Narrator: Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Melissa Davlin: Recent snow and rain has relieved drought conditions, which is good news for Idaho's ag industry, but it likely won't be enough to ease the intensity of the upcoming fire season.

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports, starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, Garth Taylor of the University of Idaho's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences joins me to discuss the year in Idaho AG.

Then, Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke talks about water and education, as well as adjusting to his new role in the executive branch.

But first, let's get you caught up on the week.

Federal officials and other fire prevention experts visited the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise on Tuesday as part of a Western tour discussing what communities can do to help prevent wildfires in a changing climate.

Steve Kerber: 50 years ago.

A bedroom fire or living room fire could go from a small flame to flashover in 30 minutes or more.

Today, a similar fire can reach flashover in less than 5 minutes.

Fires have gotten.

Faster.

Michele Steinberg: Think about what we've learned over time.

Schools, hospitals, high rise buildings.

These were all places of immense loss not too long ago.

Pat Morrison: We must prioritize a federal investment to provide bridge training for structural and wildland firefighters.

Over the past few years, we have seen frequent incidents where unprepared structural firefighters were nearly killed when responding to interface fires.

Melissa Davlin: Idaho reports producer Ruth Brown sat down with U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell, who expanded on the Western Tour's focus on structure fires and the importance of state and local building codes when it comes to fire safety, as well as challenges agencies face for the upcoming fire season.

Lori Moore-Merrell: We have, unfortunately, a recruitment problem for firefighters in the nation, and it's not just structural firefighters, it is wildland firefighters as well.

But a lot of this is stemming post-COVID.

During COVID, we had a lot of retirements and we were unable to hold recruitment schools.

We couldn't put them in schools because that was, you know, increasing our risk of exposure at the time when we really didn't understand what was happening with the pandemic.

And so in this space, we are now behind.

But we also have what we believe is a generation change where this younger generation, 28 years in down, they're not seeing public safety as an option for a career path.

And so we need to change that.

Where we used a lot of, this is an adventure.

It's a great experience.

It is, you know, all of this action to recruit millennials that is not working with the new Gen Z.

They are into service.

They are into global impact.

They do recognize climate change.

So we're getting their attention with that.

And so these are the kinds of things that we need to address to attract this whole new generation.

So we're going to have to change how we recruit in order to change the trajectory.

But right now, I am very afraid that we're going to have a shortage of first responders in this nation if we are not very careful and address this head on in the next three or five years.

We have challenges.

There are those you want to build fast and build cheap.

Well, to do that, you often have to relax the codes that we know matter.

Fire safety codes, building codes, the fire code, right.

All of these things that have been developed based on science and expertise in this space.

And yet there's claims that they cost additional money when you're building.

And these claims, we believe, are untrue.

And so we are doing as much as we can to educate local decision makers, because as we address often, even though it's a federal government's understanding of building codes, it hands to the state for implementation.

Often the states hand it down further to communities, cities and counties to do their own implementation.

And so it gets unfortunately watered down.

And then you've got the whole game of politics.

We have to just be very frank, right about the political environment and the lobby of the builders versus the lobby of the fire service who's saying we have a problem here, we must protect our communities, we must build so that we have ignition resistant if you're especially if you're going to build in the interface.

Right.

And so these I think right now our role is heavy education, science based education.

This will not last.

As you've seen in the past, and I'm sure many who live here witness, you will come back and have drought.

Climate change is real and we look at it as an overall trend.

Drought will return and it won't be long, and probably around June we're going to start to see and start to announce here's the fire threat for the year because at that point we'll see where drought is returning.

The grasses that are growing so beautifully right now will dry and become vegetative fuel.

That's the unfortunate part here, is that don't just look at today.

It will not last.

We know this from climate change trajectory.

And one of the things that is an important statistic, I think, is that if we look at that trend with the wildfire challenges in the last five years, I said we can just look at last year.

We have to look at the last five years.

In the last five years we have burned 68% more acreage than we did in the last three decades.

Melissa Davlin: To see that full interview visit, Idaho Reports YouTube channel at YouTube.com/IdahoReports Fire prevention agencies weren't the only federal officials to visit Idaho this week.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams visited the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge in Canyon County to announce an additional $1 million in annual funding for the Refuge for Conservation Partnerships.

Martha Williams: I'm here today especially, and so pleased to announce that the Fish and Wildlife Service it will be investing $1 million annually here at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge to support the ongoing work with the community and through the Treasure Valley Urban Conservation Partnership.

Deb Haaland: Since 2013, the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program has invested in communities across the country, expanding access to greenspace, environmental education and outdoor recreation.

That includes here at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, which has worked with its neighbors to grow Idaho's first urban National Wildlife Refuge.

Melissa Davlin: The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge plans to use initial funding for staffing and expanded programing.

