When Curtis Elke took over as Idaho State Conservationist of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) more than five years ago, he noticed that there was an unusual level of cooperation between many state and federal agencies in the state. He was excited to expand that even further with his extensive experience building partnerships and relationships for 12 years in agriculture private industry, and working in five states with local, state and federal partners.
To get the lay of the land, he met with a number of other state or regional directors from state and federal agencies, Native American tribes, ag producers and wildlife interest groups, and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) and then-Lt. Gov. Brad Little (R). He was pleased to notice that the agency directors were receptive to working together and understood the value of leveraging each one’s available resources to get more done at the ground level.
To keep the dialogue going on an informal basis, Elke started meeting quarterly with partner natural resources agency officials at Elmer’s Restaurant in Boise. There was no set agenda other than establishing and strengthening relationships.
“There are 10 to 12 of us who have been attending on a regular basis,” he says. “It has proven to be very valuable for each of us in forming strong friendships.”
The group includes the state directors of Idaho Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Idaho Fish and Game, Idaho Cattle Association, The Nature Conservancy, Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Idaho Department of Lands (IDL), Idaho Soil and Water Conservation Commission, Idaho Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Idaho Ground Water Appropriators, and the Idaho office of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We talked about what we could do to break down the policy, regulatory and other known barriers between the agencies and have more of an ‘All Hands, All Lands’ approach to land management,” Elke says. “How can we erase the lines and treat the landscape as one whole?”
Since that time, Elke and his team have been nurturing the growth of NRCS’ partnerships with fellow state and federal agencies and nonprofit conservation groups to a list that exceeds 100 different groups. He recently added Frank Beum, regional forester for the USDA Forest Service in Ogden, UT.
“I feel so grateful for the relationships we have in Idaho,” he says. “We have remarkable partnerships that are also considered friendships. Everyone is very humble. Everybody wants to work together. It makes my life so much easier, and my team’s life much easier.
“Also, successful partnerships take work. Because each of us are dedicated to the position we serve and value each other as we do, we are also willing to invest in each other as we have.”
Partnership projects in natural resources management include:
• Working with the Idaho Transportation Department to reduce blowing dust and top soil next to Interstate freeways in Southeast Idaho and Eastern Idaho;
• Water efficiency, aquifer recharge and water conservation projects across the Snake River Plain;
• The new Cheatgrass Challenge with county noxious weed coordinators; soil and water conservation districts; 50 private landowners; BLM; Idaho Fish and Game; Idaho Governor’s Office on Species Conservation; IDL; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and nonprofits working together on six initial projects in 2020;
• Post-fire rehabilitation projects like the coordinated response to the Soda Fire complex in the Owyhee Canyonlands and the coordinated response on private, state and federal lands in the aftermath of the Sharps Fire in the Pioneer Mountains;
• Soil and water conservation projects through partnerships with the Idaho Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, ranchers and farmers, and the Conservation Commission;
•Soil health initiatives to encourage no-till direct-seed farming, planting cover crops between cash crops, and grazing cover crops with livestock to enrich the soil;
• Nutrient management projects in the Magic Valley to help landowners with dairy manure management in land application processes; and
• Shared stewardship projects focusing on forest management and improving forest health in Idaho.
Elke is excited about the Cheatgrass Challenge, the latest initiative. Coming to Idaho from NRCS offices in the Dakotas, Oklahoma and Massachusetts, he was amazed by the reach of cheatgrass and other invasive weeds on Idaho’s private and public lands. When sage-steppe lands get burned over multiple times by man-caused fires or wild blazes ignited by lightning, cheatgrass can outcompete native grasses post fire. Cheatgrass is highly flammable after it dries up in the spring, creating even more of a fire hazard than before.
Cheatgrass was brought into the West via shipments of wheat from Europe in the late 1800s, and it quickly spread across the landscape. It covers an estimated 100 million acres in the West. In Idaho, the BLM estimates that invasive plants have encroached on 4.2 million acres of rangeland in Southern Idaho. At least 6 percent of those lands have been affected by cheatgrass and other invasive species, officials said.
“We were talking about the problem at the Western Governors’ Association conference, and all the smoke we have been enduring in August from fires in the Great Basin, grassland and forest fires, I thought, it’s time to reject this norm and take action,” Elke says.
With six projects planned in 2020 with a budget of $750,000, the partnership team selected projects where cheatgrass can be reduced through a multi-pronged strategy of using prescribed burning, targeted grazing, chemical treatments, seeding and more to restore perennial grasses and plants. The projects were intentionally selected in locations where there is a good chance of success, officials said.
“I’m calling it a war on invasive annuals,” Elke says. “We are at war with cheatgrass and invasive species in Idaho. We want to see some quick wins.”
Overall, Elke wants to see Idaho’s partnerships continue to grow in numbers while leveraging the resources of each one for the good of Idaho and its citizens.
“It’s all about relationships, and that takes time to build trust,” he says. “We need to continue building bridges with our traditional and non-traditional partners to expand the scope of what we’re getting done on the ground. I want to see outcomes and strong results for everyone’s benefit today and for the next generation to follow.
“Together we are Team Idaho, and we are stronger because of our extensive partnerships.” — Steve Stuebner
(Steve Stuebner is a long-time natural resources writer who specializes in conservation success stories.)
