No alternative to burning found

BOISE – For the second straight season, Idaho Agriculture Director Pat Takasugi declared Monday there is no viable financial alternative to field burning for Panhandle grass-seed growers.

But Takasugi predicted a tightening insurance market and poor conditions for Kentucky bluegrass during the winter would markedly reduce the acres burned in North Idaho this season from the 88,000 acres burned last year.

There was no immediate response to Takasugi’s announcement from activists who have taken grass-seed growers to court, seeking monetary damages in compensation for health problems allegedly caused by smoke and for the limits the smoke imposes on their property rights.

Takasugi declined to predict when a viable alternative to burning would be developed, but he said some valid research is under way and the key to any success is money to continue that work.

“Those who want to see an alternative found need to be looking at funding these projects,” he said. For now, “the focus is squarely on providing the citizens of Idaho an effective smoke-management program.”

Bluegrass growers burn their fields to cleanse them of residue and shock the grass into producing more seed.

Activists have called the burning a health hazard and have sued. But their claims for damages have been suspended pending a determination by the Idaho Supreme Court whether the Legislature had the right to exempt farmers from damage liability if they comply with the state’s field-burning regulations.

The 2003 law requires growers to register their fields and to limit burning only to days designated by the state. Stiff penalties are imposed on violators.

Following eight weeks of public comment, Takasugi based his conclusion that there is no affordable mechanical field-treatment method available now on 2,000 pages of documents.

One frustration, Takasugi said, has been persisting reports on a bluegrass burning ban in Washington state. But farmers in that state burn more than 140,000 acres on which other commodities are grown each year.

Areas where burning bans have been effective, he said, are geographically and environmentally different from North Idaho, so the same techniques do not work there.

Takasugi said the system for notifying the public and growers of the days when burning will be permitted this year is being improved and will include televised announcements. He also said inspectors from other divisions in the state Agriculture Department will be on call during the burning season to help with enforcement.