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IT JUST GETS NO RESPECTDo people really care about this Western plant? Many do, and perhapsyou will, too, when you learn more about this denizen of the desert
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$1 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
Inthepastyearandahalf, thenation’sgovernors—Idaho’sButchOtterandWisconsin’sScottWalker, left, amongthem—havetakenmorethan80trips to30countries totrytodrumupbusiness for theirstates.Whatdotheyhavetoshowforspendingall thatmoneyontravel?Often,notmuch,anAssociatedPressreport indicates.DEPTH,D1
GOVERNORS ABROAD
Trade missions don’t always produce accomplishments
Rivalclubs fromBoise
andMeridianhavecome
together toforma
formidableUnder-19girls
teamintheFarWest
RegionalChampionships,
but itopenedwitha2-1
defeat. SPORTS,A10
YOUTH SOCCER
A TOUGH LOSSIN OPENER
Ournewfeature,“Today’sQues-tion,” isupandrunningonWednesdaystoSundaysonourFacebookpage.Sowhat is today’squestion?Whatpersonwouldyouliketodinewith,andwhy?GotoFacebook.com/IdahoStatesman toparticipate.
It tookahorribleracialhatecrime,butstates intheSoutharenowthinkingseriouslyabout
what theConfederate flagmeansandaretakingstepstoeradicate it.Mississippi’s state flagincorporates theConfederacy,creatingauniqueproblem.NEWS,A7
CONFEDERATE FLAG
SOUTH CAROLINALEADS CHARGEFOR CHANGE
Theycouldn’tbemoredifferent,but this ‘oddcouple’of justicesrespectandlikeeachother,andstill socialize together.NEWS,A8
SUPREME COURT
Ginsburg, Scalia haveenduring friendship
STATESMAN EDITORIAL
Secretary of State Denney rightto scrutinize lobbying laws DEPTH, D1
D LETTERS TO THE EDITOR D2 • LEGALS D5-6 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
Depth If you could pick anybody, past or present, toshare a meal with, who would it be and why?
JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT FACEBOOK.COM/IDAHOSTATESMAN
SecretaryofStateLawerenceDenneyiscorrect to lookintothematterof lobbying
activitiesbystateemployees. It isamongDenney’sduties tokeepthepublic informedaboutwhoistryingto influenceourLegisla-ture,andespecially if theex-changeofsometypeofgiftorbenefit is involved.
Wemightnot thinkofstateemployeesas lobbyists,but theyfit theverybroaddefinition:“Anyonewhoattempts throughcontactswith,orcausingotherstomakecontactwith,membersof theLegislatureor legislativecommitteesoranexecutiveofficial, to influencetheapproval,modificationorrejectionofanylegislationbythe legislatureofthestateof Idahooranycommit-teethereoforbythegovernorortodevelopormaintainrelation-shipswith,promotegoodwill,orentertainmembersof the legisla-tureorexecutiveofficials.”
But in theprocessDenneyhascomeacrosssomeloose lan-guage inoursystemthat theLegislaturewouldbewell-ad-visedtotightenup.Somestateemployeesareunder the impres-sionthat theydonothavetoregisterandreport theiractiv-ities.Andtwoopinions fromtheIdahoAttorneyGeneral’sOfficefrom2007and2015answersome,butnotall,of the importantout-standingquestions.
JEFFERSONCITY,Mo.—Gov-ernors across the country havebeen packing their bags for all-ex-penses-paid trade missionsabroad, spending taxpayer dollarsoncostly trips thathaveanuneventrack record of yielding tangible
benefits for theirstates.Lastweekalone,governorsof 10
states were jetting across Europe,many converging at an air show inParis. Others traveled to Canada,SouthAmericaandAsia.At thebe-ginning of last week, more than aquarter of the nation’s governorswereoutof thecountry.
Sincethestartof2014,governorshavetakenorscheduledmorethan80 trips to 30 countries in their ef-fortstoincreaseexportsandenticeforeign companies to expand in
their states, according to a nation-wide analysis of gubernatorialtrade trips by The AssociatedPress.
The results are mixed, withsome governors strikingmultimil-lion-dollar business deals and oth-
OFFICIAL TRAVEL
CHRISTOPHE ENA / The Associated Press
Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe was one of many governors who attended theParis Air Show this month in France.
Governors’ trade missions have
uneven record of successThey tout the trips as waysto give their states goodbusiness opportunities.
BY DAVID A. LIEB
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OTTER’S TRIP Idaho’s governormost recently was in Mexico andPeru with representatives of 19business entities. D4
See GOVERNORS, D4
DrivingfromUtahtorunIda-
ho’swhitewaterriversadecade
ago, Jennifer Forbey dismissed
the sagebrush that lined Inter-
state84asugly.
Since then, however, the
Boise State University biology
professorhasfalleninlovewith
an ecosystem that is iconic to
theWest.
“ThewayIseesagebrushisas
aruggedsurvivor,”saidForbey,
walkingthroughathickstandin
theFoothills.
