Latest news with #IdahoStateDepartmentofAgriculture
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shelley to serve as Idaho's ‘Capital for a Day' with Gov. Little, state officials
Idahoans make their way to committee hearing rooms at the Idaho State Capitol building on Jan. 23, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) The southeastern Idaho city of Shelley will serve as the host of Idaho's next 'Capital for a Day' event on Wednesday. Capital for a Day events feature Gov. Brad Little and many of the state's agency directors traveling to smaller communities throughout Idaho. During the events, the governor and agency heads discuss state issues and programs and conduct an open forum for local residents to ask questions or make suggestions. 'Capital for a Day is a great opportunity for myself and my administration to hear from Idahoans about the needs of their community,' Little said in a written statement. 'I look forward to sharing this tradition with the good people of Bingham County and learn how we can better serve them.' Little's predecessor, former Gov. Butch Otter, also conducted regular Capital for a Day events around the state during his three terms in office. When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 28 Where: Heart 2 Hand Bingham Food Pantry, at 190 S. Holmes Ave. in Shelley Officials set to join Little at the Jerome event include: Idaho Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke Idaho State Department of Agriculture Director Chanel Tewalt Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Mat Weaver Idaho Office of Energy and Mineral Resources Administrator Cally Younger Department of Parks and Recreation Director Susan Buxton Division of Financial Management Administrator Lori Wolff Idaho Transportation Department Director Scott Stokes Idaho State Board of Education Executive Director Jenn White Department of Lands Deputy Director Michele Anderson Department of Health and Welfare Deputy Director Monty Prow Department of Environmental Quality Regional Administration Katy Bergholm Idaho State Police Capt. Chris Weadick SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Idaho watercraft inspection stations are open for the season. Here's what to know.
Watercraft inspectors Ron Lang, left, and Fabian Rendon, clean and dry a kayak at Centennial Waterfront Park in Twin Falls on Aug. 8, 2024. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun) Watercraft inspection stations managed by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture are open for the 2025 season. This means all boat owners — regardless of their watercraft size, propulsion, motorized or non-motorized — must stop for mandatory inspection when traveling past an inspection station during operating hours. Inspection stations are essential to prevent invasive species, such as quagga mussels, from entering Idaho's waterways. Quagga mussels were first discovered in the Snake River near Twin Falls in 2023, and have since cost the state millions to suppress as they have the potential to outcompete other aquatic species and clog agricultural and energy infrastructure. Quagga mussel elimination efforts have also killed thousands of native fish in the Snake River, including at least 48 white sturgeon, some of which were up to 35 years old and eight feet long, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 'We take this seriously': ISDA director on out-of-state boat traffic, Idaho quagga mussels 'Stopping at watercraft inspection stations and following the simple steps of cleaning, draining, and drying your watercraft are essential to ensuring Idaho's waters thrive for generations to come,' department director Chanel Tewalt said in a press release. 'It is up to all of us — boaters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts — to take responsibility in safeguarding our waters from invasive species.' Idaho law requires all out-of-state watercraft to be inspected and decontaminated at a watercraft inspection station prior to launch. When entering Idaho, boat owners should look for road signage and electronic message boards directing them to inspection stations. Before launching a watercraft in Idaho, nonresident owners must also purchase an invasive species sticker. Before transporting any watercraft, Idaho law requires operators to remove the drain plug and drain all water, including from internal compartments such as ballasts, bilges, live wells, and motors. All bilge and ballast plugs and other barriers that prevent water drainage must be removed and remain open while a watercraft is transported by land within the state. To prevent the spread of invasive species, watercraft owners can follow these steps: Clean all equipment before leaving any waterbody, removing visible plants and animals. Drain water from all compartments, including motors, live wells and boats. Pull the boat's bilge plug and allow water to drain. Dry all equipment thoroughly before using the watercraft in a different waterbody. In 2024, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture's Invasive Species Program performed nearly 157,000 watercraft inspections — a 44% increase from 2023. Throughout the history of the program, Idaho stations have performed over one million inspections. For more information, contact the Idaho State Department of Agriculture Invasive Species Hotline at 877-336-8676 or visit the Invasive Species of Idaho website. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘We take this seriously': ISDA director on out-of-state boat traffic, Idaho quagga mussels
