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Idaho Statesman
IDAHOSTATESMAN:AMcClatchyNewspaper,1200N.CurtisRoad,Boise, ID•P.O.Box40,Boise, ID83707• (208)377-6200•©2015 IdahoStatesman,Vol.150,No.299,3 sections, 30pages
SHOWERSPOSSIBLE
70° / 50° SEE A14
INSIDE TODAYANEWS&SPORTSCatchingUp A2-3 | Local news A4-5 | Legislature A4 | Business A6,9 | Nation/World A6-9 | Sports section A10-13 |Weather A14 | Stocks A14
DDEPTHGuestOpinion D1 | Columns D2 | Letters to the Editor D2 | Editorial Cartoon D2 | Legal Ads D5-6E EXPLORE Recipes E1 | CarolynHax E1 | Comics E2-3| Horoscopes E3 | Puzzles E3 | TV E2 | Obituaries E6 | Classifieds E7-9
ADA AND CANYON ELECTIONS
Tough night for schoolboard incumbents
NEWS, A4
LETTERMAN DEPARTS
END OF AN ERA FORLATE-NIGHT TV
NEWS, A7
VEHICLE RECALLS
Takata admitsair bags weredefectiveNEWS, A7
Stateandfederalofficialsarenearlydonewithplans for thegreatersagegrouse,which
hashabitatacross the11Westernstates that InteriorSecretarySally Jewellcalledher
agency’s toppriorityduringavisit inBoiseonTuesday.Officialshopetheirplanscan
staveoff listingof thebirdundertheEndangeredSpeciesAct,avoidingbroadrestrictions
onusesof11.5millionacresofsagebrushhabitat in theWest.Sinceshetookoffice in2013,
Jewell,whoappearedwithGov.ButchOtterataBoisenewsconference,above,hasmade
protectinggrousehabitat in thefaceofhottersummersandbigger firesahallmarkofher
tenure.But thechallengessheandotherofficials facearemanyandvaried,evenasCon-
gressconsidersnewlawsthatcouldrestrict federalofficials’ authority tousetheEndan-
geredSpeciesAct.StatesmanreporterRockyBarkersurveysthe landscape.DEPTH,D1
VIDEOOFJEWELL IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM
JEWELLRELEASESHERPLANFORFIGHTINGFIRESINGROUSEHABITATDEPTH,D5
ENDANGERED SPECIES
‘Our No. 1 naturalresource priority’
State and federal efforts are converging on savingthe sage grouse’s desert habitat from wildfires and other threats
DARIN OSWALD / [email protected]
Dr. Jamie Ricks D.C.
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Checkinfor final tallies fromTuesday’selectionforschoolandlibrarytrustees, firedistrict levies,aKunarecreationtaxingdistrictandmore. IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM
ON THE WEB
Former jockeyMartaLovelandhasn’t racedsinceatragicacci-dentat thetrack in2003 leftherparalyzed,butshe’sstillplayingakeyroleasLesBoisopensforan-otherseason. “Horsesaremypas-sion. ... I canstilldomypart,” shesaid.SPORTS,A10
HORSE RACING
LES BOIS OPENSNEW SEASONTONIGHT
Thoughcorruptionhasbeenlargelyrootedout inthecountry,somecriticssaynewredtape ispreventingfamilies fromhelpingneglectedchildren.DEPTH,D1
HAITI ADOPTION
CHILD-WELFARE FIXMAY BE FLAWED
TheTwinFallsCountySheriff’sOfficesaysa73-year-oldmanwhodiedintheSnakeRiverCanyononMay7wasattemptingamaneuver involvingaflamingparachute.A5
BASE JUMP DEATH
A STUNT GONEWRONG
Fromwhitewaterkayakingto
paragliding, theadventures
available inIdahocontribute to
aroughly$2billiontourism
industry.ReporterAudrey
Duttonexplores the
smorgasbordofactivities.Plus,
an interviewwiththecity’s top
conventionmarketer.