Forbeyhasgottentoknowsa-
gebrushwell through her stud-
ies of the sage grouse and pyg-
my rabbit, which actually feed
on the bitter-tasting, toxic
plant. Her research shows that
these two species are com-
pletely dependent on sage-
brush during the winter and
have the ability to find the
plants that are least toxic and
have more protein and other
nutrients.
“Sagebrush survives partial-
ly through chemistry,” Forbey
said. “Chemistry protects it
from heat, ultraviolet light and
thoseanimalsthatwouldeatit.”
Butitschemistryhasnotpro-
tected it from human develop-
ment over the past 150 years.
When settlers arrived, nearly
300millionacresofwhatisnow
11 states was a largely contigu-
ous sagebrush ecosystem. To-
day nearly half of the complex
landscape that evolved since
the Pleistocene is gone, turned
into farms, converted into
grasslands or fragmented by
roads tomines, ranches, andoil
andgas rigs.
SAGEBRUSH
More than 300 speciesfind a home on the range
The fight over sage grouse has put the plant on center stage, but biologistssay it benfits far more than one bird and could even have medicinal value
PLANTSWyoming big sagebrushMountain big sagebrushRabbitbrushWesternwheatgrassNeedle and thread grassBluebunchwheatgrassPlains pricklypearScarlet globemallowTapertip hawksbeardYarrowPurplemilkvetch
SEE ‘THE SAGEBRUSHSEA’The documentary, which premiered on the PBS series
“Nature,”will be shown at Boise’s Egyptian Theatre on June 30at 6 p.m. Filmed partly on theNatureConservancy’s CrookedCreek Preserve in Idaho, the film showcases the diversity of lifein the sagebrush lands.
Following the showing, a discussionwill take placewith thefilm’s producer and those involved in sage-grouse conserva-tion efforts. The event, hosted byTheNatureConservancyandAudubon, is free and open to the public.
IDAHO STATESMAN ● IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015 ● D3
MORETHANONEBIRD
Biologist Kathleen Hen-dricks of the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service in Boisepoints out that of the morethan 300 species that live inanddependonthesagebrushhabitat,about50—includingsage grouse and pygmy rab-bits—couldn’tsurvivewith-out it. It provides winterrange for mule deer and elk,habitat for pronghorn ante-lopeandhomes for thesmallprey that raptors, includinggoldeneagles, feedon.
That brings people to thesagebrush country, includ-ing hunters, wildlife watch-ers, campers, mountain bik-ers, hikers, motorcyclistsand even anglers.AstudybyEcoNorthwest done for theWestern Values Project andthe Pew Charitable Trustfound that 13.8 million vis-itors spent $623 million in2013 in communities within50 miles of sagebrush recre-ation sites. Those figuresdon’t include the moneyspent on recreation outsidethe zone, such as guns, am-munition,campersandotherequipment.
But the ecological servic-es that the sagebrush steppeprovide to societymight ex-ceedtheseothervalues.
Mike Pellant, a BLMecol-ogist from Boise, said sage-brushhasevolved in thearidWest to provide watershedprotection, much the waytrees do in forests with farmore precipitation. Its vastroot system holds moistureand sends it deep into theground.
Sagebrush grows as highas 6 feet also captures snowlike a fence, allowing it tomeltslowlyandsinkdeepin-to the ground. The shrubsprevent the floods and ero-sion that occurwhen fire re-moves the sagebrush and al-lows invasive cheatgrass togainafoothold.
“Where we have bareground, we have more ero-sion,”Pellantsaid.
cheatgrass not onlydoesn’t hold the soil like theshrubs when flooding oc-curs, but it also doesn’t holdthe moisture. The grassquickly dries out, alongwiththesoilanditsbacteria, fungiandother tinyorganisms.
“Oursoilfertilityisdeclin-ing over time with cheat-grass,” Pellant said. “We’re
losing the ability to get backournativeplants.”
Thesagebrushecosystemalsostoresmorecarbonthanthe cheatgrass that replacesit. One study near Boiseshowed that carbon seques-tration dropped to a fourthwhen cheatgrass took overfromsagebrush,Pellantsaid.
“The sagebrush ecosys-tem is veryproductive,” Pel-lantsaid.“Ithasevolvedoverthousands of years to sup-port a very diverse commu-nity, including pollinatorsthat are critical for ourcrops.”
Comparing the sagebrushsea to a rainforest is not areach,Pellantsaid.
“Given theamountof rainwe have, the diversity andproductivity of the sage-brush steppe is remarkable,”hesaid.
NATURE’S ‘NOTEBOOK’
The more we learn about
sagebrushandtheotherspe-cies of the steppe, said For-bey, themorewe’re learningabout itsvalue.
“This is our old growth,”Forbey said. “This is our re-source.”
Therearemanyspeciesofsagebrush species, and greatdiversity among individualspecies, Forbey said. Thatcomplexityappliesaswell toitschemistry.
“Each leaf has 300 to 400uniquecompounds,”Forbeysaid.
Forbey is working withothers, including CarolynDadabay, an associate pro-fessor of chemistry at TheCollegeofIdahoinCaldwell,on potential medical uses ofsagebrush.