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture in the fall of 2023 and 2024 used Natrix to kill of quagga mussels in sections of the middle Snake River. Natrix is a copper-based pesticide registered by the Environmental Protection Agency used to kill invasive aquatic species. (Courtesy of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture) Idaho needs to have a 'critical conversation' about what out-of-state boat traffic looks like, Chanel Tewalt, Idaho State Department of Agriculture director, told Idaho legislators on Tuesday. In a presentation to the House Agricultural Affairs Committee, Tewalt updated legislators on the department's progress of eliminating invasive quagga mussels in the Snake River — a mission that has cost the state millions. CONTACT US Quagga mussels were first discovered in September 2023 in the middle Snake River near Twin Falls, marking the first time quagga mussels had ever been found in the Columbia River Basin. While the department's program to eliminate the mussels is well-resourced and efforts have reduced mussel populations in the river, Tewalt said the state must better communicate and enforce its strict watercraft inspection requirements to people visiting Idaho with boats. 'Idaho law says you will not haul a boat that has ballast water in it. You will not launch on Idaho waters if you are an out-of-state boater without having an inspection,' Tewalt said. Tewalt said visitors from states with severe water issues, like Arizona or Colorado, don't share Idaho's conservation and agricultural priorities — which she said poses the greatest risk to the state. 'When we haul a livestock trailer through California, we know there's different rules than when we haul at home,' she said, adding that many Idahoans traveling with their livestock in California have gotten fined. 'We need that same kind of concept, that same scaffolding,' Tewalt said. 'When folks haul boats to Idaho, you need to know that we take this seriously.' At the beginning of her presentation, Tewalt discussed the history of Idaho's invasive species program. In the late 1980s, quagga and zebra mussels were detected in the U.S. for the first time. The species came from Central Europe, and quickly infested the Great Lakes. From that point, quagga and zebra mussels moved westward. In response, the Idaho Legislature in 2008 passed the Invasive Species Act calling on the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to set up boat check stations and implement an invasive species program. 'As much as they're a problem in the Great Lakes, those things are not dependent on irrigation, and they're not dependent on hydropower like we are in Idaho,' Tewalt told the committee. The invasive mussels pose a threat to Idaho and the Columbia River Basin by: Clogging pipes used to deliver water, energy, agriculture, recreation and other uses Eliminating Idaho's biological landscape Costing taxpayers millions of dollars in actual and indirect costs Idaho's quagga mussel elimination plan has been the biggest of its kind ever attempted in the United States, Tewalt told the committee. The department in fall of 2023 and 2024 used Natrix, a copper-based pesticide registered by the Environmental Protection Agency used to kill invasive aquatic species. The 2023 treatment, however, resulted in the death of thousands of fish, or six or seven tons of fish that had floated to the river's surface. Among those fish were 48 white sturgeon, the oldest of which was 35 years old and up to eight feet in length, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 'As heartbreaking as it is for people who have worked their whole lives in natural resources, the alternative is worse,' Tewalt told the committee. 'Us doing nothing is worse.' During the 2024 legislative session, legislators approved $6.6 million in the fiscal year 2025 budget for invasive species prevention efforts, with an emphasis on the Twin Falls area, the Sun previously reported. Meanwhile, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture spent $1.5 million on Natrix in 2023 and $2.1 million in 2024 after increasing its use by 40% across more areas of the river, department spokesperson Sydney Kennedy told the Sun. The department has seen progress, but the effort is still ongoing. 'We knocked back the population, but finding any mussels is unacceptable,' Tewalt said, adding that the mussels can reproduce anywhere between 2,000 to a million eggs per year. Nic Zurfluh, the bureau chief of the department's invasive species program, presented alongside Tewalt. The department conducted larvae sampling in summer water temperatures to track the presence of the invasive species. And so far, he said department staff have not seen the substrate — or sediment, soil and other materials at the river's bottom — fully covered with quagga mussels. Idaho officials are finding fewer invasive quagga mussels – and dead fish – in Snake River 'We actually went through all 2024 without observing a single adult mussel,' Zurfluh said. Zurfluh said the quagga mussel elimination efforts have required partnership between local, state and private entities. From working with hydrology experts, Idaho Power and the Idaho Department of Lands to out-of-state labs and the Simplot Company, he said the department has relied on their expertise and dedication, all driven by their commitment to natural resources and the environment. Monitoring the mid-Snake River for quagga mussel larvae remains an ongoing effort, and water access from Pillar Falls to Twin Falls Dam remains closed. For updates on Idaho's quagga mussel elimination efforts, visit the official Invasive Species of Idaho website. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
