MY TURN: Idaho’s long-overdue approach to water management
Adam Young
If there’s a word to describe the opposite of a banner water year, 2026 was it. After an exceptionally hot and dry summer in 2025, Idaho farmers entered this planting season having endured the hottest winter and early spring ever recorded. Cities and counties faced a dismally low snowpack, with major implications for late-season water supplies. While this year’s snow drought was unusually dire, our state has, unfortunately, experienced a decline in snowpack levels over the past several decades.
That reality, as others have pointed out, demands action. It requires clear-eyed and careful stewardship from those of us who depend on and use Idaho’s water resources. It requires good-faith collaboration between water users, policymakers, and state agencies. Success will be possible only if we collectively commit to solutions that make sense.
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