Alleged Serial Arsonist Arrested in Bonner County
On Wednesday, August 31, Bonner County Sheriff's detectives arrested 23 year old Ryan Greene of Priest River for multiple counts of arson.
Over the past two years, multiple intentional wildfires were set on Idaho Endowment and US Forest Service lands in the Priest River area.
The arrest on Wednesday was the result of a joint investigation with Bonner County Sheriff, IDL, State Fire Marshal, US Department of Homeland Security, US Forest Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.
IDL will highlight its renewed collaboration with the State Fire Marshal to hold arsonists accountable in an upcoming news release.
The Bonner County Sheriff posted a news release, mugshot and other photos on its Facebook page.
Wildfire Update
As of Thursday, September 1, there had been 211 fires totaling 1186 acres reported across the 6.3 million acres IDL protects. Of these unwanted fires 98 were human caused and burned 90% of the reported acreage. Overall, the number of fires reported to date is 85% of the 20 year average. The total acreage burned is 5% of the 20 year average.
IDL currently does not have any Incident Management Teams in place.
The total estimated statewide suppression costs on land protected by IDL is $14.1 million. Of this amount, $4.9 million is reimbursable, leaving IDL responsible for approximately $9.2 million. This amount reflects up front costs like aircraft contracting.
IDL has two amphibious water scoopers, two type 2 helicopters, and four single engine air tankers on contract. The pre-positioning of these resources is detailed in the attached report.
For IDL's 12 fire protective districts, 11 districts have a fire danger rating of Very High, one district is at High. Burn permits are limited to crop residue only.
Statewide Acres Burned by Ownership
Current as of Sept. 1, 2022
| SURFACE OWNER |
ACRES |
| Idaho Department of Lands |
1,075 |
| Other State Lands |
104 |
| Private |
9,903 |
| Bureau of Land Management |
26,757 |
| Forest Service |
132,110 |
| Other Federal |
6,342 |
| Tribe |
207 |
| Undetermined |
88 |
| Total Acres |
176,586 |
Master Fire Agreement Discussions Progressing
Last week Director Miller and Idaho's State Forester Craig Foss met with executives from the USFS and Idaho BLM to resume Master Agreement negotiations. A professional, third-party facilitator led the discussions.
The two-day meeting proved fruitful and left IDL optimistic that all parties can agree to extend the current contract, which would otherwise expire on December 31 of this year. From IDL's perspective, this additional time is crucial for negotiating terms that are fair and acceptable to the State of Idaho and our federal partners, as well as in the best interest in the citizens we serve.
Recreational Impacts on Endowment Land, State Agencies
Director Miller recently met with staff from the Governor's office and the heads of other natural resource-focused state agencies to discuss the challenges created by increased recreational use of state land.
Governor Little is leading Idaho towards developing new, collaborative inter-agency solutions to these challenges. IDL sees this as an opportunity to potentially reduce damage to endowment land and develop new revenue streams for the beneficiaries, all the while providing citizens with more recreation opportunities.
Endowment Recreation Legislation
Related, IDL views a collaborative approach as the best way to pass legislation that holds people who damage endowment land accountable. The current legal remedy allows only misdemeanor or felony level criminal trespass charges. It is essentially unenforceable.
Our team continues to work with a diverse group of stakeholders to address recreational damage to endowment land. These stakeholders include the Idaho Recreation Council, Idaho State ATV Association, Idaho Cattle Association, Idaho Sportsmen and the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.
Our partners hope to reboot our recreation on endowment land legislative proposal, House Bill 468. One of them is likely to bring this bill forward in the upcoming session. Last session, we asked Chairman Gibbs of the House Resources and Conservation Committee to hold our recreation bill, clearing the path for hazard pay to pass the House.
The new, alternative version of House Bill 468 would create an infraction-level offence for those who damage endowment land with overall lower penalties, a warning option, and possibly a sunset provision. The sunset provision would soften concerns held by some that the legislation would result in endowment land being shuttered to public access.
It's likely one of our stakeholder partners will sponsor the updated bill in the upcoming session.
Know Before You Go
IDL worked with Idaho Parks and Recreation to send out a message about IDL's new Know Before You Go webpage.
To help reduce the risk of unwanted human caused wildfires starting in Idaho’s forests and state parks the agencies launched a new, an easy-to-use online fire restrictions finder tailored to Idaho’s state parks.
