HAZELTON - From a snowy bluff overlooking miles of Magic Valley farms, Brian Huettig stares at a never-ending patchwork of fields below, then sighs.

The 29-year-old has a lot to think about these days: In the past two years, he got married, had a baby girl and bought a sizable chunk of the family farm.

But it is water on Huettig's mind now - or lack of it.

About three months ago, he volunteered to fallow 80 acres atop the bluff for 15 years in exchange for government money. A groundwater pumper, Huettig just isn't sure he'll have water down the road to sustain that land.

So in October, he signed up for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program - a joint state and federal plan to conserve water by paying farmers not to irrigate. In exchange for keeping those 80 acres dry, he will collect about $130 per acre for 15 years.

He'll make more than $150,000, but joining CREP is a tough decision for groundwater farmers like Huettig. Sure, they get paid to do nothing. But 15 years is a long time, especially when dairymen searching for space to dump manure are paying 10 times what land is worth. Huettig can only guess what someone a decade down the road might pay for those 80 acres - on what is now a break-even farm.

"Yeah, it makes me nervous to have it locked in for that long when I won't be able to touch it," Huettig said. "But I think it was the right thing to do."

Times are dark for groundwater pumpers, and nothing is certain.

However, lawmakers and farmers see CREP as a beacon of light that may allow pumpers to make money on their land when water is low. It may be the solution for a dwindling aquifer. And it may be the glue that binds Magic Valley agriculture during the most pivotal era in the history of Idaho water.

How it works

The program is designed to take about 100,000 acres out of production, which equates to about 200,000 acre feet of water annually over the next 15 years. An acre foot is enough water to cover one acre with one foot of water.

The $258 million program, which began in May, is funded largely by the federal government, with the state paying a small portion. Groundwater districts borrowed $3 million from the IDWR for sign-up bonuses.

Friday, Huettig became the first Magic Valley farmer to receive his signing bonus: $1,869. His first CREP check will come in October after he's been in the program for one year.

Lawmakers and farmers say the money is worth it if the program conservers water. Fallowing land that may be unproductive frees up water for other irrigators and may safeguard water that could be used to recharge the depleted Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer.

Farmers like Huettig have been voluntarily curtailing about 10 percent of their land for several years as a gesture of goodwill toward senior water-right holders. Now, he sees a chance to make money on that land and contribute to a program that, he says, "can help solve the problem."

How it will help

Declining water levels in the aquifer, in addition to recent years of drought, have pitted surface-water users with priority rights against junior-right groundwater pumpers.

Junior users face mandatory curtailments when senior holders demand water. CREP is an incentive to curtail voluntarily. The program allows farmers like Huettig to make money on land that, if their water is curtailed, would be unprofitable.

Water experts say voluntary curtailments could equate to more water for senior users making the demands because groundwater from the aquifer and surface water are interdependent.

Also, the CREP program is a major component of an ESPA management plan being developed by the IDWR board. The aquifer plan, expected to be presented to the 2007 Legislature, could be a protocol for aquifer recharge.

How it might fail

Initially, farmers representing about 200,000 acres expressed interest in fallowing land when sign-ups began in May. However, less than 20 percent of that land qualified for the program.

"We've had a lot of folks having glitches because of all the red tape," said Lynn Carlquist, chairman of the North Snake Groundwater District - one of many groups of groundwater pumpers. "There's a lot of hoops to jump through."

For example, the program requires the land to have been irrigated last season. Some acres already in government programs aren't eligible. And, of course, irrigators must prove access to groundwater rights to join.

It's the access to water that has some farmers scrambling to join the program before the Supreme Court rules on a pivotal water case involving pumpers against surface users who have demanded curtailments.

Some fear that if the court sides with the surface users, many pumpers could lose access to water. If that happens, those pumpers won't get into CREP - meaning they won't be able to raise a crop or take the payout.

Farmers have until December 2007 to join, but to date, only 12,582 acres have been approved for the program by the Farm Service Agency.

That worries people close to CREP.

"I guess folks don't realize they're vulnerable to curtailment," said Chuck Pentzer, state CREP coordinator with the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission. "And to be honest, each month that goes by is one less month they can receive payments."

The program's future rests largely in the state Supreme Court's hands. If large numbers of pumpers are curtailed, the program will be ineffective.

But don't tell that to Huettig. He's safe, and he'll get the payout, even if his water his curtailed. Now, perhaps, his mind can rest.

Times-News staff writer Matt Christensen covers natural resources. Contact him at 735-3243 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.

Slow and steady Planners designed the CREP program - that pays farmers to fallow land - to accommodate 100,000 acres. Farmers have one year from this month to join. Here is the number of acres in the program, by county, as of December: Bingham 6188.1 Cassia 2245.2 Jefferson/Clark 276.1 Jerome 396.4 Lincoln/Blaine 287.1 Minidoka 3189.8 Total 12,582.7