Idaho Statesman

IDAHOSTATESMAN:AMcClatchyNewspaper,1200N.CurtisRoad,Boise, ID•P.O.Box40,Boise, ID83707• (208)377-6200•©2015 IdahoStatesman,Vol.150,No. 334, 3 sections, 26pages

TRUCKS, BULLDOZERS OK’D IN CHURCH WILDERNESS A5

MOSTLYSUNNY

93° / 65° SEE A14

INSIDE TODAY ANEWS&SPORTSCatchingUpA2-3 | LocalnewsA4-6 | BusinessA9 |Nation/WorldA7-9 | SportsA10-13 |WeatherA14 | StocksA14

DDEPTH EditorialD1 |OpinionsD2 | Letters to theEditorD2 |GuestopinionD2 | EditorialCartoonD2 | LegalAdsD5-6EEXPLORE Recipes E1 |CarolynHax E1 |Comics E2-3 |Horoscopes E3 | Puzzles E3 |TV E2 |Obituaries E5|Classifieds E6

BOISE STATE

AD Apsey surprised,happy to be back

SPORTS, A10

MAKE HUMMUSA FULL DINNER

Plus, recipes for tangy salad, flavorful trout

EXPLORE, E1 & E4

NSA

U.S. madehabit of spyingon French

NEWS, A8

TheRodneyDangerfieldofplantsintheWestisusuallyscorned,whenit’snotsimplyignored.

Butwithnewattentionbeing focusedonthe fateof the imperiledgreater sagegrouse,pro-

tectingitssagebrushhabitat fromfire,erosionanddevelopmenthastakenonanewpromi-

nence. The Statesman’s Rocky Barker wanted to find out more, and even the veteran environ-

mental reporter was surprised to learn all of the benefits the humble bush delivers for water,

animals andhumans—andwhat researchers suchasChelseaMerrimanandAdrianRus, above,

arehopingsciencecanreveal.SEEOURVIDEOONSAGEBRUSHSCIENCEATIDAHOSTATESMAN.COM • READROCKY’SSTORYINDEPTH,D1

SAGEBRUSH

IT JUST GETS NO RESPECTDo people really care about this Western plant? Many do, and perhapsyou will, too, when you learn more about this denizen of the desert

KATHERINE JONES / kjones@idahostatesman.com

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$1 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

Inthepastyearandahalf, thenation’sgovernors—Idaho’sButchOtterandWisconsin’sScottWalker, left, amongthem—havetakenmorethan80trips to30countries totrytodrumupbusiness for theirstates.Whatdotheyhavetoshowforspendingall thatmoneyontravel?Often,notmuch,anAssociatedPressreport indicates.DEPTH,D1

GOVERNORS ABROAD

Trade missions don’t always produce accomplishments

Rivalclubs fromBoise

andMeridianhavecome

together toforma

formidableUnder-19girls

teamintheFarWest

RegionalChampionships,

but itopenedwitha2-1

defeat. SPORTS,A10

YOUTH SOCCER

A TOUGH LOSSIN OPENER

Ournewfeature,“Today’sQues-tion,” isupandrunningonWednesdaystoSundaysonourFacebookpage.Sowhat is today’squestion?Whatpersonwouldyouliketodinewith,andwhy?GotoFacebook.com/IdahoStatesman toparticipate.

ON THE WEB

Hey,people, it’s summer.Whatdidyouexpect?Well,maybenotabunchof100-degreedays inarowinlate June.But that’swhat liesahead.NEWS,A4

THE HEAT

You could fry anegg on Greenbelt

Theschooldistrict’sboardvoted3-2onTuesdaytogiveaformalreprimandtoTrust-eeCarolSaylesoveranelec-tioneveemail sent fromadistrictaccount.NEWS,A6

➤ InCaldwell,noexplana-tion isgivenfor thesuperin-tendent’sdismissal.A6

EDUCATION

CENSURE INWEST ADA

PINK FLAMINGOS

Creator of thatubiquitous lawnornament dies D5

It tookahorribleracialhatecrime,butstates intheSoutharenowthinkingseriouslyabout

what theConfederate flagmeansandaretakingstepstoeradicate it.Mississippi’s state flagincorporates theConfederacy,creatingauniqueproblem.NEWS,A7

