Bonner County Arsonist Sentenced to 10 Years
An IDL fire investigation resulted in an arsonist going to prison.
Ryan Nathanial Green, 23, entered guilty pleas to six counts of third-degree felony arson for the 2022 Gunsmith, Mundy Lane, Mangy, Nail, Little Thursday and Thursday fires.
Greene was sentenced to 10 years in prison with five years fixed on each of the six arson charges, sentences to run concurrently.
Greene was also ordered to pay restitution and court costs of $245.50 per case for a total of $1,473. He received credit for 169 days served in jail while waiting to go to court on these six charges.
As part of the plea deal, the U.S. government agreed that federal prosecutors would not bring separate charges in connection to the summer 2022 fires. Both state and federal prosecutors also agreed not to bring separate federal charges regarding any other fires set in 2021 or 2022.
Greene was arrested in August 2022 following a joint investigation by the Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho State Fire Marshal, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It's Never Too Early for Fire Prevention Education
When it comes to fire prevention education in Idaho, we know the importance of starting young. On Tuesday Jen Russell and our team hosted a group of 25 three to five year old children at the Interagency Fire Cache.
The tots learned about preventing wildfires, met Smokey Bear, and walked the cache in kid-size fire helmets.
Who knows, maybe we inspired a few future IDL wildland firefighters!
Women Reaching Women in Forestry
People often imagine foresters as bearded men in flannel. That’s changing. More professional women than ever work to sustain and protect our natural resources. Now they want to inspire women to be more active in managing family owned forests.
Women landowners are playing an increasingly important role in forest management decisions but they are consistently in the minority at forestry education events in Idaho. Recent evaluations from forestry training events hosted by the University of Idaho Forestry Extension (UI Extension) indicate that women typically make up about 30% of the attendees.
Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) and UI Extension hope to change that by offering a women-centric forestry workshop on March 17, 9 AM – 3 PM at the U of I Research Park in Post Falls.
“When speaking at past forestry workshops, many women have told me they are nervous about attending and question if they belong, they are then hesitant to ask questions or participate,” said Erika Eidson, IDL Forest Health Specialist and workshop co-host. “While anyone is welcome to attend, this is an opportunity for women to interact with women. The goal is to create an atmosphere where women are comfortable asking questions and hopefully will gain confidence in managing their family forests.”
WATCH THE PROMO VIDEO ON YOUTUBE
Preventing Wildfires with Envelopes
Tim Cox, an Office Specialist II at the Boise Staff Office, recently pointed out that sending mail can be a useful tool for preventing wildfires. However, his observation isn't what you may think.
Tim realized that not all envelopes IDL uses come preprinted with a fire prevention message. While a few feature the slogan "Keep Idaho Green Prevent Wildfire," most envelopes simply feature IDL's logo and a return address.
After Tim identified this opportunity, Jen Russell devised a new message for the agency's envelopes, "Protect Idaho, Prevent Wildfires." Kellie Labonte then worked with IDL's envelope vendor to update all envelope templates with the new prevention message.
The process IDL offices will use for ordering envelopes through Allied Envelope remains the same. However, when you place new orders for any size of IDL envelope - #10, window, manila, etc. - the proof you receive from Allied will conspicuously feature the words "Protect Idaho, Prevent Wildfires."
Great work Team IDL!
Moscow PD Recognizes Robbie Johnson for Assistance with the Idaho Four Homicide
In December the Governor's office reached out to IDL, asking if our agency could lend a hand to the Moscow Police Department to help manage communications for the Idaho Four Homicide.
On short notice Robbie Johnson, a senior Public Information Officer who is also certified as a PIO Type 2 for wildfire incidents deployed to Moscow. Robbie assisted Moscow PD for nearly a month.
IDL recently received a letter from Chief James Fry of the Moscow Policy Department expressing gratitude for Robbie's help "to maintain an even keel with the media." He went on to note that "the Department of Lands is extremely luck to have someone of Robbie's caliber." We couldn't agree more.
Because an IDL Team Member Asked for It...
On behalf of the endowment beneficiaries IDL manages 1,433,868.79 acres of rangeland. This one's for Team IDL's rangeland resource staff!
Director Miller's Favorite Dad Joke This Week:
Q: How do ranchers count their cows?
A: They use a cowculator.
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Suspicious Letter Received
Recently, a suspicious letter was received at the CDA Staff Office. There weren't any threatening words, or suggestions of threats. It contained random words with no sentence structure and was just odd.
Any one of our offices could receive a threatening or suspicious letter or package and all employees should be aware of what actions to take in the event of this situation.
Below are the lessons learned that we identified in an After Action Review:
- Ultimately, every employee is responsible for being aware of policies and referring to and following directives within policies.
- Every IDL office has a Safety Coordinator who is responsible for following safety policy directives and determining best actions for each situation.
- Employees should defer to and follow the direction of their Safety Coordinator. In the absence of the Safety Coordinator, defer to the Senior Manager or Safety Officer.
- Miscommunication and lack of communication created unnecessary concerns and misunderstandings. Ongoing communication is critical.
- Ask for more information if needed or if you feel you are not being updated.
- Follow up with those involved so that everyone has the most current information
For more information please read the Safety Bulletin
Employees Leaving IDL
We wish departing team members the very best in their new endeavors.
- Donna Caldwell, Boise Staff Office
- Wade Kimball, Boise Staff Office
Doubling Down on Dad Jokes
This one was just too good bad to resist:
Q: What concert would cost only 45 cents?
A: 50 Cent featuring Nickelback!
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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