UI Extension Aiding Water Class
December 07, 2022
Idaho’s 64 million acres of irrigated farmland are fifth most in the U.S., and water consumption by the state’s farmers, at roughly 15 billion gallons per day, ranks No. 2 nationally.
UI Extension specialist Garth Taylor, an associate professor in the Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department, recently presented the head-turning water-use statistics to participants in a new leadership course created by the Idaho Water Users Association.
Through its second-year program — Headgate, Idaho Water Leadership Academy — the association is seeking to provide essential skills, relevant background and training to recent hires and newly promoted leaders among the state’s canal companies and irrigation districts. UI Extension has been a key partner in the course, providing guidance and expert presenters, such as Taylor.
“We beat Texas, Nebraska and all of these big agricultural states with water withdrawals. We’re beating them all to pieces,” Taylor said. “I really don’t think we can overemphasize water in the state of Idaho.”
A major point of emphasis of the course is impressing upon new watermasters and managers the critical nature of their daily duties.
Terrell Sorensen, UI Extension educator in Power County, who serves on the Headgate program’s board, gives an annual presentation for Headgate on decision-making. Sorensen is a former president of the Idaho Water Users Association and was a longtime manager with American Falls-based Falls Irrigation District.
“The thing we kind of realized, your ditch riders and some of these jobs are kind of ignored by the public. They don’t realize the importance of what they’re doing there,” Sorensen said. “If water doesn’t get down the ditch, all kinds of trouble is going to happen.”
The course also teaches public speaking and covers the Idaho agricultural economy, water law and a history of the state’s system of conjunctive surface and groundwater management. Participation is capped at 15 people from water entities throughout Idaho. The group meets in person during November, December and January at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls for monthly, two-day sessions.
“Our participants move into these leadership positions, and they’re expected to understand water law and understand the politics and how to have complicated conversations with 50-year-olds and 25-year-olds. They’re expected to understand all of these things that take many folks a lifetime to learn,” said Paul Arrington, executive director of the Idaho Water Users Association. “Headgate gives them a glimpse of all of that so they’re not taken off guard. It really opens their eyes to all the issues and needs and concerns that water leaders have to face in today’s world.”
Industry representatives served on a committee that devised curriculum and set goals for the program. Headgate is loosely modeled after Leadership Idaho Agriculture, which works to cultivate leaders in Idaho agriculture.
Among the greatest benefits are the relationships participants develop with their peers.
“When I see them at our events now, I can tell you these participants are sitting together in the hall having meaningful conversations,” said Kathryn Scott, office and program manager with Idaho Water Users Association.
Scott considers Sorensen to be an ideal partner in helping with the course based on his ties to both water users and Extension experts.
“We have been lucky to have Terrell Sorensen on the committee that formed Headgate. Terrell has also been a longstanding chairman of our education committee, which focuses on educating internal members of the Idaho Water Users Association,” Scott said. “He has a lot of good ideas and a lot of contacts for things we should be covering, as well as fresh resources.”
Published in Catching Up with CALS
About the University of Idaho
The University of Idaho, home of the Vandals, is Idaho’s land-grant, national research university. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state of Idaho through educational centers in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Idaho Falls, nine research and Extension centers, plus Extension offices in 42 counties. Home to nearly 11,000 students statewide, U of I is a leader in student-centered learning and excels at interdisciplinary research, service to businesses and communities, and in advancing diversity, citizenship and global outreach. U of I competes in the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences. Learn more at uidaho.edu.