Wildfire Update
As of Thursday, September 29, there had been 278 fires totaling 4,613 acres reported across the 6.3 million acres IDL protects. Of these unwanted fires 125 were human caused and burned 91% of the reported acreage. Overall, the number of fires reported to date is 97% of the 20 year average. The total acreage burned is 19% 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 $21 million. Of this amount, $6.9 million is reimbursable, leaving IDL responsible for approximately $14.2 million. This amount reflects up front costs like aircraft contracting.
There are currently no air resources under contract.
For IDL's 12 fire protective districts, eight districts have a fire danger rating of High and four districts are now Moderate.
There is currently Stage 1 Fire Restrictions in the Sawtooth National Forest portion of the Sawtooth North Zone
Statewide Acres Burned by Ownership
Current as of Sept. 29, 2022
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SURFACE OWNER
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ACRES
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Idaho Department of Lands
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6,400
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Other State Lands
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121
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Private
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27,502
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Bureau of Land Management
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42,133
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Forest Service
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305,380
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Other Federal
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14,275
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Tribe
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607
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Undetermined
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107
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Total Acres Burned
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396,525
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Arsonist Sentenced for Quinn Fire
On September 15, Anthony Morreale, 41, who had entered into a plea agreement, was sentenced in District Court on felony third-degree arson charges for the Quinn Fire.
District Judge Gregory Fitzmaurice sentenced Morreale to three years in prison, two years fixed and one year indeterminate, with credit for time served. The judge then suspended the sentence and placed him on two years of unsupervised probation. The judge also ordered Morreale to pay restitution when that amount is determined.
According to court records, Morreale claimed to have been stranded in the area and started a campfire as a signal to get someone's attention.
Idaho Department of Lands investigators worked with the State Fire Marshal, the Idaho County Sheriff, and several other agencies on this successful investigation.
The Quinn Fire burned about 450 acres and involved the efforts for about 150 personnel, a dozer, four engines and aircraft.
IDL Delivered College-level Shared Stewardship Seminar, Leveraged Content to Help Educate All Idahoans
Yesterday, IDL led a two-hour educational seminar covering Shared Stewardship and Idaho’s Forests at Boise State’s Osher Institute. The institute is a membership-based lifelong learning program offering a wide variety of college-level, non-credit programs for intellectually curious adults aged 50 and over.
Approximately 50 lifelong learners attended the program onsite, with more participating virtually online.
The presentation, organized and led by Lynn Oliver, the agency’s South Idaho Shared Stewardship Coordinator and Ara Andrea, Idaho’s Statewide Shared Stewardship coordinator covered how the program aligns efforts across multiple agencies and ownership boundaries to address forest health and wildfire risks. Robbie Johnson moderated panel discussions at the seminar that featured other content experts, pictured below.
Watch a Brief Facebook Video Featuring Our Team of Presenters
From left to right: Nate Fisher Policy Advisor, Governor Brad Little’s office, Scott Corkill, Idaho Department of Lands, Linda Jackson, Payette National Forest, Dani Southard, National Forest Foundation, Josh Newman, Boise National Forest, Ara Andrea, Idaho Shared Stewardship Coordinator, Jeff Lau, North Idaho Shared Stewardship Coordinator, Lynn Oliver, South Idaho Shared Stewardship Coordinator, and Robbie Johnson, Public Information Officer, Idaho Department of Lands.
As reference and information materials for participants, IDL launched a new Shared Stewardship Self-Guided Learning webpage. This valuable resource is available for the public via our No Boundaries Forestry website and includes links to:
- The West is Burning is a documentary film examining the causes and effects of the current wildfire conditions in the West. https://www.westisburning.org/watch
- Shared Stewardship Progress Report, a brief video from 2020 that provides an overview of shared stewardship featuring leaders from the Idaho Department of Lands and the U.S. Forest Service. https://youtu.be/91vZz6qTDAk
- The #NoBoundariesForestry Web Page provides detailed information on Shared Stewardship, Good Neighbor Authority, and the Idaho Forest Action plan. https://www.idl.idaho.gov/noboundariesforestry/
- Wildfire Risk to Communities is a USFS website featuring interactive maps, charts, and resources to help communities understand, explore and reduce wildfire risk. https://wildfirerisk.org
- Fire Prevention and Preparedness is IDL’s online portal for wildfire prevention, preparedness, fire restrictions, and the Idaho Fire Map. https://www.idl.idaho.gov/fire-management/fire-prevention-and-preparedness/
- Landowner Assistance is IDL’s portal for forest landowners seeking help improving the health of their forests. https://www.idl.idaho.gov/about-forestry/assistance-for-forest-landowners
- Idaho Fire Wise provides information to landowners living in the Wild Urban Interface, or WUI. https://idahofirewise.org
- The Ada Fire Adapted Community website provides Treasure Valley residents information on Wildfire Home Safety Evaluations. https://www.adafireadapted.org/homeowner/wildfire-home-safety-evaluation/
IDL Joins Governor Little, Controller Woolf at Capital for a Day in Carey, Idaho
On Thursday Director Miller joined Governor Little and Controller Woolf at this month's Capital for Day event in Carey, Idaho. Attendees asked questions covering a gamut of questions including broadband infrastructure, chronic wasting disease, labor challenges, and wildfire and fuels reduction.