CONFEDERATE FLAG

SOUTH CAROLINALEADS CHARGEFOR CHANGE

Theycouldn’tbemoredifferent,but this ‘oddcouple’of justicesrespectandlikeeachother,andstill socialize together.NEWS,A8

SUPREME COURT

Ginsburg, Scalia haveenduring friendship

STATESMAN EDITORIAL

Secretary of State Denney rightto scrutinize lobbying laws DEPTH, D1

D LETTERS TO THE EDITOR D2 • LEGALS D5-6 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015

Depth If you could pick anybody, past or present, toshare a meal with, who would it be and why?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT FACEBOOK.COM/IDAHOSTATESMAN

SecretaryofStateLawerenceDenneyiscorrect to lookintothematterof lobbying

activitiesbystateemployees. It isamongDenney’sduties tokeepthepublic informedaboutwhoistryingto influenceourLegisla-ture,andespecially if theex-changeofsometypeofgiftorbenefit is involved.

Wemightnot thinkofstateemployeesas lobbyists,but theyfit theverybroaddefinition:“Anyonewhoattempts throughcontactswith,orcausingotherstomakecontactwith,membersof theLegislatureor legislativecommitteesoranexecutiveofficial, to influencetheapproval,modificationorrejectionofanylegislationbythe legislatureofthestateof Idahooranycommit-teethereoforbythegovernorortodevelopormaintainrelation-shipswith,promotegoodwill,orentertainmembersof the legisla-tureorexecutiveofficials.”

Somestateemployees lobby,but there issomemurkinessaboutwhichonesshouldreportandunderwhatcircumstances.Denney, justsixmonths intohisfirst term,asksanexcellentques-tion,asreportedbytheIdahoStatesman’sBillDentzer lastweek: “If theDepartmentofTransportation invitesall thelegislators todinner, theyshouldreport it, themoneytheyspend.AndIthinkthat’sgoingtobethesolution.Thepeoplehavearighttoknowifastateagencyisdoinglobbying.”

Wecouldn’tagreemore.Den-ney’sscrutinyof thismatterbeganearlier thisyearwhentherewasareport thatsomestateboardofeducationmembershadbeentreatedtoround-tripex-pensestoattendtheFiestaBowl,atwhichBoiseStatedefeatedArizona.Thatdidnothappen,though.

But in theprocessDenneyhascomeacrosssomeloose lan-guage inoursystemthat theLegislaturewouldbewell-ad-visedtotightenup.Somestateemployeesareunder the impres-sionthat theydonothavetoregisterandreport theiractiv-ities.Andtwoopinions fromtheIdahoAttorneyGeneral’sOfficefrom2007and2015answersome,butnotall,of the importantout-standingquestions.

Thismatterneedsattentionandshouldheadthe listof itemstheLegislatureentertains inthe2016session.

Beforewecontinuetograntexemptionsfromregisteringandreportingtosomestateemploy-ees, let’sput thebarhigherandsimplydemandmaximumtrans-parencyanddisclosure.Denney’sideatopursuemoreclarity isastep intherightdirection.Let’sdevelopaconsistentsetofrulesthatdon’t relyoninterpretation,andthenlet’serronthesideofidentifyingwhathasbeenprof-feredandreport it.

Statesmaneditorialsare theunsigned

opinionexpressing theconsensusof

theStatesman’seditorialboard.To

commentonaneditorialorsuggesta

topic, email

editorial@idahostatesman.com.

STATESMAN

EDITORIAL

Denney rightto scrutinize

statelobbying

JEFFERSONCITY,Mo.—Gov-ernors across the country havebeen packing their bags for all-ex-penses-paid trade missionsabroad, spending taxpayer dollarsoncostly trips thathaveanuneventrack record of yielding tangible

benefits for theirstates.Lastweekalone,governorsof 10

states were jetting across Europe,many converging at an air show inParis. Others traveled to Canada,SouthAmericaandAsia.At thebe-ginning of last week, more than aquarter of the nation’s governorswereoutof thecountry.

