diverted into a bypass canal near Glendale Bridge. That practice was implemented in 1920 due to the fact the soils in the Big Wood River channel south of Bellevue are highly porous, causing the river to seep into the ground.

The centerpiece of the Legacy Project is the alteration of Idaho's longstanding water laws, particularly the "use it or lose it" policy, which forces water rights holders to use all of their water or lose their rights to it.

Project leader Rich McIntyre, from Hailey, wants to change that law to provide water users with more options, specifically the ability to keep some of their water in-stream. McIntyre argued that enough people in the Wood River Valley would be willing to donate a portion of their water—keep it in stream—to revive the dry stretch of the Big Wood River.

Such an action, he claimed, would extend the Big Wood River fishery by a third, boosting the economy of the south county.

Farmers and ranchers, many of whom have expressed distrust over McIntyre's true intentions, countered that up-basin donations would reduce the already depleting aquifer since less water would be used for irrigation. Irrigation helps recharge the aquifer because a portion of the irrigated water seeps into the ground. The aquifer is the lifeblood of both the farmers and Silver Creek, which is formed by a network of aquifer-fed springs in the Triangle.

During the Feb. 16 meeting, which drew about 100 people, Triangle farmer Pepin Corso-Harris flashed a petition with more than 130 signatures from farmers and ranchers opposed to the Legacy Project.

Stennett told the audience that "the last thing I want to do is harm any water users or Silver Creek."

The stout opposition led Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen, who represents District 1, which includes the south county and Bellevue Triangle, to withdraw his support for the project in January. Schoen was, and still is, a member of the Legacy Project's advisory committee.

The opposition also spurred 11 amendments in the bill.

As mentioned, the most significant change is that all donated water north of the District 45 Canal, which splits off the Big Wood River in Bellevue, will be dispersed throughout the Triangle and the Silver Creek and Little Wood River systems.

"That was a major give, a major movement from the (Idaho Rivers United) guys," said Stennett, who has failed to pass similar legislation several times in the last decade. "But they saw the writing on the wall and said it's important to get the concept into Idaho water law."

Idaho Rivers United, a statewide, nonprofit conservation group devoted to the protection of Idaho's rivers, riparian areas and aquatic life, has been a supporter of the bill from the beginning.

Other major changes to the bill include:

· Anybody proposing to donate water must prove that it will not injure anyone else. That could include paying for scientific studies.

· Management of the donation process would be shouldered by the District 37 and 37M advisory board—which has jurisdiction over the Big and Little Wood river systems—instead of a committee with less local authority.

· The project would have a sunset clause of five years, meaning it can be removed from law at that time if it proves injurious.

"I'm very pleased that the concerns of my constituents were addressed," Schoen said. "We have had a healthy debate on the Legacy Project proposal, and that is critical to success in any legislation. I'm glad that the issue of injury was addressed in the bill, and it's better for it.

"I look forward to working in a positive way if it becomes law to bring this legislation into practice, and I do believe positive results will be achieved."

Stennett said one of the Legacy Project's greatest achievements to date is that it successfully toppled Idaho's firm political barriers, and it could pave the way for similar future legislation.

"What the (Idaho Rivers United) guys did was build a coalition and create a template for elsewhere," Stennett said. "It is a new way of looking at how we use water."

If passed by the full Senate next week, the bill will still need to pass the House Resources Committee and the full House.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.