This past fiscal year.

Just like everyone else, expenses rose for Idaho agriculture, up 20%.

But good news, the industry saw even higher cash receipts and total revenues with those cash receipts up 28%, a record $11 billion.

In March, I sat down with University of Idaho professor Garth Taylor from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at KUID in Moscow to discuss the past year in Idaho agriculture and the state's water outlook.

we had you on a year ago to discuss how the Ukraine war may affect Idaho and United States agriculture.

A year later, how is that played out?

>>Well, it hasn't been as bad as Melissa, it hasn't been as bad as we thought it would be.

We had a deal with the Russians and the Ukrainians where they could ship grain, little bumps in the road on that one.

But it hasn't been as bad.

And you have to realize that also Ukraine has not been able to import a lot of fertilizer and then a lot of their great farmland has been taken up with war.

Mined or something like that.

But it hasn't been as bad as it really was thought and it hasn't been as bad as other things that affected agriculture at the time.

It's been bad on those small countries that are desperately poor.

Egypt, Syria, Lebanon.

Some of those are just financially.

The wheat in particular in those countries is astronomically priced.

>>These are countries that imported wheat directly from Ukraine >>And yeah, and Russia and stuff like that that were just embargoed on that.

And their their the prices were really bad.

It and it hasn't affected though the American consumer as much.

Melissa, there's only about 8% of our dollar that you spend at the grocery store goes to ag production and in stuff smaller than that in, say, the old farmer's whine, there's only 4 or 5 cents in a box of Wheaties.

That's absolutely true.

And so when Wheaties go from $0.04 in a grain goes from $0.04 to $0.08, double the price of grain, which hasn't happened.

It's just pittance in a box of Wheaties or a loaf of bread or anything like that.

It doesn't affect that very much.

>>But consumers across Idaho and the United States are still seeing increased costs at the grocery store.

So if >>Yes >>Just pennies of that are going to the farmer.

Why are we seeing such >>Huge increases.

>>Huge increases in food bills?

>>In the box of Wheaties It's transportation, largely diesel for trucking.

You know, everything else, wages, salaries, costs of everything else like that has gone up.

And and since we're such a small part, farming is such a small part of it.

It just hasn't gone up very much.

>>But so the rest of it is things like packaging and wages for the people who work transportation and the transportation itself.

>>Yes.

>>From a policy perspective, the state legislature in particular.

Is there anything that Idaho lawmakers can do specifically to help Idaho ag workers?

>>Well, they have several big that one bill in particular is for licenses and and that's >>Driver's licenses for undocumented.

>>Yeah, driver's license for undocumented labor.

That's largely a liability type of problem for them.

They just don't want to be hit with a you know, a huge lawsuit because their undocumented was driving their truck.

>>Their their undocumented employees are driving a truck and then hit somebody.

>>Yes.

That's they don't want to be hit with that.

The other big issue that we're faced with in agriculture in the state is property taxes >>Like everybody else.

>>Yes, like everybody else.

And the huge jump in property taxes are, you know, borne by a lot by houses and housing.

And they don't want that large increase in budget to be shifted to agriculture.

Other small businesses that have property that they don't want, they don't want those the decrease in housing, they don't want to be shifted to agriculture or the small business that property taxes, they're very adamant about not having to bear the whole liability of a need for increased property taxes.

>>How about on the regulation front?

Are there any issues that you've been keeping an eye on, whether it comes to water regulation or land use?

>>This is always a big problem in Idaho with water, water, water and water.

The three big issues for AG, it's always water and that we're working.

We have a great year this year.

It hasn't stopped snowing.

It snowed here yesterday in Moscow and stop already.

We've we're having a great water year but that the eastern Snake River Plains aquifer is that deal has kind of unraveled that agreement and that's going to be foremost whether it's in the legislature or outside the legislature, that's going to have to be dealt with and get back on a sustainable basis again so that we have a really stable basis to our water supplies in the state of Idaho.

So a lot of management and increased management and increased expenditures by the state and some regulatory very unpalatable medicine is going to have to be given to the farmers about this cutting their water use.

>>So at the end of the day, fiscal year 2023 has been good for farmers as we get closer to 2024, What are you going to be keeping an eye on?

>>Well, I think we're going to we've got to keep the receipts are not for a forecasted I mean, the expenses are not forecasted to go up.

Very much is as bad as they were in the past.

I mean, we had fertilizer and stuff like this up 50% and thats, and and what that causes, Melissa, is that in particular, dairy is our number one industry in the state.

We have break even points of about $16, $17 per 100 weight.

They crept up to about $21, $20-$21.

So you've got your break even points are a lot higher in this leverage, a lot more money out there to these farm income.

But we don't look at the the expenses to go up that high.

But the but the receipts are not looking that good for this year.

And and so that's what we got to really keep our eye on.

Yes.