BUSINESS INSIDER
Making a livingon adrenaline
Watson, theIBMcomputersystemknownforbeating“Jeopardy”champions,hasbeenspendingtimeinthekitchenandjustpublishedaneccentriccookbook.EXPLORE,E1
RECIPE
Computer-approved quiche
GUEST OPINION
Community must beresponsible for Valley’saging population DEPTH, D1
LEGISLATURE SPECIAL SESSION
Otter promptly signs child support bill NEWS, A4
D LETTERS TO THE EDITOR D2 • LEGALS D5-6 WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
DepthInside: Opinions
A CLOWN CAR OF GOP CANDIDATES D2
‘GMO-FREE’ TREND NOT BASED ON SCIENCE D2
MayisNationalOlderAmer-icansMonth.Also, thisyear is the50thanniversaryof thepassageoftheOlderAmericansAct.This is
theperfect timetorenewourcommit-ment tomeetingolderresidents’needs.
Today,one in12Idahoseniors is livingwithhunger.
AARPestimates that63percentofour213,000residentswhoare65orolderrelyonSocialSecurity forhalfof their family income.Un-fortunately,morethanoneinthreeIdahoseniorsdependonSocialSecurity for theirentirehouseholdincome. It’snotsurprisingthenthatwhenyoufactor inout-of-pocketmedicalexpenses, 15per-centofourolderresidentsareliving inpoverty.WithAmericagettingolder—by2030nearlyoneinfiveU.Sresidentswillbe65orolder—weknowthepercentageofseniors inpovertywill increase,especially inruralcommunities.
Inresponsetothisdemograph-icshift,TheIdahoFoodbankisincreasing itseffort toservetheneedsofolderIdahoans.OurCookingMattersclasses,whileavailable toallages,helpseniorsonafixedincomeselectandpre-parefoodsthatwillensuretheyget thenutritiontheyneed.Specialclassesarealsoavailable forse-niorswithdietaryrequirementsimposedbyserioushealthcondi-tionssuchasdiabetes.
Sometimes, justgainingaccesstonutritious foodisachallenge.Lastyearwedistributedfoodformorethan13millionnutritiousmealsstatewide.Thisyear, thankstotheU.S.DepartmentofAgricul-ture,wewillbeprovidingaddi-tional foodsupport toseniors intheformofsupplementalcom-modities.Underthisprogram,eachmonthqualifyingseniorswillreceiveaboxcontainingavarietyof foodsessential forabalanceddiet.Theseboxeswillbedistrib-utedbyselectcommunitypart-ners fromourstatewidenetworkincludingsomeseniorcenters.
Werecognizethatensuringthewell-beingof Idahoseniorsre-quiresmuchmorethannutritiousfood.For thatreason,weareen-gagedincollaborativepartner-shipswithhealthcareorganiza-tions focusedondeliveringmuch-neededmedicalanddentalservic-es tounderservedpopulations—especially inrural Idaho.Offering“bundledservices”makesthebestuseof theavailableresources. Italsomeansthatdiabetesscreeningandeducation, forexample,canbepairedwitha“foodprescription”thatsupports thebesthealthout-comefor that individual.
MahatmaGandhi isreportedtohavesaid, “Themeasureofacivi-lizationishowit treats itsweakestmembers.”OlderIdahoansde-servetheopportunity toage inamannerthatallowsthemtoretaintheirhealth, independenceanddignity foras longaspossible;weowethemthatmuch.AtTheIdahoFoodbankwearepreparedtodoourpart.Weinviteyouto joinus.
KarenVauk is thepresidentandCEOof
TheIdahoFoodbank.Additional
informationaboutseniorprogramscan
befoundat idahofoodbank.org.
GUEST OPINION
Providinghope to Idaho
seniorsBY KAREN VAUK
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —Anne-Marie Saintou walks with amegaphone along the dusty lanesof aHaitian fishingvillage, implor-ing people not to make the samemistakeshedid.
“Ladies, say ‘NO!’ she shouts.“We will not give away our chil-
drenanymore.”Saintouispartofapublicaware-
nesscampaignthatreflectsagrow-ing disenchantment with interna-tional adoption in Haiti. Womenare going out daily to warn poorHaitians about recruiters for or-phanages who roam the country-sideofferingmoney,or falseprom-ises, to desperate parents strug-gling to raise children in theWest-ern Hemisphere’s mostimpoverishedcountry.
She speaks from bitter personalexperience.