When visiting IDL’s fire restrictions webpage for state parks, www.idl.idaho.gov/know-before-you-go, a quick click on your favorite park provides up to date information about fire restrictions for that location. Parks also promotes Know Before You Go and fire restrictions on their website.
Labor Day Op Ed: Protect the Lands We Love from Fire by Recreating Responsibly
Leading up to the Labor Day weekend, Director Miller authored an op ed encouraging Idahoans to make the enjoy the great outdoors responsibly. His article dovetails with the lead-agency role IDL has assumed in the Recreate Responsibly Idaho campaign.
In the article, Miller reminder readers that "we must remain vigilant and remember that with the privilege of lighting a campfire comes the responsibility of putting it out, dead out."
He also lauded IDL's firefighting efforts. "Part of the reason Idaho has been spared is the excellent response and effectiveness by Idaho Department of Lands firefighters, keeping more than 92% of wildfires on land it protects to 10 acres or less."
Recreate Responsibly Idaho Welcomes New Partners
In its lead up to Labor Day News release, Recreate Responsibly Idaho welcomed three new members to the coalition. The new partners include Idaho State ATV Association, Idaho Sportsmen and Idaho Firewise.
Responding to news of RRI's expansion, Benn Brocksome, Idaho Sportsmen executive director said, "Idaho Sportsmen was created to provide access and opportunity for Idaho’s sporting public and Recreate Responsibly Idaho supports that mission by promoting responsible use of our lands.” He added, “we are excited to join this effort for preserving our recreation opportunities well into the future.”
The RRI outreach team will continue to work to share its resources with business and conservation partners to strengthen the message and expand its impact.
Employees Leaving IDL
We wish these people all the best in their future adventures!
- Ron Durham, Priest Lake Supervisory Area
- Kevin Benton, Coeur d'Alene Staff Office
- Anjel Tomayko, St. Joe Supervisory Area
- Patsi Shandera, Boise Staff Office
- Kirk Kottkey, Clearwater Supervisory Area
- Josh Purkiss, Boise Staff Office
- Scott Howerton, Payette Lakes Supervisory Area
- Debbie Buck, Boise Staff Office
- Andrea Ryan, Coeur d'Alene Staff Office
Expanding Outreach
IDL staff has been putting together newsletters to reach more people both internally and externally. All the newsletters look professional and have had good success reaching the intended targets.
There are currently 13 newsletter categories. Five are produced with external customers in mind and include the Urban & Community Forestry Newsletter, Recreate Responsibly Idaho Newsletter, Forestry & Fire Grants, IDL Timber Sale Notifications and Wildfire Alerts.
The others are primarily for internal communication but may be shared on a smaller scale externally. They include the IDL Safety Message, In The News and on Social Media, Legislative Update, Information Technology, IDL Insider, Land Board Recap, and of course the Director's Update for Land Board and Director's Update for IDL Staff.
Over the course of last fiscal year, IDL published 302 editions of these newsletters, sending a combined 149,000 emails using GovDelivery. In July the new Wildfire Alerts service, again powered by GovDelivery, launched. Across all forest protective districts, there are a total of 23,289 alert subscribers, but most of the individuals who signed up did so for more than one district, which inflates the total count. 70% of alert subscribers receive the notifications via SMS/text messaging.
You can find the archives for all of these newsletters on our One Team, One Voice webpage
Information Technology Update
The latest edition of IDL's Information Technology Newsletter explained the agency's focus on developing software in-house when possible and using a scrum team approach to fast-track project completion. The newsletter also welcomed Sean Johnson, our first full-time software engineer and Robert Mason, an IT Information Systems Technician, to Team IDL!
Past editions of the Information Technology Newsletter are available on our One Team, One Voice webpage.
Safety Newsletter for Employees
The safety message for August showcased new PPE available to eligible employees, which includes highlighter yellow hoodie sweatshirts and bright orange shirts. Both have the IDL logo and will make employees easier to see while working in the woods.
IDL is also offering a new IDL safety colored baseball cap in addition to the traditional hats and caps that are part of the PPE.
IDL Insider - Summer Edition
The summer edition of the IDL Insider is now available. This is a newsletter written by employees for employees.
One Team One Voice Webpage
With multiple communication channels at our disposal – our website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, newsletters and individual conversations – sharing stories broadly has never been easier. However, given this abundance of communication channels, it’s crucial for our team speak with one voice. Otherwise, important messages we’re trying to communicate can be lost.
The One Team, One Voice webpage features the following resources:
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