03/09/06 NAP deadline, answering a lawsuit

Idaho producers only have a few more days to apply for Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance for most spring seeded crops. Idaho Farm Service Agency director Wayne Hammon says those applications must to in to the local county FSA office before the March 15th deadline. NAP covers losses from damaging weather conditions but that coverage is only available for crops that are not insured under the Federal Crop Insurance program. Producers are also strongly encouraged to contact a Multi-Peril Crop Insurance agent for information on insurable crops. The sales closing date under MPCI is also March 15th. An alliance of Idaho water user groups is asking a federal judge in Portland to toss out a lawsuit filed by environmental groups because there are at least four legal and procedural flaws in it. At the same time the Coalition for Idaho Water also filed its response to a motion by environmentalists asking that Upper Snake River projects in Idaho be included in salmon recovery efforts on the Lower Snake and Columbia River. Coalition officials say the environmentalists' lawsuit also directly threatens the historic 2004 Snake River Water Rights Agreement reached between the federal government, the state and the Nez Perce Tribe. Details about this and other stories daily at our website, www.aginfo.net Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott