Teton Valley News
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Go Green 2011
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Table of contents 3 Affordably organic
4 Going blue essential to going green 5 Green Grasses 6 Saving Green 7 Conservation easements 8 Becoming eco-sensitive 10 Teton Valley gets RAD 12 Share a ride
Affordably organic Barrels and Bins stocks new line Lisa Nyren/Live Green staff
E
ating a diet of organic foods doesn’t have to be expensive as far as Kathleen Egan, owner of Barrels and Bins in Driggs is concerned. While she has owned and operated her community market on the corner of Main Street for almost two decades, Egan is always looking for new, quality, affordable products to offer her customers. Recently she’s added a product line called Cadia, whose motto is “abundance of simplicity.” Cadia® offers mostly food products that are free of genetically modified organisms (gmos). The best part, especially in today’s economy, is that these products are significantly easier on your wallet than some other organic brands. “It’s going to be quite a bit more affordable. We just really wanted to bring it to the community,” Egan said. “People have
this general idea that organic is more expensive … that’s not necessarily true,” she said. While the store will continue to carry trusted brands already on its shelves, Barrels and Bins will be the only carrier of Cadia® products in Teton Valley. “We just really try to be a community place,” Egan said. In addition to Cadia® products, Barrels and Bins offers bulk foods, gluten-free foods, prepared foods (such as homemade soups, wraps and fresh carrot juice) as well as paper products and organic body care products. Don’t worry if you’re thinking maybe the Cadia® line is a gimmick to get people into the store. Egan says she investigates all the companies and products she puts in her store. In addition to Cadia®, Egan is
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Photo by Lisa Nyren
also bringing in more eco-friendly household products. “We really research the companies we put on the shelf,” she said. For more information about Cadia® products visit mycadia.com. To contact Barrels and Bins call (208) 354-2307. •
Going blue essential to going green
Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
Y
ou can’t go green without going blue. But going green with blue can save you some green. The lifeblood of every living organism, water, is becoming a more and more precious commodity throughout the world. Yet we often take our most valuable resource for granted, especially here in Idaho, where we lead the nation in per-capita water use, according to Lyn
Benjamin, former executive director of the Friends of Teton River. The University of Idaho confirms her statistics. “Idaho’s Water Resource,” by Robert L. Mahler and Mark M. Van Steeter, indicates Idahoans use 22,000 gallons per day on a per-capita basis. Overall, Idaho is second only to California in overall water use. About 97 percent of it is used for agriculture. “Our community depends on clean, plentiful water for a strong agricultural economy,” Benjamin said. “Flowing streams support the abundant fish and wildlife that attract recreational visitors from around the world.” Valley residents have access to some of the cleanest drinking water anywhere, coupled with some of the lowest rates for that water in the nation, said Benjamin. But don’t assume that this is an unlimited resource. “Although the region receives abundant snowfall, Teton Valley is a semi-arid region, where evaporation rates far exceed precipitation for many months of the year,” she said. FTR works with the community to educate residents about conserving and protecting the region’s water resources. They offer the following water-saving tips that will save you some gren Photo courtesy Amy Verbeten while you save the blue: The Friends of the Teton River Watersmart demonstration garden at the entrance to the city of Victor’s transportation center at the south end of Pioneer Park.
