High Country

Resource Conservation and Development  (RC&D) Council

The 2008 tour showcased improvements High Country RC&D has assisted in Fremont County, Idaho.  Tour participants traveled to the Fremont County Gravel Pit where the first stop was the Dyers Woad Project.  Jeremy Summers was hired as a private contractor this year to pull, survey, and educate local land owners about Dyers Woad in Fremont County.    Dyers woad originally establish along road sides, gravel pits, levees and railroad rights-of-way. From there this plant has the ability to spread by seed to well vegetated rangelands, pastures, forests, waterways, and crops lands – to include irrigated and non-irrigated alfalfa and winter wheat.  Rotting seed pods are thought to be allelopathic.  Dyers woad gets into hay fields, contaminating the hay and leading to further spread, and it lowers forage quality.  In the northern counties of Utah, an estimated annual loss of $2 million is attributed to reduced crop yields and a loss of range production, and the rate of spread of dyers woad doubled from 1971 to 1981. This summer Jeremy and BYU-Idaho volunteers were able to pull over 10,000 plants.  In addition, Jeremy was able to find two new sites for our records.  This project is one of a few Early Detection Rapid Response weed projects created by the Henrys Fork CWMA to catch noxious weeds before they are a huge problem in the counties.

 

Participants next stop was to a new project funded by the Idaho Department of Agriculture which centers on the prevention of Eurasian watermilfoil into Henrys Lake.  Two boat washes and four high pressure washers were purchased and have been operated seven days a week from 7a.m. to 1pm.. The boat washes were operated by two BYU-Idaho interns who also complete roughly 150 surveys consisting of 20 questions.  The surveys aided in research about where the boats had come from and boaters knowledge of Eurasian watermilfoil.  For a copy of these results contact the High Country RC&D office in Rexburg.  This project has been highly supported by boaters as well as county authorities.

The tour traveled to Lakeside Lodge on the Island Park Reservoir for lunch, a board meeting, and presentations on the Wildland Mitigation Project.  The Wildland Mitigation project was run by the Northwest Management, Inc.  They were hired to educate, train, and create community action plans and programs that  target land owners within the Wildland/Urban Interface locations.  The Island Park Fire District RedZone was able to survey 3601 homes within the Wildland Urban interface areas of Fremont County.  These surveys help local fire departments and prevention safety projects know how big driveways are, what homes are made of, what kind of danger the home is in, etc.  These records were all put together on a mapping technique for easy access during emergencies in Fremont County.

 

The final stop on the tour was to Fremont County's unique sewer plant for the Island Park areas.  The plant was originally built with grant funds, but has since been taken over by the county.  It is extremely expensive to maintain, however, it provides a clean non-odors treatment that can be applied to fields as irrigation water or snow during the winter months.  All of the homeowners who are connected to this sewer system are required to pay a monthly fee.  The tour participants were able to talk with Fremont's head sewer operator as well as see just how this eco friendly system worked without a stench.

 Annual Tour 2008 left participants with a better vision of the range of projects RC&D can support and assist with and also a better education at the challenges that face the area and what can be done to meet these challenges.  Thank you Fremont County for allowing us to tour your projects this year.

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