Sincethestartof2014,governorshavetakenorscheduledmorethan80 trips to 30 countries in their ef-fortstoincreaseexportsandenticeforeign companies to expand in

their states, according to a nation-wide analysis of gubernatorialtrade trips by The AssociatedPress.

The results are mixed, withsome governors strikingmultimil-lion-dollar business deals and oth-

OFFICIAL TRAVEL

CHRISTOPHE ENA / The Associated Press

Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe was one of many governors who attended theParis Air Show this month in France.

Governors’ trade missions have

uneven record of successThey tout the trips as waysto give their states goodbusiness opportunities.

BY DAVID A. LIEB

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OTTER’S TRIP Idaho’s governormost recently was in Mexico andPeru with representatives of 19business entities. D4

See GOVERNORS, D4

DrivingfromUtahtorunIda-

ho’swhitewaterriversadecade

ago, Jennifer Forbey dismissed

the sagebrush that lined Inter-

state84asugly.

Since then, however, the

Boise State University biology

professorhasfalleninlovewith

an ecosystem that is iconic to

theWest.

“ThewayIseesagebrushisas

aruggedsurvivor,”saidForbey,

walkingthroughathickstandin

theFoothills.

Forbeyhasgottentoknowsa-

gebrushwell through her stud-

ies of the sage grouse and pyg-

my rabbit, which actually feed

on the bitter-tasting, toxic

plant. Her research shows that

these two species are com-

pletely dependent on sage-

brush during the winter and

have the ability to find the

plants that are least toxic and

have more protein and other

nutrients.

“Sagebrush survives partial-

ly through chemistry,” Forbey

said. “Chemistry protects it

from heat, ultraviolet light and

thoseanimalsthatwouldeatit.”

Butitschemistryhasnotpro-

tected it from human develop-

ment over the past 150 years.

When settlers arrived, nearly

300millionacresofwhatisnow

11 states was a largely contigu-

ous sagebrush ecosystem. To-

day nearly half of the complex

landscape that evolved since

the Pleistocene is gone, turned

into farms, converted into

grasslands or fragmented by

roads tomines, ranches, andoil

andgas rigs.

SAGEBRUSH

More than 300 speciesfind a home on the range

The fight over sage grouse has put the plant on center stage, but biologistssay it benfits far more than one bird and could even have medicinal value

SAGE GROUSE PYGMY RABBIT

COYOTE PUP/ U.S. Fish andWildlife Service photos

BREWER’S SPARROW

SOMEOFTHE SPECIESNATIVE

TOTHE SAGEBRUSH ECOSYSTEM

MAMMALS

PronghornBadgerWhite-tailed prairie dogWhite-tailed jackrabbitPygmy rabbitSagebrush voleCoyote

REPTILES&AMPHIBIANSGreat Basin spadefoot toadSagebrush lizardShort horned lizardPrairie rattlesnake

BIRDSPrairie falconNorthern harrierBrewer’s sparrow

Sage thrasherSage sparrowGreater sage grouse

INSECTSHarvester antDarkling beetleHeramoth

PLANTSWyoming big sagebrushMountain big sagebrushRabbitbrushWesternwheatgrassNeedle and thread grassBluebunchwheatgrassPlains pricklypearScarlet globemallowTapertip hawksbeardYarrowPurplemilkvetch

BY ROCKY BARKER

rbarker@idahostatesman.com© 2015 Idaho Statesman

See SAGEBRUSH, D3

SEE ‘THE SAGEBRUSHSEA’The documentary, which premiered on the PBS series

“Nature,”will be shown at Boise’s Egyptian Theatre on June 30at 6 p.m. Filmed partly on theNatureConservancy’s CrookedCreek Preserve in Idaho, the film showcases the diversity of lifein the sagebrush lands.

Following the showing, a discussionwill take placewith thefilm’s producer and those involved in sage-grouse conserva-tion efforts. The event, hosted byTheNatureConservancyandAudubon, is free and open to the public.

IDAHO STATESMAN ● IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015 ● D3

MORETHANONEBIRD

Biologist Kathleen Hen-dricks of the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service in Boisepoints out that of the morethan 300 species that live inanddependonthesagebrushhabitat,about50—includingsage grouse and pygmy rab-bits—couldn’tsurvivewith-out it. It provides winterrange for mule deer and elk,habitat for pronghorn ante-lopeandhomes for thesmallprey that raptors, includinggoldeneagles, feedon.