There's some big increases in some grain prices and stuff like that.

But you have to keep the eye on dairy milk prices.

That's when they just haven't been real.

And spuds and spud prices are up.

But milk prices, we'll have to see as the year plays out, because it can it really can change within a few weeks, even with milk prices.

>>All right.

Dr. Garth, Dr. Garth Taylor, University of Idaho.

Thank you so much for joining us.

>>Well, thank you, Melissa.

Melissa Davlin: The health of rural Idaho depends heavily on agriculture, but that's not the only factor.

Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke joined me this week to discuss recent investments in water, transportation and broadband infrastructure, as well as how he's adjusting to his new role in the executive branch.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

First of all, how did your first session as lieutenant governor go?

Scott Bedke: Well, I'd have to say that on balance, it went very well.

Obviously, there was a lot of new things to learn from, on a personal level.

You know, I was pretty entrenched in in the house ways of managing the floor and in the way we always do in the House by tradition.

And then I had to learn a new tradition.

I am not the fastest learner in the world, but I picked it up pretty quick.

It was, it kind of became a running joke.

People kept tallies on how on all of my, you know, my miscues and my, you know, my faux pas, if you will, referencing the house when it should have referenced the Senate or the clerk when it should have been the secretary.

But, you know, so that was all in good fun.

And it made me it made me want to do better.

And I and I think I was starting to pull it off by the last couple of months.

Probably nothing unexpected.

I'm sure.

No.

I enjoy the parliamentary process.

And the underlying process is the same both in the House and the Senate.

There's different rules and different nuances to the rules, but by and large, it's the it has a familiar ring to it.

You spent 20 years in the house, you know, first as a member and then in leadership.

In that time, there were of course, there are always tensions between the legislature and the executive branch.

You know, after four months in the executive branch, has your perspective changed at all?

Well, I can report that there's still some tension.

We've noticed, right.

But I don't I think we have a system of checks and balances where tension, creative tension is baked into the system.

I don't think that we're well-served when the House and the Senate get along 100%.

I don't think we're well-served when the legislature and the executive branch get along 100%.

Now, get along, I mean, in a civil, respectful way.

But there are differences of opinions.

There are differences in approach.

And I think that that makes for a more healthy system.

It's how we manage that, that difference of opinion, that conflict that, you know, spells our success.

And I think by and large, we we were pretty respectful of one another.

But, you know, being locked in that building for 90 days a year and having 400 problems come in the front door and have to have, you know, solutions go out the back door, that can bring out the worst and the best in people.

And we and we saw that.

So there's always going to be some creative tension.

And this session was no different.

In your time in the legislature, you were very focused on water policy and infrastructure issues.

And over the past couple of years, of course, Idaho has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in water and transportation and broadband, including $750 million.

Last year, another $150 million for water this year.

I wanted to get an update on how those investments are going so far now that we're about a year into those appropriations.

Well, we're just one more year down in on the drawing board, basically.

Keep in mind that we live in the fastest growing state in the nation, or we're certainly one of the fastest growing states.

And so but we're not getting any more any more water just because we're growing quickly.

So there's increased competition for every gallon of water in our river and our river systems.

And and so though these investments that we're talking about are tailored to make that water go forward, whether it's raising Anderson Ranch Dam, whether it's making our canal systems more efficient, whether it's, you know, since we're not building more surface storage.

It's about infrastructure to get the water out of the river and into our aquifers because that's that's a great place to store water.

It comes back out slowly or you can pump it out when you need it.

And, you know, so so the money that we've been investing back into Idaho is for just that.

You know, it's planning ahead.

You know, we need a sustainable water source here.

We need to drought proof our state as best we can because we live in the arid West and we're never going to get, well, for the foreseeable future, we're not going to get any more water than we've got in the past.

And so we've got to we've got to make that stretch, make it go as far as we possibly can, and provide water for our growing communities and our and our manufacturing.

Agriculture is still a, you know, still a large chunk of Idaho's economy.

And we in agriculture need to use that water more efficiently, make it go farther, adjust our rotations and our crops so that we're not always using high water consumptive crops that we that we that we have small grains as well that use way less water than corn or alfalfa or potatoes and sugar beets.

But those are the crops that put Idaho on the map.

I mean, we’re the third largest dairy producing state in the nation.

Number one in potatoes, etc.. And so there's always going to be this balancing act and a rotation, if you will, of the crops so that we can have our high water use crops, but also have enough of the low water use crops to to balance the water budget.

And that strikes me, that conversation strikes me as a big culture shift.

You need to get a lot of farmers on board who have depended on those high water crops.

How are those conversations going?

Well, I think they're going I think they're going well.

One thing about Idaho's farmers is they're up to speed.

They they understand the water levels in the aquifer.

They understand what it what it's like to try to farm in the arid west, specifically Idaho.

