Ag groups hopeful about Trump administration

BOISE — One year into President Donald Trump’s term, many Idaho agricultural organizations are hopeful that their members will see progress on key issues. “I’ve never seen the agricultural community so united,” said Carl Pendleton, who farms in Lincoln County. He had just returned from a meeting in Washington, D.C. As organizations have begun holding their annual conventions, reforming environmental regulations is a high priority. That’s not new, but what is new is the sense of optimism that their voices will be heard. “This administration values and wants state input,” said Norm Semanko during the fall Idaho Water Users Association water law seminar. “The last two times I have been to D.C., Trump appointees say, ‘What do states think? What do states want?’’’ Ethan Lane, executive director of the Public Lands Council, had an equally optimistic tone when talking with members of the Idaho Cattle Association at their annual convention in Sun Valley. Modernizing the Endangered Species Act and the Antiquities Act are high on their agenda. “Even if you don’t have a listed species on your land, you are dealing with agencies who are managing listed species or a species that may be listed,” Lane said. One of the problems with trying to reform the ESA is that it’s the one of the most popular acts in America. “It saved the bald eagle. It’s iconic,” Lane said. ”Our goal is to make the ESA work like the rest of America thinks it already does.” The Public Lands Council worked with the Western Governors Association and several environmental groups to develop a list of reforms that both sides could live with. “We want to make it easier to get a species off the list and harder to get a species on the list,” Lane said. “This is the closest we’ve been to having a live ball that we can take to Congress.” Lane expects to see a decision released on the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah soon and that 1 million or so acres could be trimmed from the 1.35 million acres designated by President Barack Obama. When that happens the environmental community will freak out, Lane said, but grazers need to be ready to say that they agree that a U.S. president should not have the authority to make large monument designations. The Antiquities Act should allow a president the flexibility to protect a small ancient village site, should one be discovered during their term, but not to take a million acres around that site, Lane said. “The president taking action on this issue will create enough noise that we hope we can move forward with reforms.”...more