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• In the landscape, fix leaking sprinklers and only water your lawn when needed. Watering between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., when temperatures are cooler, will provide more efficient watering. • Use drip irrigation wherever possible on trees and shrubs, and set your mower to the highest setting. • Consider using xeriscaping, which means choosing plants with low-water needs. You can get ideas about waterthrifty landscaping from FTR’s Teton Valley demonstration garden at the entrance to the city of Victor’s transportation center at the south end of Pioneer Park, according to Amy Verbeten, education and outreach coordinator for FTR. Funded by One Percent for the Tetons and the city of Victor, the garden was designed by MD Nursery and demonstrates how beautiful landscaping can be done with minimal needs for water, maintenance and other resources, she said. Inside the home, you can save on water use by repairing leaky faucets and toilets and running the dishwasher and washing machines only when full. Use water-saving aerators on all faucets and look for Energy Star and Water Sense logos when considering new appliances. FTR also recommends using waterefficient showerheads and using the garbage disposal sparingly. “By working together to conserve, we will ensure a safe and secure water supply for Teton Valley and its citizens,” Benjamin said. •
Go Green 2011
Green Grasses
Organic Landscapes
Restoring the Valley’s native grasses Rachael Horne/ Live Green Staff
and developments. When Ewing went back home to Maryland to ive years ago finish her Masters in Sarah Ewing Environmental Science rented a house for at Johns Hopkins it Sarah Ewing a ski vacation in was in the back of her Teton Valley with mind to use that degree her family. She in some form in Teton began looking at property, but Valley. That’s how Steppe it wasn’t until the summer that Grasses, her business got she realized she could make started. the Tetons her home year“Over the last 100 years, round. It may have been a ski they’ve been lost to the plow vacation that drew her here, and the cow,� said Ewing. Her but a place to have horses and goal is to restore grasses for grass waving in the summer landowners that want to attract breeze is what led her to stay. wildlife, or just have less of an Now Ewing has started impact on the environment. a business to restore native Wildlife such as deer and grasses the Valley has lost Grasses continued on page 15 over the years to agriculture
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Saving Green Congress renews Conservation Tax Incentive
SLOW FOOD
Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
TETONS
TVN Staff
C
ongress has renewed a tax incentive for private landowners who protect their land with a voluntary conservation agreement. The incentive, which had expired at the end of 2009, helped the Teton Regional Land Trust work with willing landowners in the community to conserve more than 6,000 acres of productive agricultural lands and natural areas between 2006 and 2009. Conservation-minded landowners now have until Dec. 31, 2011 to take advantage of a significant tax deduction for donating a voluntary conservation agreement, which permanently protects important natural or historic resources on their land. When landowners donate a conservation easement to the TRLT, they maintain ownership and management of their land and can sell or pass the land on to their heir. The enhanced incentive applies to a landowner’s federal income tax. It raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent; allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of
Transforming Waste into Resources Teton Valley Community Recycling (TVCR) is committed to U Developing waste reduction programs throughout the Valley U Working to establish a recycling facility, including a salvage retail store. U Implementing environmentally and financially sound waste reduction programs TVCR....working since 1997 to make recycling more convenient in Teton Valley.... 354-2800 tetonrecycling.org
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their income, and Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from six to 16 years. “Our whole community benefits when landowners conserve their land this way, protecting our water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, scenic landscapes, recreational spaces, and productive agricultural lands,” said Chet Work, TRLT executive director. Conservation agreements have become an important tool nationally for protecting our watersheds, farms and forests, increasing the pace of private land conservation to over a million acres a year.” In 2011, TRLT hopes to work with up to 10 landowners on conservation easements. These landowners will be eligible to take advantage of the enhanced tax incentives. According to the Land Trust Alliance, the national organization that provides a voice for land trusts in Washington, D.C., bills to make this incentive permanent have 274 House and 41 Senate co-sponsors from all 50 states, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans in the House. This legislation is supported by more than 60 national agricultural, sportsmen’s, and conservation organizations. •
Conservation easements
Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
A bull moose forages for food.