The 42-year-old year, walkingthe unpaved streets in a long skirtand blouse with two companions,said she placed her 3-year-olddaughter, Mikerline, up for adop-tion 12 years go with the under-standingthatthechildwouldgetaneducation and come back. She re-ceived photos and a letter but lostcontact after three years. “I neverheardfromheragain.”
Anoverhaulofthechild-welfaresystem is drawing wide praise for
INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION
DIEU NALIO CHERY / The Associated Press
Anne-Marie Saintou shows pictures of her daughter Mikerline Boussicot,whom she gave up for adoption, inside her home in Arcahaie, Haiti, onMay 8.
Haiti fixes child-welfare system,but some fear too few adopted
Though corruption has beencleaned up, about 50,000kids remain in orphanages.
BY BEN FOX AND DAVID CRARY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
See HAITI, D3
“She sawnobirds, nothing alive but squirrels, gray like
the earth, and somehawks far above circlingaroundand
around. In her dooryard, even where she imagined her
front step might be, were tall sagebrush and scraggly
bushes, full of dust and the forgotten nests of former
years.”
VardisFisher, “Toilersof theHills,” 1928
Idaho author Vardis Fisher’swork celebrated the achieve-ment of Mormon pioneers
who carved fields of grain out ofthe native sagebrush and moun-tain mahogany that covered theAntelope Hills overlooking theSouth Fork of the Snake River ineastern Idaho. He captured theeconomic, social and ecologicaltransformation of the huge sage-brush landscape that dominatedthe American West physicallyandspiritually.
Today, just half of the West’ssagebrush steppe remains, about165 million acres fragmented byfarms, ranches, towns, roads,power lines, rural subdivisions,mines, and oil and gas wells. Thelossofhabitathas leftgreater sagegrouse populations, one of thedozens of animals that depend on
the sagebrush habitat, so deplet-ed that theU.S. Fish andWildlifeService decided in 2010 that list-ingthebirdunderthefederalEn-dangered Species Act was “war-ranted, but precluded.” Theagency said it had animals thatwereathigherpriorityforlisting.
When conservation groupssued,ajudgeorderedin2010thatthe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice reconsider and decide bySept. 30 whether to keep the“warranted” status quo or de-clare the bird’s status as an En-dangeredSpeciesActcandidate“not warranted.” At stake is
ENDANGERED SPECIES
Feds, states near end ofmassive sage grouse planBy Sept. 30, the Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether to end the threat of alisting that would limit energy development and grazing on habitat across 11 states
UNDERSTANDINGTHE FEDS’ PROCESS
Howbig is this conservation planning effort?Sage grouse habitat covers about 165million acres across the
IntermountainWest. Compare that to the habitat swept up in the1990s conservation effort for the spotted owl: 9.6million acres.What other species are dependent on the sagebrush ecosys-tem?
Sage grouse are a closelywatched gauge of the health of thedesert. But the pygmy rabbit, sage sparrow, ferruginous hawk,Brewer’s sparrow, sage thrasher and sagebrush vole are otherdependent species.Mule deer and golden eagles also live in sage-brush country.Will theU.S. Fish andWildlife Service list sage grouse as threat-ened or endangered species this year?
No.Congress specifically banned the agency fromspending anymoney on such a decision through Sept. 30 and it is expected tokeep that ban in place at least for another year.Sowhy is it doing anything?
U.S. District Judge B. LynnWinmill ordered it tomake a newdecision on sage grouse by Sept.30.Sowhat can the agency do?
It can keep the status quo,which is the determination that listingthe upper sage grouse is “warranted but precluded.”What does thatmean?
Thatmeans there is scientific evidence the bird is threatenedwith extinction but that other species, such asHawaiian song birdsthat have only a few individuals left, are a higher priority. Thatmakes sage grouse a candidate species, which requires federalagencies to consider their needswhenmaking decisions but doesnot include the tougher consultation rules thatwould be required ifthe birdswere listed as threatened or endangered.What other choices do the feds have?
The golden ticket that leaders of all 11 states and the federalagencies hope for is a “notwarranted” decision. Thatwouldmeanenough conservationmeasures are taking place to turn the bird’spopulation decline and into a growth trend. But Fish andWildlifeServiceDirectorDanAshe also could issue a “notwarranted” overmost of the range and leave portionswhere conservation programsare insufficient in the “warranted, but precluded” category.!
