Director Miller Testifies at Natural Resources Interim Committee
Yesterday, Director Miller testified before the legislature's Natural Resources Interim Committee, a joint committee of the House and Senate that meets periodically outside of the regular legislative session.
During the brief time allotted, he provided a high level review of the current fire season, outlined the next steps for modernizing IDL's fire program, and briefly introduced the agency's 2023 legislative priority.
IDL Needs Qualified Firefighters and Foresters - the University of Idaho Offers a New Solution
Director Miller published an opinion piece this week noting the need for additional qualified employees working in natural resources, and a new path for people to get into the field.
The director outlined IDL's mission and what we offer, then explained the need. He noted that like many businesses and industries, finding qualified people to fill our natural resource positions presents challenges.
Recognizing people need relevant training to land great jobs, and industry needs highly qualified workers, the University of Idaho recently launched three new associate degree pathways. These programs quickly prepare people to work in natural resources while also laying steppingstones for earning future bachelor’s degrees.
Fewer Acres Burn Under IDL Protection Thanks to a Boost in Resources
IDL went to the Idaho Legislature last session with big needs: increased pay for firefighters, hazard pay, and more firefighters. The legislature responded, funding those needs on behalf of the people of Idaho, and the Governor signed the changes into law.
While IDL isn’t quite ready to call the fire season over, the return on this investment has been encouraging.
As of October 1, IDL had fought 280 wildland fires on lands under its protection, holding the fires to just 4,614 acres burned. That is 97% of the 20-year average for the number of fires. While the number of fires is right on average, the number of acres burned is only 19% of the 20-year average.
For comparison, as of October 1, 2021, IDL had fought 391 wildfires that burned nearly 141,981 acres. Given the severity of the 2021 fire season, there weren’t enough firefighters to stop the fires early.
“The additional resources reduced our response time and brought us closer to catching every fire at 10 acres or less,” said Josh Harvey, IDL Fire Bureau Chief. “A great example is how our firefighters in the Hells Canyon area contained fires that easily could have grown into multi-million dollar incidents.”
IDL Delivered College-level Shared Stewardship Seminar, Leveraged Content to Help Educate All Idahoans
Last Friday, 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 now-retired 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, Sept. 29, 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.
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.
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.
Employee Safety - Orange Hat Update
IDL set a goal to have safety orange baseball/stocking hats in employee hands at the beginning of October. Unfortunately, the vendor is running behind schedule.
We've received word the hats are in production now. As soon as the PPE arrives, they will be distributed, hopefully sometime around mid-October.
Employees Leaving IDL
We wish these people all the best in their future adventures!
- Drake Baker, Coeur d'Alene Staff Office
- Justin Eshelman, Pend Oreille Supervisory Area
- Donellen Moen, St. Joe Supervisory Area
October - Cybersecurity Awareness Month
In our ultra-connected world, cybercrime continues to be a growing threat. Recent data shows that it only takes an average of two days for a cybercriminal to penetrate 93% of company networks. (Forbes, 2022) It is more important now than ever to be knowledgeable of and diligent in preventing security breaches for your agency.
With that in mind, the state of Idaho is recognizing Cybersecurity Awareness Month by sharing tips to stay secure, at work and home. To turn away cyberattacks, a little knowledge teamed with critical thinking skills can go a long way!
It is important each employee participates in the effort.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to cybertraining@dhr.idaho.gov
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.
In Case You Missed It
Here's a recap of other recent IDL newsletters you may find interesting:
One Team One Voice Newsletter Archive
Did you miss some important news? Are you curious about knowing what's happening across IDL? Our One Team, One Voice webpage contains an archive of IDL's newsletters covering:
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