6-8 IAN Farming vs. Golf

Did winter come back to Idaho in May and June? Sure feels like it. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with details. Ron Abramovich  and The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service recently measured the snow at Mores Creek Summit near Idaho City in an ongoing effort to determine what we can expect in Idaho this summer waterwise. In fact, winter came back to Idaho in late May with a 16 inch snowfall at Bogus Basin and 14 inches of new snow at the Owhee Mountain South Mountain site.

 All of that said there are always water wars irrespective of how much or how little water there is and farmers take a lot of heat about their water use. They get very little credit for being stewards of water use and water expert Steve Ebke speaks out about this very issue: “We continue to come under pressure, in fact farmers have voluntarily practiced good soil and water conservation for a number of years and yet have not been given credit for that and in fact regulators are looking to ag to increase their efforts for understanding the water quality issues and being able to discuss them then.”

 I know this will get me in trouble with golfers but let’s be fair. Have you ever noticed how many great golf courses there are in Idaho. Seen the rich green fairways that stay that way all through the hot summer months. How much water does that take? I know pars and eagles are great things but can you eat it?