SEE A VIDEO ON JEWELL’S VISIT AND READ MOREABOUT THE GROUSE AND FIRE
MANAGEMENTIdahoStatesman.com
DARIN OSWALD / [email protected]
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell walks along a trail in the Boise Foothills on Tuesday, where she met with Gov. Butch Otter and discussed fire-fighting plans related to sage grouse.
BY ROCKY BARKER
[email protected]© 2015 Idaho Statesman
JEWELL UNVEILS WILDFIREPLAN TO PROTECT GROUSEHABITAT D5
See SAGE GROUSE, D4
D4 ● WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015 IDAHO STATESMAN ● IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM
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whether to invoke or prevent thepowersoftheacttolimitenergyde-velopment, livestock grazing andother activities in thebird’s habitatacross 11 states.
For five years the great-grand-sons and great-daughters of thepioneerswhofirstplowedthroughthe sagebrush have worked on amassiveconservationeffort aimedat keeping the sage grouse off theendangeredspecies list.
“We’ve got the federal govern-ment and 11 states working on anecosystemthat’sbeenabusedorig-noredfor 100years,” saidPaulRut-ledgeof theNationalAudubonSo-ciety.
Once, asmanyas 16million sagegrouse made their home in thesamelandsas theroamingherdsofbuffalo, elk, mule deer and ante-lope. Today scientists fear thenumber has dropped to below200,000. A study just released byUniversity of Idaho scientist Ed-ward Garton shows that the num-ber of breeding males counted atgrouse-mating sites fell by 56 per-cent from 2007 to 2013, from109,990to48,641.
That prompted retired IdahoDepartmentofFishandGamesagegrousebiologist JackConnellyand10 other scientists to write a sternlettertofederalofficialsearlierthisyear about the sage grouse plansnowbeingdeveloped.
“We are issuing a warning thatthey need to pay attention to thescience and make sure their plansare biologically sound,” Connellysaid. “There’s an awful lot ofwish-ful thinkingout there.”
Still, Connelly and others haveworked with states, ranchers andothers to make the plans strongenough to turn around the bird’sslide. The conservation measuresincludepreventingenergydevelop-ment in the best grouse habitat,stoppingfire,reversingtheinvasionof cheatgrass and junipers intosagebrush, and halting the plowingofsagebrushfor farmingandsubdi-visions.Theyalsoincludenewstan-dardsfor livestockgrazing.
“There’s nothing that even re-sembles the size and scale of thesage grouse conservation effort,”saidTimGriffiths,nationalcoordi-nator of the SageGrouse Initiativefor theNatural ResourcesConser-vationService.
CONGRESSSTEPS IN
Fearful of the economic conse-quences that a listing could un-
leash, Congress weighed in lastyear,preventingfederalwildlifeof-ficialsfromspendinganymoneyinthis year’s budget to list the sagegrouse as threatened or endan-gered.Newproposals inCongresswould extend that congressionalbanforuptoto10years.
“Congressshouldlettheprocesswork,” Interior Secretary SallyJewellsaid inaninterviewwiththeIdahoStatesmanonTuesday.
So federal officials can’t list. Butbecause the Fish andWildlife Ser-vicemust act beforeOct. 1 tomeetthe deadline set by U.S. DistrictCourt Judge B. Lynn Winmill ofBoise, ithas limitedoptions:
➤ It could keep the current“warranted”status.
➤ Itcoulddowngradethebird’sprotection across the range by de-ciding listing isnotwarranted.
➤ It could keep the current“warranted” status on a portion ofthe range, while saying listing is“notwarranted”onotherparts.
Thegoaloffederalandstatelead-ers is to develop an approach thatwill persuade listing officials thatplans in place will protect the birdand a listing is not needed. To dothat, they need enough conserva-tion measures in place or reasona-blycertaintobeinplacetosupportascientific judgmentnot to list.
To meet the “not warranted”goal, federal andstate leadershavedevelopeda largely three-pronged
conservationapproach: upgradingfederal management plans to in-clude stronger conservation mea-sures on public lands; upgradingstateplanstoconservesagegrouseon private and state lands; and de-veloping the fire plan unveiledTuesday by Jewell to address thegreatest threat to the bird in theGreatBasinofUtah,Nevada,IdahoandOregon
The Bureau of Land Manage-ment is expected to complete itsupdatedmanagementplanforbothits lands and national forest sage-brush habitat in Idaho andMonta-na by the end of this month. It al-readyhasshared itsdraft finalplanwithIdaho,whichisapartnerintheplanning process and whose planBLMhas recommended has a “co-preferredalternative.”