They want to they want to maximize their production.

But at the same time, have you ever met a farmer that didn't introduce himself as a second or third or fourth generation farmer?

That's because baked into their psyche is this desire to that this generation doesn't take away from the next generation.

And so if we're taking more water out of the aquifer than is coming in, they know that because they live that they're measuring that.

And, you know, and so we need to provide assistance so that we can sustain that and we can, you know, if we're going to balance the water budget coming out of the aquifer, we can we can augment that budget through managed recharge.

And that's what a lot of this money is going towards.

We don't have to worry just about drought when we're talking about water.

You mentioned this before.

We also have to worry about growth.

Earlier this week you spoke at the Rural Success Summit in western Idaho with other Idaho agriculture and business leaders.

What were the concerns that came up during that summit?

Well, I think some of the concerns were, just to name a couple, number Number one is there's sometimes a lag between the prosperity that that the Treasure Valley experiences, you know, economically.

And that doesn't necessarily get out into the more rural parts of the state, although that part those parts of the states are growing quickly as well.

And that's where I live.

And I and I and I noticed that down in the Magic Valley.

But I think the people in Western Idaho were wanting to make sure that there was broadband infrastructure.

I mean, that's such a critical component to any success going forward economically.

And and there's not the best connectivity everywhere in the state.

So we still have some work to do.

The good news is that there's money, some money available to increase this connectivity and to and to do the parts that the private sector, it's not economical for them to do.

So we we do those parts of the system and then the private sector branches out from there.

So I think that was one of the main things that they were concerned about.

They're proud.

We talked about our state and the state of the state.

They, I think for the most part feel like the state is well run.

You know, we've had back to back to back tax decreases and rebates.

This year we've taken the surplus and invested it back into returning money to citizens through the property tax and making the investments that we've talked about, not only in our infrastructure, our water and our roads and bridges, but also back into our education system.

Everybody knows from, it doesn't matter where you're whether you're rural or urban or suburban.

Every parent, every grandparent knows that the secret to those kids success has been having access to a good education.

And they're concerned that the rural parts of the state have the access to a good education as well.

And of course, we can't talk about rural success without talking about that education component.

This was a big legislative session for education, both K through 12 and higher ed.

Just briefly, can you touch on some of the highlights and how that will affect those rural Idaho schools?

Well, it's going to affect them very positive.

Remember the what we did this session in January started last special session last summer.

And and what just quickly to review what we did then was to carve out $410 million ongoing and put that in a bucket and put a sticky note on the side of it that said for education.

And then that idea refined and we split the bucket up into two buckets, one for K-12 and one for in-demand careers.

We wanted to create a system where every Idaho kid could get an Idaho job if they chose.

And so the and so the session picked up right where the special session left off.

The old legislature didn't want to get too specific for the new legislature.

They carved the money out and again put a sticky note on the bucket and said, hey, use this for education.

But the details are to be worked out in the 2023 session.

And that's what happened.

So we did a bunch of things we can go into, if you'd like, in K-12.

But I think more importantly, we we kicked off the Idaho launch program where every graduating high school senior from Idaho, whether it's through a GED or the more traditional diploma can qualifies for an $8,000 two year, you know, $8,000 over two years grant to go into a program that is that is not a traditional academic thing it's more about the trades every in-demand career from from welders to carpenters, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, cybersecurity, truck drivers, pilots, teachers.

We need teachers.

These are all.

And that's only to name a few.

We need linemen, you know, working on our our electrical infrastructure and, you know, so that's not an exhaustive list but this, this Launch grant would be available to students that go into those programs and we think that that will be a game changer long term.

And again, our goal is to have a vibrant enough economy to absorb every high school graduating Idaho senior back into our economy.

An Idaho kid always should be able to get an Idaho job.

And now we're not.

Not every Idaho kid is going to stay in Idaho.

And we have a vibrant, dynamic economy, but we want to remove obstacles for our graduating seniors.

And I think when we look back ten years from now, we'll point to this turning, you know, as being a turning point for for Idaho.

Will we are all the bugs worked out of it?

No.

But we will do that along the way.

But conceptually, there is there's broad support of this, particularly out in rural Idaho.

You know, 65% of our graduating seniors last year didn't go on to any type of an organized program.

Many of them went into the workforce.

They were able to get a good job, etc., but they didn’t better, better themselves through gaining a skill set.

And and we need to kind of change that.

All right.

Lieutenant Governor Scott Bedke, thank you so much for joining us.

It's always my pleasure.

Melissa Davlin: That's it for this week.

You can always find more of our coverage online at IdahoPTV.org/IdahoReports Including an interview with Kelcie Mosley-Morris of State's Newsroom about ongoing litigation concerning medication commonly used to induce early term abortions.

You can find the Idaho Reports podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next week.

Narrator: Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.