If successful, a lawsuit filed in 5th District Court could eliminate irrigation on most of the Reinheimer Ranch, leaving Ketchum's scenic southern gateway dry and barren.
The multi-million-dollar property has been left undeveloped since the death of its former owner, Eleanor Reinheimer, in 1976. Reinheimer left 108 acres of the 114.5-acre property to the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands, a statewide land trust.
The other 6.5 acres, including the ranch house and barn, was left in a trust for use by Reinheimer's heirs. Her will states that the property's water right, which supplies it with water from Trail Creek, is to go with that smaller parcel. However, the will also directed that the larger parcel be leased to Myrle Bowcutt for his continued farming operations there. That required use of most of the water right.
Bowcutt relinquished his right to farm the property in April 2005. Now the trust's remaining living trustee, a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., resident named Douglas Bradshaw, wants that water right back.
Bradshaw filed a suit in 5th District Court in Hailey in February. Following an unsuccessful attempt to have the case moved to the Snake River Basin Adjudication Court, the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands filed an answer to the complaint in August.
"We're very concerned about this," said foundation President Don Weilmunster in an interview. "It's very important that the water stay with the property. Can you imagine what it would look like without it? Weed patches and desert."
Reinheimer's will directs that the property be kept in a "natural state." The suit requests a declaratory judgment ruling that the term "natural state" is incompatible with irrigation. It also seeks a ruling invalidating the foundation's claim that it owns the water rights to its parcel either through the will or through adverse possession due to use of the water on the parcel since 1977.
"Irrigating the property is consistent with 'keep in its natural state,'" the foundation states in its answer. "The intent of Eleanor Reinheimer was that the property be maintained as it had been, that is, as a ranch."
Amy Federko, the property's volunteer manager, said there is no other potential source of irrigation water.
Weilmunster said the foundation is concerned that part of the water right could be sold to downstream users.
Neither Bradshaw nor his attorney, Twin Falls resident Thomas Robertson, could be reached to answer questions about what they plan to do with the water right should their legal challenge be successful.
The Reinheimer Ranch barn is a landmark at the southern entrance to Ketchum Photo by Willy Cook