WORKINGTOGETHER
Western governors, includingIdahoGov. ButchOtter,were frus-trated in FebruarywhenBLMoffi-cials announced that their planwouldaddanother layerofprotec-tion at the request of the Fish andWildlife Service. The BLM identi-fied strongholds, or “focal areas,”where the“bestof thebest”habitatis to be withdrawn from possiblemineraldevelopmentandotherac-tivitiesmustbereviewed.
Thiswas seen by leaders acrossthe West as adding more restric-tions after they had agreed on the
setofconservationmeasures, suchas how to ensure that grouseground cover is protected fromovergrazing.
“I call it dirty pool,” said IdahoHouseSpeakerScottBedke.
But Otter said in a Boise newsconferencewithJewellonTuesdaythattheBLMplanisgoodforranch-ersandshouldmoveforward.
“The quicker we can arrive atconclusions,thequickerwecangetresults,” Otter said. “We’re closebutwe’renotquite there.”
DustinMiller,directorofOtter’sOffice of Species Conservation,said the BLM stuck with languageon grazing management that rec-ognizes that sagebrush habitat hasdifferentlevelsofpotentialtogrowgrassbackafterannualgrazingandthatgrouseuseareasdifferently. Inotherwords:Managerswon’tuseaone-size-fits-all standard for howmuch grass needs to be left aftercattlehavegrazed,Millersaid.
“Interior and BLM has seemedtotrytoworkwithus,”Millersaid.
Despite these assurances, IdahoCattleAssociation executive direc-torWyatt Prescott isn’t completelypersuaded. He and other industrygroupsacrosstheWestaresupport-ing legislation from Utah Republi-canRep. RobBishop thatwould al-low states to decidewhether a newpublic landmanagement plan goesintoeffectontheir land.
If Bishop’s bill passes and the
BLM plan satisfies ranchers andother industry groups, then thestate could “opt in” and allow theplan to be finalized. Critics say itgivestatespowerover federal landdecisions that would be unprece-dented.
Audubon’s Rutledge said suchpolitical interference in the man-agement-plan process would un-dercut the federal government’scase before Winmill or anotherjudge, if federalofficialsmakeade-cision that listing is “not warrant-ed.” Even worse, Rutledge said, itwoulderodethemomentumof thecollaborative conservation effortsnow in the works as federal, stateand private partners wait for an-other five years to make the hardchoices.
“By that time,wewillhaveham-mered the nail in the coffin of sagegrouseandopenedthedoorforlist-ing of a dozenother species in thatecosystem,”Rutledgesaid.
Last week attorneys for Advo-cates for theWest inBoiseandoth-er environmental groups involvedin the sage grouse lawsuits met inDenver todiscuss strategyasCon-gressconsidersactionsandfederalagencies complete their decisions.If the groups determine the plansdon’t meet scientific thresholds orthat Congress won’t fund updatesin conservation and grazing plans,the groupsmay askWinmill to or-der that more be done to protectsagegrouse.
Butifthestatesbeefuptheirownplansandthefederalagenciescom-plete their work by September,Rutledgehopesforasuccessstory.
Just as Fisher’s “Toilers of theHills” pioneers found ways tocarve farms and livelihoods fromthedesert,Rutledgehopestheneweffortrestorestheland’sresilience,helps fight drought and increasesfeed for cattle while stopping theslideof thesagegrouse.
“If we restore the carrying ca-pacity of this sagebrush landscapeforthegrouse, itwillsupportbene-fits foreveryone,”Rutledgesaid.
RockyBarker: 377-6484;
Twitter:@RockyBarker
SAGEGROUSE
CONTINUED FROM D1
ROCKYBARKER
Rocky is the author of“SavingAll theParts: Reconcil-ing Economicsand the En-dangered Spe-ciesAct.” Hewrites about
energy and environmentalissues for the Statesman.
DARIN OSWALD / [email protected]
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell commends 14-year-old Ilah HIckman, right, on her efforts to makethe Idaho giant salamander the official state amphibian.