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Prescribed burns planned in Red River area
Lewiston Tribune, 4-21-23
ELK CITY — The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will partner with the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands to initiate prescribed burns at the Red River Wildlife Management Area in the coming weeks.
The agencies will use fire to treat a 314-acre meadow. Signs will be posted along the Red River Road during the burn.
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Discussion remains civil at town hall meeting
Independent-Enterprise, 4-20-23
FRUITLAND — In the first part of our coverage of the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s first Payette County town hall since 2019, Administrator Mick Thomas explained some of the recently approved changes to oil and gas exploration and extraction rules to a full house at Fruitland City Hall on April 12. He said changes include minimum royalty payments for those integrated into a unit, new rules on how operators may sell company property, and requirements that monthly production, gathering facility data, gas processing plant data, monthly transportation and storage and monthly end purchaser data be reported on forms prescribed by the Idaho Department of Lands.
Prior to fielding questions from attendees, Thomas explained the integration process like this:
“Essentially, here is a unit. Let’s say that 640 acres; The operator comes to us and says, ‘We think … there is a pool [of a certain size] within this unit. And they give us a lot of geologic evidence confirming that pool is completely encased in this unit” or demonstrating why the unit needs to be expanded under present mapping. From there, state officials verify the operators’ work before verifying whether the operator has documented the needed 67% of land owners within the unit have voluntarily leased the mineral interests to their lands.
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Trident delayed McCall land swap challenge to see how elections went. Judge ‘not buying that’
BoiseDev, April 14, 2023
Trident Holdings told a court that it wanted to wait to see how last year’s statewide elections turned out before moving forward with a lawsuit it filed.
The firm, backed by Alec Williams and unnamed investors, proposed a large-scale land swap that would have moved much of the area surrounding McCall, Idaho, into its private control. The Idaho Department of Lands rejected the proposal, an action which the Idaho Land Board upheld in 2022. The firm then sued for judicial review.
In February, BoiseDev reported that the State of Idaho and Idaho Department of Lands asked a judge to throw out a petition for judicial review filed by Trident in 2021 – saying the firm hadn’t taken any steps on the lawsuit for a year, as of February.
In a filing in response to the state asking to throw out the case, Trident attorney David Arkoosh wrote that the lack of activity “is justified by the fact that 2022 was an election year, which saw all seats on the (Land Board) in limbo due to the electoral races for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Controller and Superintendent of Public Instruction, which officeholders comprise the five-member Land Board.”
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Matthew Perkins, Idaho Department of Lands urban interface and planning manager
In Boise, people can enjoy sitting at a bar top constructed from a silver maple that was removed from Boise’s urban forest.
Meridian Parks and Recreation has a supply of wood milled from a large silver maple removed in Meridian. One use of that wood has been picnic tables for its parks.
City foresters often promote the many benefits that trees in urban environments provide for people who live among them, but there are times when community trees need to be removed for risk mitigation, new construction and a variety of other reasons.
Most municipal forestry programs use the wood products created by these removals. Wood chips created during the removal process have become recognized as a resource in our urban landscapes. But there is so much more that can be done.
All too often, the wood from trees that get pruned or removed ends up as firewood or takes up space in our landfills. By creating a product from the wood that can give it a second life and keep the carbon in the wood sequestered for another 100 years or more. This is where the Urban Wood Network (UWN) comes in.
The UWN consists of municipalities, arborists, sawmills, suppliers, manufacturers, design professionals and consultants. Their mission is to utilize wood that is generated during the normal, everyday practices of tree care and maintenance through uniting, promoting and demonstrating its use. The UWN provides connectivity to help the industry thrive. They give trees a second life at their highest use by promoting a robust supply chain to get the greatest value product from trees. Their motto is “Trees First, Wood Next.”
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Conservation officials hold first town hall since pandemic
Independent-Enterprise, 4-16-23
FRUITLAND — It had been more than three years since the last time Oil and Gas Conservation Commission held a public forum for residents to voice concerns, as even these conversations were affected by COVID-19. But Wednesday evening, the conversation returned to in-person participation, as the commission hosted its first town hall meeting back in Payette County at Fruitland City Hall.
In an April 5 letter to royalty earners as obtained by the newspaper on April 9, Richard Brown, co-owner of Snake River Oil and Gas, encouraged people to attend while stating a belief that opposition to Payette County gas exploration and extraction was coming from outside of the county and from out of state.
“We know they do not represent the best interests or values of … Payette County residents,” he wrote. “A large turnout of Payette County proponents will provide evidence of strong support for out blossoming industry.”
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Happy Volunteer Week
Posted April 20, 2023
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Happy #NationalVolunteerWeek! This week we recognize our volunteer mentors. They assist new employees as they adjust to the Idaho Department of Lands. Maggie Maggied, in IDL human resources, spent time with her mentor field planting antelope bitterbrush and sagebrush on Danskin Mountain. "Of course we were out there to plant on a restoration project, but my mentor did a great job explaining why we were out there, to restore the portion of the endowment land that was damaged from a fire years ago."
Learn more about our mentoring program and working at IDL: https://www.idl.idaho.gov/about-us/jobs/mentoring/
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Rulemaking Meeting
Posted April 13, 2023
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The Idaho Department of Lands administers IDAPA 20.03.01, Rules Governing Dredge and Placer Mining Operations under the authority of the Idaho Dredge and Placer Mining Protection Act (Title 47, Chapter 13, Idaho Code).
Dredge and placer mining is the extraction of minerals from a placer deposit left by a stream and containing particles of gold or other valuable minerals. A placer deposit can be in a natural watercourse or an ancient stream channel high above an existing stream. Extraction is done using motorized earth-moving equipment, including suction dredges with an intake nozzle over 8 inches in diameter.
IDAPA 20.03.01 allows responsible resource extraction while protecting the lands, streams, and watercourses of the state.
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