Big Hole ranchers offered $1 million to keep water in river

By SCOTT McMILLION

Chronicle Staff Writer

The federal government is offering to pay Big Hole Valley ranchers $1 million to leave their irrigation water in the river.

The goal is to leave enough water in the stream to protect the fluvial arctic grayling. The upper Big Hole is the only place in the lower 48 states where those rare fish still live.

They are listed as a candidate species for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The Big Hole needs a minimum flow of 20 cubic feet per second at the Wisdom measuring station for the fish to survive, but federal officials hope the new program will provide a lot more water than that.

"More is better," said Kris Berg, district conservationist in Dillon for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which is running the one-year cash program.

In past years, some ranchers have voluntarily reduced their irrigation to help the fish, and to help fend off federal protections. Despite those efforts, fish numbers keep dropping.

Drought has lingered for six years there, and hot weather struck early this year, reducing the river's flow to about six cfs for a brief period in May. Average flow at that time is 410 cfs.

"Hopefully, it will help things out," said Randy Smith, who chairs the Big Hole Watershed Committee. "It's a Band-Aid for this year."

He said ranchers in the valley met last Thursday and "people were pretty interested in going ahead" with the program.

Environmental groups are trying in court and through administrative channels to get the grayling listed as soon as possible.

George Wuerthner, one of the people pushing for protections, said in an email Monday that "the NRCS funds are just another subsidy to the ranchers. We shouldn't have to pay ranchers to maintain water in our streams -- it's our water."

Still, he said he supports the payment plan.

"As a taxpayer I would gladly pay far more than a million dollars to save the grayling," he wrote. "Once the fish are gone from the river, they may be gone forever, and if this program will keep water in the river and it improves the riparian zone then I'm for it."

The program will pay:

-- $60 per acre to not irrigate hayland and/or pasture after June 21.

--$50 per acre not to irrigate hayland and/or pasture after June 28.

-- $40 per acre to not irrigate pastureland after July 5.

-- $2.50 a foot for riparian fencing, to keep cattle out of streams.

-- $5,000 for each off-site watering facility that provides an alternative to the Big Hole River as a water source. The money can pay for pumps, pipelines and tanks.

Hayfield irrigation usually stops in the Big Hole around July 4, but pasture irrigation continues for several weeks after that.

In recent years, more and more producers have been switching from hay meadows to irrigated pastures, according to Jennifer Boyer, director of the watershed committee.

Not all ranchers in the valley have been participating in the existing voluntary cutback program, but most of the larger ones have, Boyer said last week.

The cash program could halt irrigation this year on 20,000 acres, a small portion of the irrigated land in the Big Hole, Berg said. Full participation could put up to 500 cfs in the river.

"Most of it should end up in the stream," she said Monday. "If we get the participation we hope for."

Some ranchers said at an emergency meeting two weeks ago in Wisdom that they can't afford to give up more water without payment.

NRCS has set up a special office in Wisdom to accept applications for the program.

Scott McMillion is at scottm@dailychronicle.com

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