That brings people to thesagebrush country, includ-ing hunters, wildlife watch-ers, campers, mountain bik-ers, hikers, motorcyclistsand even anglers.AstudybyEcoNorthwest done for theWestern Values Project andthe Pew Charitable Trustfound that 13.8 million vis-itors spent $623 million in2013 in communities within50 miles of sagebrush recre-ation sites. Those figuresdon’t include the moneyspent on recreation outsidethe zone, such as guns, am-munition,campersandotherequipment.

But the ecological servic-es that the sagebrush steppeprovide to societymight ex-ceedtheseothervalues.

Mike Pellant, a BLMecol-ogist from Boise, said sage-brushhasevolved in thearidWest to provide watershedprotection, much the waytrees do in forests with farmore precipitation. Its vastroot system holds moistureand sends it deep into theground.

Sagebrush grows as highas 6 feet also captures snowlike a fence, allowing it tomeltslowlyandsinkdeepin-to the ground. The shrubsprevent the floods and ero-sion that occurwhen fire re-moves the sagebrush and al-lows invasive cheatgrass togainafoothold.

“Where we have bareground, we have more ero-sion,”Pellantsaid.

cheatgrass not onlydoesn’t hold the soil like theshrubs when flooding oc-curs, but it also doesn’t holdthe moisture. The grassquickly dries out, alongwiththesoilanditsbacteria, fungiandother tinyorganisms.

“Oursoilfertilityisdeclin-ing over time with cheat-grass,” Pellant said. “We’re

losing the ability to get backournativeplants.”

Thesagebrushecosystemalsostoresmorecarbonthanthe cheatgrass that replacesit. One study near Boiseshowed that carbon seques-tration dropped to a fourthwhen cheatgrass took overfromsagebrush,Pellantsaid.

“The sagebrush ecosys-tem is veryproductive,” Pel-lantsaid.“Ithasevolvedoverthousands of years to sup-port a very diverse commu-nity, including pollinatorsthat are critical for ourcrops.”

Comparing the sagebrushsea to a rainforest is not areach,Pellantsaid.

“Given theamountof rainwe have, the diversity andproductivity of the sage-brush steppe is remarkable,”hesaid.

NATURE’S ‘NOTEBOOK’

The more we learn about

sagebrushandtheotherspe-cies of the steppe, said For-bey, themorewe’re learningabout itsvalue.

“This is our old growth,”Forbey said. “This is our re-source.”

Therearemanyspeciesofsagebrush species, and greatdiversity among individualspecies, Forbey said. Thatcomplexityappliesaswell toitschemistry.

“Each leaf has 300 to 400uniquecompounds,”Forbeysaid.

Forbey is working withothers, including CarolynDadabay, an associate pro-fessor of chemistry at TheCollegeofIdahoinCaldwell,on potential medical uses ofsagebrush.

Since some of the chem-icalsitproducespreventani-mals from getting rid of thetoxics they ingestwhen theyeat it, researchers are study-ing whether those com-

pounds might help cancerpatients inchemotherapy.

When cancer becomesmore aggressive, cancercellsdeveloptheabilitytore-ject medications. If the re-searcherscanfindthechem-icals that keep the toxins inthe sagebrush-eaters, theyhope they might work thesame way on cancer cells.Forbey said there are otherpossible medical uses aswell.

“Weareonlybeginning tounderstand sagebrush,” For-bey said. “This is a livingnotebook. ...Whenweloseit,all that informationisgone.”

RockyBarker: 377-6484;

Twitter:@RockyBarker

1755329-0

1

SAGEBRUSH

CONTINUED FROM D1

THE BACKGROUND

The rapid decline of the greater sage grouse over the

past 50 years frommillions to as fewas 200,000 today

has kicked in the federal Endangered SpeciesAct, with its

mandate to protect biological diversity and the habitat on

which the animals rely. TheU.S. Fish andWildlife Service

will decide by Septemberwhether to keep the sage

grouse at its current status—warranted for listing under

the act, but precluded by othermore endangered species

—or notwarranted for listing.