keeping wildlife corridors open Ken Levy/Live Green Staff Sometimes the best way to go green is to keep what is already green intact. That’s been the goal of the Teton Regional Land Trust for more than 20 years, as it continues to find and preserve critical habitat and agricultural ground through conservation easements. A conservation easement is a permanent legal agreement that protects a habitat from development, while ensuring that traditional ownership and land uses like ranching continue, said Emily Nichols, outreach coordinator for TRLT. Key among its priorities when seeking land to preserve are wildlife corridors and
the connectivity they provide, said Chet Work, TRLT’s executive director. “A lot of people don’t understand the value of private lands in eastern Idaho and the west side of the Greater Yellowstone as winter range or migration range,” said Work. “We all attribute our great wildlife to Yellowstone, but nobody recognizes that it doesn’t stay in Yellowstone.” Wildlife needs access to winter ranges through wildlife corridors, or “hallways” that give them that access. While some animals, such as elk, are resilient enough to walk around obstacles, “mule deer have been known to stare at a fence, and starve,” he said. Animals heading toward winter range,
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and back, tend to follow rivers and cover. With the exception of pronghorn, not many want to be out in the open, Work said. In the valley, these corridors include Fox, Darby, Teton and South Leigh creeks. Badger, Bitch, North Leigh and Spring creeks are also favored. “They’re all walking along those tree lines,” he said. “Losing one of these little bottlenecks could really throw a wrench in the system.” TRLT is using scientific research to refine which are the most important corridors and have the most animals moving Wildlife continued on page 14
Becoming eco-sensitive Grand Targhee sets green standard for ski resorts percent. Glassbottled beveragAcross the board, Grand Targhee es were replaced Resort’s efforts at environmental protection by those in and stewardship read like a lengthy laundry aluminum cans list of eco-sensitivity. and draft beers, From waste diversion efforts to energy “due to the conservation, carbon-footprint mitigaenergy intenKen Levy/Live Green Staff tion to transportation-reduction strategies, “Baby” developer Seth Warren prepares to answer questions from youngsters visiting sive process of the resort takes its role as green stewards the Elements Tour during the Targhee Fest last July. The Baby, in this case, is a former recycling glass Japanese fire truck converted to run on used fryer oil, wind and solar energy. Baby, a seriously, said Christina Thomure, environ1987 Toyota, has been traveling much of the country with the Elements Tour, and was in a remote mental consultant and former sustainability on display as part of an environmental-awarness program at the Targhee Music Fest. location,” she director for Grand Targhee Ski Resort. said. Grand Targhee diverts 48 percent of footprint by 620 metric tons of CO2. The resort is its trash annually through recycling and Targhee was the first ski resort to committed to using 100 percent post-concomposting, she said. Their goal is to partner with Protect Our Winters, a sumer recycled copier paper exceed 50 percent in 2011. nonprofit dedicated to uniting the winter and, in 2010, reached a 15 “We also reduced our sports community in actively addressing percent reduction in electricelectricity use [last] winter climate change, Thomure said. ity use, based on a five-year Our next big season by 10 percent over On the transportation front, Targhee’s initiative will be to average. They reached this our five-year average completely eliminate off-road vehicles averaged 12 percent milestone through lighting through behavior change the sale of bottled biodiesel blend over the past five years. retrofits, building weatherizawater ... Targhee has alone,” said Thomure. They’re looking to reduce fuel use by tion, equipment upgrades and some of the nation’s “Our next big initiabest-tasting water and behavior modification, among 8 percent over the five-year average for tive will be to completely we want our guests to 2011. other policies. eliminate the sale of enjoy it while at the To further reduction in trips and fuel Targhee, she said, implebottled water at the resort same time reducing usage at the resort, it offers an employee mented a resort-wide energy their environmental and provide our guests conservation initiative focused and guest shuttle Thursdays-Sundays. impacts. with affordable alterna____________________ on behavior change. It tracked Carpool incentive programs have reduced tives,” she said. “Targhee Christina Thomure, average daily trips by 10 percent over the daily usage compared to has some of the nation’s environmental past two years. five-year average, conducted consultant best-tasting water and we The resort facilitated creation and spot energy audits, and gave want our guests to enjoy implementation of the regional Teton employees and guests incenit while at the same time Valley Mobility and Pathways committives for reducing usage. reducing their environmental impacts.” tee that is working to link the region with As the first business in North America To that end, the resort installed water mass transportation. Grand Targhee is a to register — and third-party verify — refill stations to reduce use of single-use founding stockholder in the LINX transit greenhouse gas inventory through The plastic bottles. Its glass-reduction initiative co-op, which will soon serve the greater Climate Registry, the resort’s energytrimmed its overall waste stream by 16 Yellowstone region. conservation initiatives reduced its carbon Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
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Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
“Baby,” which can sleep six in pop-out tents and is totally petroleum-fuel independent, is packed up and ready to continue the Elements Tour after a stint at the Targhee Music Fest last July.