Since some of the chem-icalsitproducespreventani-mals from getting rid of thetoxics they ingestwhen theyeat it, researchers are study-ing whether those com-
pounds might help cancerpatients inchemotherapy.
When cancer becomesmore aggressive, cancercellsdeveloptheabilitytore-ject medications. If the re-searcherscanfindthechem-icals that keep the toxins inthe sagebrush-eaters, theyhope they might work thesame way on cancer cells.Forbey said there are otherpossible medical uses aswell.
“Weareonlybeginning tounderstand sagebrush,” For-bey said. “This is a livingnotebook. ...Whenweloseit,all that informationisgone.”
RockyBarker: 377-6484;
Twitter:@RockyBarker
1755329-0
1
SAGEBRUSH
CONTINUED FROM D1
THE BACKGROUND
The rapid decline of the greater sage grouse over the
past 50 years frommillions to as fewas 200,000 today
has kicked in the federal Endangered SpeciesAct, with its
mandate to protect biological diversity and the habitat on
which the animals rely. TheU.S. Fish andWildlife Service
will decide by Septemberwhether to keep the sage
grouse at its current status—warranted for listing under
the act, but precluded by othermore endangered species
—or notwarranted for listing.
That deadline has triggered a push for conservation
plans from federal agencies, the 11 states and ranchers,
environmentalists,miners, energy developers and others
that is nearly unprecedented. It also has brought ques-
tions, and proposed legislation, from some inCongress
aboutwhywe should place limits on development and the
Scientists have deployeddrones over Western Idahoto map a little-known land-scapeaspartofanefforttore-duce wildfire risks and pro-tect sage grouse and otherwildlife.
They say they have tolearnmoreaboutwhatgrowsin the region so that whencharred areas are restored,land managers don’t plant atype of sagebrush that thegrousewon’teat.
“The lack of maps is ahuge, critical problem forconserving sagebrush andanyspecies ... thatdependonit,” saidMattGermino, aU.S.GeologicalSurveyecologist.
“We have probably re-plantedthewrongtypeofsa-gebrushtosomehabitats.”
A key part of the InteriorDepartment’s new wildfirestrategy involves replacingnativeplantsaftergiantblaz-es, an increasing problem in
rangeland over the past de-cade. Such efforts would re-duce the likelihood of inva-sive plants replacing sage-brush after fires. Thoseplantsoftenburnmoreeasily.
But without maps, landmanagerscan’tbesurewhichsagebrush subspecies toplant.
Scientists want to usedrones to identify and maptherangeofthreesubspeciesof big sagebrush. The mostabundant is calledWyomingbigsagebrush.Basinbigsage-brush is the most drought-tolerant. Mountain big sage-brush,meanwhile, is typical-lyfoundathigherelevations.
The first problem withcreating such a map, scien-tistssay, is theenormoussizeofthelandscape.Attemptstouse satellites have failed be-cause they can’t supply thenecessary detail. And send-ingscientistsoutonfoot isn’treallypractical.
The second problem is
that the threesagebrushsub-species are so similar thateven expert botanists exam-ining plants close up havetroubletellingthemapart.
Wildlife, however, can tellthe difference, said JenniferForbey, a researcher withBoiseStateUniversity.
Forbeytestedadroneovermanaged plots of sagebrushwest of Boise containing thethree plant species. Three
different camera lenses pro-videdifferentimages,includ-ing infrared, thatForbeysaidcould be layered to possiblydetermine the types of sage-brush. The technique, shesaid, has been successfullyusedinagriculture.
“In about two hours theyflyasquarekilometerofareausingmultiple sensors,” For-bey said. “They’re very rap-id.”
Shesaiditwilltakemonthsof analysis to determinewhether the drone plan willwork.
If successful, the map in-formation could be used byFrancisKilkenney,aresearchbiologistwith theU.S.ForestServiceRockyMountainRe-searchStationwhoisalsotheGreatBasinNativePlantPro-ject leader.Theproject isrunbytheForestServiceandU.S.
Bureau of Land Manage-ment.
He said drones couldmapplant communities before afire,determinetheamountofdamage after a fire, and thentrack the success of reseed-ingeffortsinfollowingyears.
“Wecan target plant com-munitiesthatarecriticalhab-itat for wildlife,” Kilkenneysaid. “I’mexcited toseewhatresultscomeoutofit.”
SAGEBRUSH
Study examines animals’ preference for types of plant
Pilot Ronald Looney from Empire Unmanned launches arobotic aircraft to take high-resolution digital images ofsagebrush habitat. He flew the aircraft over a research plotthree times with three different cameras that took thermaland color images.
Research assistants Chelsea Merriman, right, and Adrian Rus, kneeling, along with Jennifer Forbey, assistant professor ofbiological sciences at Boise State University, place markers that can be seen from the air in a research plot of sagebrush.Three subspecies of sagebrush, grown from seeds from a variety of places in the West, were planted to see which wouldsurvive best, and researchers are hoping that aerial views will help simplify identification.