State seeks cuts to treatment program

SANDPOINT — The Idaho State Department of Agriculture is drastically scaling back Bonner County’s plan to treat Eurasian milfoil infestations with herbicides.

The county finalized plans to treat nearly 687 acres of infestation in Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River, but ISDA is now only willing fund the treatment of a little more than 334 acres, according to Bonner County Public Works Director Leslie Marshall.

Marshall told county commissioners on Tuesday that ISDA has redlined scores of treatment sites because infestations were either too small, located in sparsely used stretches of river or in areas where water flows are high. She added that the county was also apparently being sanctioned because it wasn’t allocating funding for treatments in future years, when the ISDA grant funding is no longer available.

“That’s not a requirement of the grant,” commission Chairman Joe Young pointed out.

Marshall expressed doubt that other Idaho counties receiving ISDA milfoil grant funding had drafted funding plans for milfoil treatments once the state money dries up.

Pamela Juker, an ISDA spokeswoman in Boise, said she was researching the matter on Tuesday. Representative Eric Anderson (R-Priest Lake), a driving force behind the legislation which established the grant program, said he also was looking into the situation.

All told, nearly 40 of the county’s 80-plus identified treatment sites could be off the table. Hardest hit by the cutback would be sites in the river west of Dover. Seven out of 10 sites in the Priest River area could be cut, as could nine of 10 sites in the Morton Slough area and five of eight sites in Laclede.

News of the cuts is likely to be both jeered and cheered. Although there is support for the herbicide treatment program in the county, there is also significant opposition from those who believe the use of herbicides jeopardizes public safety and the environment.

The state’s move comes amid a simmering feud between the county and Clean Lakes, an aquatic plant management firm which was passed over when the application contract was awarded. Clean Lakes alleges there were bidding irregularities and contends it was unfairly penalized for disagreeing with plans to conduct treatments in the river despite high water flows.

Clean Lakes has suggested it may file suit in the matter, although county officials do not appear to be fazed by the threat.

Commissioner Lewis Rich was displeased with the prospect of the grant cuts because the county hoped to beat back exotic milfoil colonies to more manageable sizes.

“They’re hamstringing us,” said Rich, who feels the state is changing the program rules midstream.