That deadline has triggered a push for conservation

plans from federal agencies, the 11 states and ranchers,

environmentalists,miners, energy developers and others

that is nearly unprecedented. It also has brought ques-

tions, and proposed legislation, from some inCongress

aboutwhywe should place limits on development and the

economy all for one bird.

ROCKYBARKER

Rocky,who coversenvironment and energyfor theStatesman,has roamedtheWest’ssagebrushsea andhuntedsage grouse, pygmyrabbits andmule deer.

!VIDEOS: FIND

OUT ABOUT

SAGEBRUSH SCIENCE

IdahoStatesman.com

Scientists have deployeddrones over Western Idahoto map a little-known land-scapeaspartofanefforttore-duce wildfire risks and pro-tect sage grouse and otherwildlife.

They say they have tolearnmoreaboutwhatgrowsin the region so that whencharred areas are restored,land managers don’t plant atype of sagebrush that thegrousewon’teat.

“The lack of maps is ahuge, critical problem forconserving sagebrush andanyspecies ... thatdependonit,” saidMattGermino, aU.S.GeologicalSurveyecologist.

“We have probably re-plantedthewrongtypeofsa-gebrushtosomehabitats.”

A key part of the InteriorDepartment’s new wildfirestrategy involves replacingnativeplantsaftergiantblaz-es, an increasing problem in

rangeland over the past de-cade. Such efforts would re-duce the likelihood of inva-sive plants replacing sage-brush after fires. Thoseplantsoftenburnmoreeasily.

But without maps, landmanagerscan’tbesurewhichsagebrush subspecies toplant.

Scientists want to usedrones to identify and maptherangeofthreesubspeciesof big sagebrush. The mostabundant is calledWyomingbigsagebrush.Basinbigsage-brush is the most drought-tolerant. Mountain big sage-brush,meanwhile, is typical-lyfoundathigherelevations.

The first problem withcreating such a map, scien-tistssay, is theenormoussizeofthelandscape.Attemptstouse satellites have failed be-cause they can’t supply thenecessary detail. And send-ingscientistsoutonfoot isn’treallypractical.

The second problem is

that the threesagebrushsub-species are so similar thateven expert botanists exam-ining plants close up havetroubletellingthemapart.

Wildlife, however, can tellthe difference, said JenniferForbey, a researcher withBoiseStateUniversity.

Forbeytestedadroneovermanaged plots of sagebrushwest of Boise containing thethree plant species. Three

different camera lenses pro-videdifferentimages,includ-ing infrared, thatForbeysaidcould be layered to possiblydetermine the types of sage-brush. The technique, shesaid, has been successfullyusedinagriculture.

“In about two hours theyflyasquarekilometerofareausingmultiple sensors,” For-bey said. “They’re very rap-id.”

Shesaiditwilltakemonthsof analysis to determinewhether the drone plan willwork.

If successful, the map in-formation could be used byFrancisKilkenney,aresearchbiologistwith theU.S.ForestServiceRockyMountainRe-searchStationwhoisalsotheGreatBasinNativePlantPro-ject leader.Theproject isrunbytheForestServiceandU.S.

Bureau of Land Manage-ment.

He said drones couldmapplant communities before afire,determinetheamountofdamage after a fire, and thentrack the success of reseed-ingeffortsinfollowingyears.

“Wecan target plant com-munitiesthatarecriticalhab-itat for wildlife,” Kilkenneysaid. “I’mexcited toseewhatresultscomeoutofit.”

SAGEBRUSH

Study examines animals’ preference for types of plant

Pilot Ronald Looney from Empire Unmanned launches arobotic aircraft to take high-resolution digital images ofsagebrush habitat. He flew the aircraft over a research plotthree times with three different cameras that took thermaland color images.

Photos by KATHERINE JONES / kjones@idahostatesman.com

Research assistants Chelsea Merriman, right, and Adrian Rus, kneeling, along with Jennifer Forbey, assistant professor ofbiological sciences at Boise State University, place markers that can be seen from the air in a research plot of sagebrush.Three subspecies of sagebrush, grown from seeds from a variety of places in the West, were planted to see which wouldsurvive best, and researchers are hoping that aerial views will help simplify identification.

BY KEITH RIDLER

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS