Dust Storms Impact Roberts Farms

The dust was settled along Interstate 15 on Thursday night, thanks to some wet weather.

The Idaho Transportation Department had to shut down the interstate between Idaho Falls and Roberts for more than 24 hours. It was the sixth dust storm closure in just three months.

ITD spokesman Bruce King said it’s all because of Mother Nature. There’s no snow to cover the ground when the winds kick up.

Northbound I-15 at about 5:30 p.m., but for some in the Roberts area, the storm was ongoing.

A layer of dust seemed to cover every inch of the Beckman family farm, even equipment that hadn’t left the garage.

“It’s deafening. It’s quieting, ominous. It’s hard to explain,” said Sedar Beckman, whose parents own the land.

It was a dust storm along in the area west of Osgood. The ITD said this unusual winter weather has kept crews busy cleaning.

“Hey, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, plain and simple,” said King.

In 1995, the ITD planted 4,000 trees along a 1.8 mile stretch of the interstate to block the winds. But the “tree fence” is helpless against gusts of more than 30 mph.

For Beckman, a farmer, this was just another nightmare.

“(It’s) sickening when we’re sitting there and our livelihood is at stake and we have to watch our livestock suffer,” he said.

Beckman said the dust infiltrates his horse hay, coats the faces of his cattle and causes headaches and safety hazards.

“The school bus routes the other morning, I couldn’t barely see ’em,” said Beckman.

But Beckman doesn’t blame the weather. He said it’s because of the practices and management by one particular farmer who refuses to change his ways.

“Everyone needs to be aware it’s their tax dollars at work for one person’s actions,” he said.

Beckman said there’s no reason for any dust in an agriculture environment with 2012 technology and knowledge.

“We have too many different conservation practices, tillage practices, rotation practices,” said Beckman. “Prior owners of that land planted that piece to hay and grass, and they knew it was an issue. It wasn’t worth dust issues.”

When we went to talk to that farmer, Mark Mickelson, his family said he wasn’t home.

Farm co-owner Dale Mickelson did not want to speak on camera. He said on the phone that Mickelson Farms is not doing anything wrong and the dust storms are only caused by the weather.

“I have no information on that,” said King. “I don’t know the landowners there west of the interstate.”

Beckman said he has indirectly confronted Mickelson farms. He said he’s notified the National Resources Conservation Services office and may go to the Department of Environmental Quality next.

King said dust storms typically close this stretch of I-15 once or twice a year.