Keynote speaker Richard Manning told Idaho Organization of Resource Councils members at the second annual Membership Banquet Nov. 14 in Boise that human activity, especially industrial agriculture and energy exploration, have threatened the environment and clean water.
Manning is an author and reporter and has written extensively about rivers in the West. In his presentation to IORC, “The Burden and Promise of Our Great Rivers,” Manning said,
“The reason we have polluted water is agriculture, and that’s because it is considered non-point source pollution, so it’s not under the Clean Water Act,” Manning said.
“Follow nitrogen to find the environmental story,” Manning said in reference to the accumulation of nitrogen from agricultural runoff in watersheds across the country.
Read more in the Boise Weekly.
Last year, Manning exposed the impacts of industrial agriculture on the Snake River in Idaho in a High Country News story. Manning famously said that farm runoff, especially fertilizers, have made the Snake River “Idaho’s Sewer System.”
At their business meeting, IORC members passed a resolution to “Put Water First” to protect existing and future uses of groundwater and surface water.
Members also passed a resolution to support family farmers and local foods and enjoyed a locally-sourced meal prepared by Chef Abby Carlson.
The following members were elected to IORC Board positions: Julia Page (chair), Josie Erskine (vice chair), Chad Brock (treasurer), Eileen Stachowski (secretary), Christina Stucker-Gass (at large), and Liz Amason (at large).