Released Jan. 14, 2008
BOISE, Idaho -— The University of Idaho Monday provided the Idaho State Board of Education with a progress report on the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences project to establish a $35 million Idaho Center for Livestock and Environmental Studies in the Magic Valley of south central Idaho.
The report notes that the project has expanded at the direction of Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter to increase collaborative efforts with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and Idaho Department of Fish and Game by integrating an animal diagnostic laboratory with the center.
The university also asked for State Board approval to spend up to $750,000 for project design and planning. The board voted to approve the request, allowing the project to advance to the next phase.
The college began pursuing plans for the center in close coordination with the region’s dairy industry. Idaho legislators in 2007 appropriated $10 million for the center at the governor’s request but put a two-year deadline on the university obtaining revisions to federal laws governing the use of endowment lands to allow sale or exchange of endowment lands to acquire the land and buildings needed for the project. Idaho’s dairy industry pledged $5 million for the project.
The initial plan was to build the $25 million Center for Livestock and Environmental Studies as the first phase and to pursue the integrated animal diagnostic laboratory as the second phase.
The center and laboratory will provide a world class setting for beef and dairy research. It will complement the college’s Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center near Salmon focused on beef production.
Idaho’s dairy and beef industry provided 57 percent of the $5.6 billion in projected farmgate cash receipts collected by the state’s agriculture during 2007, according to college agricultural economists. Milk sales, largely from Magic Valley dairy operations, more than doubled from $829 million in 1998 to $2.041 billion in 2007.
With the support of Idaho’s Congressional delegation, legislation passed Congress in late 2007 to allow use of endowment lands that was critical to the advancement of the project.
The governor’s directive to integrate animal diagnostic facilities with the center will lead to the relocation of the Caine Veterinary Teaching Center from Caldwell to the new center.
The state board report is part of the transparent, public process the university is committed to following, said John Hammel, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean.
The center is a large, complex undertaking that will involve many public entities, including the Governor, Legislature, State Board of Education, Idaho Land Board, Idaho State Department of Agriculture, county commissions and others, in addition to partners in the dairy industry, Hammel said.
“We are pleased with the progress we have made during the past year,” he said.
The college will follow the necessary steps to ensure public review of the project and will not begin building the center and integrated laboratory until the necessary funding is secured for the completion of the project, Hammel said.
“This is a project that is worth doing, and it is worth doing right,” Hammel said.
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Contacts: John Hammel, (208) 885-6681, calsdean@uidaho.edu
Rich Garber, (208) 334-2292, rgarber@uidaho.edu
Bill Loftus, (208) 885-7694, bloftus@uidaho.edu
