‘Mother Nature Said Not This Year’: Jensen Grove to remain dry despite infrastructure repairs
Par Kermani
Blackfoot (KIFI) — Just days after water began flowing back into Jensen Grove, a new state-ordered cutoff has stopped the city from filling the popular recreation area.
Mayor Scott Stufflebeam said the city was notified by the Snake River Valley Irrigation District that Idaho has curtailed water rights based on priority dates.
“Anything prior to 1898… Blackfoot water rights are 1900,” Stufflebeam said. “So what that basically says is that we can no longer fill Jensen’s Grove because we don’t have the water rights to do it.”
Idaho follows the prior appropriation system, which gives priority to older, or “senior,” water rights during times of shortage. When supplies are limited or in a drought year, newer, or “junior,” rights can be reduced or cut off to prioritize senior holders.
Stufflebeam said the timing of this year’s cutoff is earlier than expected.
“The idea was we’d make it through June and into July, and then the cutoffs would happen,” he said. “This year… April. We don’t even have a chance to fill the lake.”
The announcement comes after the city recently completed repairs to a dike that was damaged during last year’s high spring runoff. The project was designed to restore the system that diverts water from the Snake River, under I15 and into Jensen Grove.
Despite the improvements, the cutoff means the city cannot use the infrastructure to fill the pond this season.
“We’ve got the infrastructure now. We built it, we paid for it, but we can’t go ahead and fill it because of that issue,” Stufflebeam said.
The change is already affecting planned events at the park.
“We had a triathlon planned… that will now become a biathlon,” Stufflebeam said. “It’s an unfortunate event, but it’s one that we knew could have come. Given the drought this year, we just didn’t expect it this early.”
Some water may still be visible in the area due to excess flows in nearby canal systems, but this is expected to disappear as temperatures rise and irrigation demand increases.
Residents say the development is disappointing, but understandable.
“I think it’s sad, but I can understand,” said Therese Tominaga, a Blackfoot resident. “Farmers need it, especially this year.”
Tominaga said Jensen Grove is an integral part of the community, serving as a venue for recreation, gatherings, and events.
“It looks so attractive when the water is in the pond,” she said. “It’s a good place for the community to hold events.”
Stufflebeam said while the outcome is disappointing, the city supports the decision to prioritize agricultural water use.
“We need to support our farmers,” he said. “Let’s make sure they can at least have a chance to grow crops.”
He added that the work completed this year will still benefit the city in the future if water conditions improve.
“We did everything we could,” Stufflebeam said. “Mother Nature gets to have final say, and evidently she said, not this year.”