IDL appreciates the opportunity Capital for a Day provides to hearing and addressing Idaho's concerns.
Down Fence Removed and Recycled, Protecting Game, Livestock and Recreationists
Nearly 2,300 pounds of old down fence and debris was removed from the Danskin area in the Southwest Supervisory area this week. This cleanup resulted from collaboration between IDL and Fish and Game, along with volunteers from Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Mule Deer Foundation and the public at large.
Over two days thirteen people people filled two dump trucks and two pickups with rusty barbed wire, preventing future injuries to humans, wildlife and livestock.
Since there is still more down fence to cleanup, a future project will be planned.
 
Dumping Near Mountain Home Threatens Recreation on Endowment Land
Two trailers and two pickup beds were filled with trash after Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) cleaned up endowment land near Mountain Home, a popular site for trucks, recreational vehicles and target shooting. (view the blue area on the attached map)
People have illegally dumped refrigerators, couches, mattresses, end tables and vacuum cleaners and other garbage on land used to support public education in Idaho rather than using the Mountain Home garbage transfer station.
This has been a problem over the past few years, but the amount of illegal dumping has continued to increase. Another growing problem is pickups and UTVs going off-road and creating unauthorized trails that causing erosion and other issues.
Due to the abuse of this land, IDL is considering restricting large vehicle access and recreation target shooting. Closing the land is an action of last resort and something IDL hopes to avoid.
The agency asked people who see illegal to call the sheriff's office, and asked civic-minded groups willing to adopt this land for clean-up to contact IDL.
News Coverage Generates Volunteers
Given the significant media coverage generated by IDL's news release along the popularity of IDL's social media posts on the topic, two groups stepped forward to help clean up the land so it can remain open to the public for recreational use. Our Southwest Supervisory Area will reach out to these groups to coordinate additional cleanup projects.
  
Priest Lake Historic Northern Hotel
In the August 19th edition of the Director's Update, IDL provided a briefing about work underway to resolve a trespass issue with the Historic Northern Hotel in our Priest Lake Supervisory area.
On September 19 IDL received word from Bonner County's compliance investigator that county's Prosecuting Attorney's office is working to resolve this issue.
New Information Kiosk Installed at Hayes Gulch
Assistant Fire Warden Ashley Stoneham fabricated and installed a new information kiosk for Hayes Gulch, a recreation site on endowment land in the Pend Oreille Lake Supervisory Area. He built the kiosk based on a design developed by Todd Wernex, IDL's Recreation Program Manager.
The kiosk arrived in time as the Hayes Gulch trail closed for winter, just before harvesting operations are slated to begin on the Hayes Gulch timber sale.
The kiosk may be replicated for other trails and areas, creating a consistent, branded appearance for recreational signage on endowment land.
Another kudos goes to Jonathan Luhnow who enlisted a civic-minded contractor, Blackburn & Sons Construction, to dig post holes for the kiosk while on site working to extend a culvert. IDL appreciates Blackburn & Sons Construction going above and beyond to extend a helping hand!
Partially finished, shingles and singage remain to be installed on a new informational kiosk on endowment land at Hayes Gulch.
Information Technology Update - Navision, Landfolio and Key Strategic Support Decisions
IDL's IT Steering Committee (ITSC) decided to implement a phased retirement of Navision and Landfolio for a variety of factors. These systems require more overhead to implement and support than expected. This change was detailed in a prior edition of a Director's Update email.
With the intention of reducing the demand on budget and IT resources, and to tightly focus energy towards the agency’s business-critical functions, this month the ITSC made key strategic decisions concerning what systems our IT team will support:
An archive of our Information Technology Newsletters, and other email newsletter products, can be viewed on our One Team, One Voice webpage.
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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