02/13/08 Governor's Ag Award Winner, Guthrie

Jim and Carole Guthrie took over a run-down farm 18 years ago not realizing the force of the Portneuf River during the spring thaw. Jim says the fields were under water, the river banks were washing away and the river was eroding the foundations of some of his buildings. That's when a decade long drama began with the Guthrie's trying to stabilize the Portneuf. JIM GUTHRIE "Its been about a ten year project. Its very costly, a lot of hand labor, a lot of machine work in there. We put in for some permits. The first permits took about three years to get. It was just a big hassle. Finally we were just about ready to give up and just live with it. I asked the Water Resources and the Army Corps and some of those people I said 'what's the deal, don't you want the river fixed?' They said 'well we got 50 or 100 permits and nobody has ever acted on one." CAROL "One thing about Jim if there's any piece of ground he's going to develop it and make sure it produces." Today their farm is more like a refuge. Jim and Carole Guthrie Governor's Ag Award winners for environmental stewardship. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott