IDWR issues curtailment warning letters

Gary Spackman, interim director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources, mailed letters to water-right holders across the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer this week, updating them on the odds that their water will be shut off next year.

Spackman ordered the state's first large-scale enforced well closures in recent memory last summer in response to an ongoing water call by Clear Springs Foods of Buhl, an act later put on hold by a 5th District judge. Spackman warned in Monday's letter that depending on the judge's clarification of that stay, Magic Valley groundwater rights newer than Aug. 11, 1990, may have to be shut off again. In addition, if a proposed mitigation plan is not approved after a Dec. 7 hearing, rights newer than Feb. 4, 1964, could be shut off.

In a separate call by a coalition of canal companies and irrigation districts, an extremely low snowpack could shut off rights newer than March 29, 1978. But runoff of at least 65 percent of normal won't require any closures, Spackman wrote.

Visit www.idwr.idaho.gov/ to read the letter.

Forest Service proposes prescribed fire in Little Wood

The Sawtooth National Forest's Ketchum Ranger District is seeking public comment on a proposal to use a prescribed fire in the area of the Little Wood River Drainage to improve vegetation and reduce the potential for uncharacteristic or undesirable wildfires. The legal location is Township 3, 4 and 5, Range 19, 20 and 21 Boise meridian.

The project would target several areas within the 50,000-acre watershed over a five- to 10-year period and benefit aspen, whitebark pine, Douglas fir, sagebrush steppe and wildlife habitat, according to a press release. Forest officials would cooperate with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Mule Deer Foundation to secure grants for the work. Fires may be lit during hunting season, but officials say they will work with hunters and recreationists to reduce problems.

Officials will spend until early next summer developing a detailed proposed action and analyzing its effects on the land and the users and neighbors of the Little Wood. Comments from the public are requested by Nov. 30. They can be sent several ways:

• Mail: Ketchum Ranger District, Attn: Upper Little Wood Project, P.O. Box 2356, Ketchum, ID 83340

• E-mail: comments-intermtn-sawtooth-ketchum@fs.fed.us

• Fax: (208) 622-3923

• Hand: Ketchum Ranger District Office, 206 Sun Valley Road

BLM to waive fees for vets and military on Veterans Day

On Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will waive recreation-related fees for veterans and military personnel, along with their families, for Veterans Day.

The annual waiver started in 2006 and applies to public recreation lands managed by the BLM, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Forest Service.

"This is a small, but special way in which we can express our gratitude and our appreciation to them," BLM Director Bob Abbey said in a statement.

- Staff reports