Grand Targhee also partners with the U.S. Forest Service to manage vegetation within its permit boundaries through environmentally-sound treatments and applications. Targhee established its sustainability charter in 2006.
“Sustainability, defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to thrive, is a concept that has captured the attention of communities and businesses throughout the world,” Thomure said. “While technological developments have helped increase
life expectancy and raised the standard of living for millions of people worldwide, those very same developments have added stresses to critical social, economic, and environmental systems.” •
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Teton Valley gets RAD Local company starts curbside recycling program
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Ken Levy/Live Green Staff
Dave Huducsko and Aaron Hambly.
eton Valley has finally realized what residents have long desired and deserved â&#x20AC;Ś no, not a tunnel under Teton Pass. Yet, in a close second we finally have the choice to get curbside recycling pickup! By conveniently recycling, sending less waste to the landfill, saving money and reducing carbon emissions, Teton Valley, Idaho, is getting RAD. RAD, or Recycling Alternative Distribution, is our valleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first and only curbside recycling pickup service. Beginning in the fall of 2010, RAD offers curbside pickup service to all residents and businesses of Teton County, Idaho, and Alta, Wyo.
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footprint. What’s more, the It doesn’t matter if you vision of RAD is to improve are up in Leigh Creek, in the convenience of recycling, the Alta foothills or near RAD will decrease publicize recycling’s finanPine Creek Pass, RAD the volume of waste cial and environmental makes recycling easy going to the landfill, divert costs by impacts on our local commuby providing once per reducing the tonnage nity and educate everyone on month, twice per month hauled to the landfill the impacts recycling has on or weekly pickup. and decrease the our future.” RAD accepts No. valley residents’ “While RAD believes that 1 and No. 2 plastic overall carbon reducing each individual’s bottles, plastic grocery footprint. consumption is paramount, bags, glass, corrugated ____________________ if you cannot do without cardboard, aluminum David Hudacsko an item, the benefits of cans, tin and steel cans, RAD co-owner recycling it are undeniable office paper, magazines, and we feel it should be high newspaper and more. on everyone’s priority list,” Currently, all plastics said co-owner Aaron Hamby. and paper commodities are taken to the The time and effort it takes to load your recycling center in Jackson, Wyo. recycling in your car and drive it over “RAD’s goals are fundamental,” said Teton Pass or to Driggs can be undesirable. co-owner David Hudacsko, “RAD will However, rather than not recycle or let it sit decrease the volume of waste going to and grow in the corner of your garage, you the landfill, divert costs by reducing the now have the convenient choice to put it at tonnage hauled to the landfill and decrease the end of your driveway and have RAD the valley residents’ overall carbon
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pickup your recycling. Keep an eye out for the silver truck with the big wood box, towing the eightcompartment trailer. If you don’t see it on the road, just ask a student at any of the valley’s elementary schools to point it out, as RAD currently provides complimentary service to each institution. Looking forward to the summer? RAD is set to provide recycling service at each Teton Valley Foundation “Music on Main” concert. Join us and see the operation while enjoying some great outdoor entertainment. For information on how to sign up to get RAD, go to TheRadRecyclers.com or call (208) 220-7721. RAD would like to thank its partners who support recycling in Teton Valley, Idaho: Silver Star Communications, Allstate Insurance, Teton Valley News, Mountain 102.9, Music on Main and All American Tire. • — Submitted by David Hudacsko and Aaron Hamby
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Share a ride, help the earth and save money Rachael Horne/ Live Green Staff
A
s parking at the top of Teton Pass becomes harder and harder to come by on busy powder days, and with commuter numbers continually increasing, one man has come up with a proactive solution. Ben Morley started backcountryride.com this winter with the idea of eliminating traffic congestion on the Pass by providing an outlet for people to connect and share rides. It’s not just for skiers going to and from the top of the Pass to ski. There are meeting places in both Victor and Driggs to get people to and from Targhee, Jackson, Teton Village, Wilson, Jackson Hole Airport and Grand Teton National Park. It’s a bit like public transportation, but with the ability to create your own schedule. The website is a community-
driven network that connects people with other users who are either looking for rides or offering rides. Morley said the idea started last summer when he was thinking about how to do a shuttle service on Teton Pass. Backcountry. com had tried to put together a shuttle service but was shot down by the Wyoming Department of Transportation for various safety reasons. The parking lot on top of the pass isn’t considered a pull-out parking zone, and having a commercial shuttle wasn’t in WyDOT’s best interest. Morley said he began to think of different ways to provide some service and researched other areas that already had established ridesharing networks. He found the software and decided it would work for Jackson and Teton Valley. “There are already so many commuters
and backcountry users so it’s just trying to hook up those two parties and eliminate some traffic congestion and parking issues to make everyone happy,” said Morley. The website also includes a unique text message application for on-the-fly rideshare matches. The creators have designated certain codes that the database will recognize. For example, if you want a ride from Driggs to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, you can text the code “r Drig Vill 1” to (307) 200-8008. That means you are requesting a ride from Driggs to the Village for one person. All the text messaging codes are available at backcountryride.com.
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use the network the most. They Throughout the entire developed a way of calculating process of connecting every individual’s pounds of members, no phone numbers CO2 emissions reduced, their are transferred. If there is a number of trips reduced, their ride match, the website will vehicle miles traveled reduced, automatically place a call to the amount of gas saved, and the matched member and give money saved. In keeping track them the rideshare details, of every individual’s pounds including the location, number of passengers and the rideshare of CO2 emissions reduced, they created a member’s competition. name. Then Save some green, share a ride: The backcounthey members backcountryride.com tryride.com choose to users who accept the ride, reduce the and the website most pounds of CO2 emissions will automatically connect in one season will win a gear both members with no phone reward from backcountry.com. number exchange. In order to make people Morley said the response more accountable so that so far has been good and other users can count on their he’s gotten a lot of positive feedback. He said a few people ride and so that the reward system is not abused, several from Victor and Driggs have initiatives were taken. First, used it the most already. So once someone registers to be far Morley said they’ve had a member of the backcouna lot of posts but not tons of tryride.com network, he or she matches. He expects that will has to create a profile much change once there are more like on Facebook, so other users. members can identify you as a “If you’re already going legit person. Information such somewhere, you might as well as her name, birthday, sex, say where you’re going,” he profile picture, organization/ said. “Once the numbers are company affiliation, number up it will be easier to request a of typical open seats, car type, ride and make a ride match.” and her typical car pool route After developing the idea, will be displayed in your Morley said they knew people profile. Two other key elements liked to drive on their own that other users can view in a and have the freedom to take profile are other members’ car off whenever it suits their pool statistics and a five-star schedules. They knew it would rating scheme. Every member take some incentive for people will have the ability to rate to give up a piece of their their experience on a five-star freedom and start thinking scale with other members about the bigger picture. when a car pool has taken Consequently backcounplace. Through this they aim at tryride.com partnered up with keeping members accountable backcountry.com to create a reward structure for people that within the network. •
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Wildlife continued from page 7_________________________________________________________________________________________________ through them. Idaho Fish and Game researchers place collars on small samples of these animals, Work said, to get an idea of where the majority of the animals are going. “The corridors are probably what we know the least about and what could potentially be the most threatened,” Work said. “You don’t need just winter or summer range. Without either one of those you don’t have a population.” Mule deer that spend their summers in Grand Teton National Park come up and over the Tetons to winter here in the Teton River Canyon, he said. “That’s a pretty good migration, 40-50 miles,” Work said, “and now we’re seeing those routes, and that helps us prioritize one private property over another for conservation.” Work said TRLT is working with landowners on three properties in the Teton Valley. all associated with the Teton River corridor. “These properties could in essence be helping big-game winter range if we can ensure they stay undeveloped,” he said.
make use of the tax deducThree high-priority propertion. When we work with a ties along the South Fork of big farmer or rancher, they the Snake River closed with don’t have any use for that, TRLT at the end of 2010. He and we end up compensating anticipates 3-4 more this year. them fully for One is near their property, the Lorenzo We’re doing this or they give of interchange for people, for themselves.” at Highway the hunters and Work said the 20, crossing fishermen to keep populations wildlife attributover the abundant. We’re ed to the valley South Fork, doing this for and Yellowstone with others people who want evolved using in the canyon to see wildlife in agricultural reach. Yellowstone and lands as its Once a outside. winter and property is ____________________ transitional identified, the Chet Work range. next step is to Teton Regional Land Trust executive director “It’s not work with the agriculture landowner to that’s causing understand these populations to decline,” the importance of protecthe said. “It’s the conversion of ing their land. Negotiations agricultural lands to something then begin to create an that’s less viable to wildlife easement that would limit uses that’s going to make a change that would hinder wildlife in our populations.” movement or range. TRLT often serves as an Tax incentives help provide advocate for the landowner. In motivation for some landownsome cases where easement ers to protect their land. More lands have weed problems, than 6,000 acres have been TRLT will help the landowner preserved through the use of find grants or discounts on these incentives, said Work. “A good portion of the work supplies to help eradicate the we do is with people who can’t weeds.
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When stream restoration or water quality issues arise, often eliminating the causes of damage helps alleviate the problems. Work calls this passive restoration, where taking away the problem lets the land heal on its own. In cases where active restoration is needed, TRLT can help identify funding sources or consulting firms to build fences or otherwise help mitigate these issues. Sometimes, volunteers will help plant streamside willows or otherwise roll up their sleeves. “We tend to leverage our energy on behalf of the landowner, putting in a lot of time, using a lot of contacts and writing grants,” he said. Conservation easements aren’t about creating parks, locking up the land and keeping people out. “We’re doing this for people, for the hunters and fishermen to keep populations abundant,” Work said. “We’re doing this for people who want to see wildlife in Yellowstone and outside.” For more information about TRLT visit tetonlandtrust.org. •
Grasses continued from page 5_______________________________ elk need the native grasses, Ewing said, because the agricultural land they often munch on doesn’t hold the same nutritional value. She said the wildlife turn to native grasses in the winter, where other plants don’t hold the nutrients they need in the winter. Native grasses also don’t need irrigation like other plants. They do need a decent water year, she said. Especially to get started. She said it take s a few years to develop, but it may be another 100 years before some of the land is restored to it’s native ways. A steppe is a plain mostly without trees, dominated by short grasses. Ewing’s business
is aimed at seeding and overseeding grasses, establishing, maintaining and improving grass and rangeland. Ewing said the grasses also help keep away noxious weeds. Part of her business is helping rid the land of the invasive species. Ewing doesn’t use chemicals, but said she doesn’t care if landowners do, so long as they are getting rid of weeds. Ewing will be gearing up for her second season soon. She expects the business to expand a bit this year as she’s more established. Anyone interested in restoring his or her land to native grassland can contact Ewing at (208) 456-8606. •
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Teton Valley News 16 Go Green 2011