IDL Managers Attended Spring Leadership Meeting in Idaho Falls, Forded a River
This week area managers, bureau chiefs and executive team members convened in Idaho Falls for IDL’s annual two-day Spring Leadership Meeting. The group covered a lot of ground, literally and physically.
On the first day, the team discussed employee compensation, employee engagement, Bear Lake/public trust land, continuity of operations planning, and future proofing. Attorney General and Land Board member Raúl Labrador also visited with the group, asking questions about what IDL’s needs from his office and legal issues we see on the horizon.
On the second day, the group hit the road and traveled from Idaho Falls to Island Park and Henrys Lake, stopping at points of interest on endowment land along the way. At the stops the team learned about glamping leasing, toured transitional parcels ready to be leased or sold, and visited the site of a catastrophic, 100,000 acre rangeland fire that resulted in improved intra-agency cooperation for wildfire mitigation. Additionally, St. Joe Area Manager Tony Brede and Eastern’s LMR Resource Supervisor Meribeth Lomkin forded a river to install seasonal cattle fencing!
Many thanks are due to the entire staff at the Eastern Supervisory Area for hosting an outstanding Spring Leadership Meeting!
Big Week in Fire Prevention News
The Governor proclaimed this week to be Wildfire Prevent and Prepare week. As part of the education process IDL provided a media blitz that included news releases, opinion pieces, videos on the website and on social media. The response from the media has been positive, especially regarding the Wildfire Alert System.
IDL created a webpage specifically for the educational outreach for the week which offered a number of videos about fire prevention.
IDL Firefighters Assisting Canada with Wildfire
IDL is supporting its Canadian counterparts with its early wildfire season. A fire suppression module made up of 12 firefighters and one crew boss are on the ground as part of the Northwest Compact.
IDLs team pulled firefighters from several of our Forest Protective Districts that include Pend Oreille, Kootenai Valley, Priest Lake and the Coeur d'Alene staff office.
The module was mobilized on Saturday and arrived in Edmonton on Sunday. They are expected to be utilized for 14 days on the ground before returning home.
Assisting with Canada and states in the U.S. before Idaho's fire season hits with full force allows for additional training for our crews while other agencies pay for the wages for those firefighters.
Benton Butte
Approximately 2,600 acres of endowment land was impacted from the Benton Butte portion of the Cougar Rock Complex in 2021. Access to these parcels was just in the development stage and approximately 140MMBF of green timber (predominantly high value cedar) was impacted by the fire. Scarcity of resources due to numerous fires in the region and limited access were primary factors on this fire as multiple incident management teams oversaw this fire for the next 90 days. Limited access to the timber was a factor considered in the salvage timber sales.
The fire started July 7, 2021 with five salvage sales identified. Just two months later (Sept. 9) while the fire was still being managed, the Benton North Cedar Salvage sold.
The third salvage sale, Benton South Cedar Sale sold October 7, 2021, but the 4th salvage sale, Benton West Cedar Sale did not. The fire was still being managed.
It took two attempts with consultation with potential buyers and a re-evaluation of the appraisal to successfully auction the Benton Ridge Cedar Sale on Nov 11. 2021.
June 29, 2022 two salvage sales went up for auction. The Benton Middle Cedar Sale sold, however the Benton West Cedar Sale was not successful a second time.
May 16, 2023 after additional re-evaluation of the appraisal and further discussion with potential buyers, Benton West Cedar Sale was successful. On the same date the newly identified Benton Lookout Cedar Sale sold.
Of the 55MMBF sold to date, 30 MMBF was harvested and removed by the end of the 2022 calendar year.
Planting of the North, South, and Middle Cedar timber sales began May 10, 2023 and approximately 170,000 trees were replanted on fire impacted endowment land simultaneously as harvest operations are continuing. Thus, trees were planted as soon as the dead trees were removed!
 
Change in Compensation
Through careful planning IDL is able to roll out the Change in Compensation (CEC) for its employees beginning the current pay period.
As part of our commitment to transparency, the agency is hosting microlearning sessions for employees that will provide an overview of how the CEC was developed. We will discuss the legislative process surrounding the CEC and share how IDL works to create our agency specific plan. It offers an opportunity for employees to ask questions.
Three sessions are being offered to employees:
- Tuesday, May 30, 2023, at 2:00 PM MST
- Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 4:00 PM MST
- Friday, June 2, 2023, at 9:00 PM MST
IDL Streamlines Compliance Process for Forestry Operators, Timber Harvesting
IDL now offers private landowners a new online app to help simplify applying for the Compliance/Notification. More than 2.8 million acres of timberland in Idaho is privately owned.
To comply with the Idaho Forest Practices Act and the Idaho Forestry Act that regulate timber harvesting activities and after-harvest slash hazards, forest landowners must obtain a “Certificate of Compliance/Notification of Forest Practice” before harvesting.
The new app is located on the IDL Forest Practices Act webpage. The app allows the person to create a map online that displays their proposed harvest area and special cautions/features identified within that area that might impact how they harvest their land, including streams or steep slopes and erodible soils.
This provides the private forestland owners and managers access to the same information IDL uses when issuing a forest practice notification and slash hazard compliance.
Rulemaking for Senate Bill 1049 - Recreation on Endowment Land
With Senate Bill 1049 slated to go into effect on July 1, IDL team members from Operations and Communications have worked to develop a draft rule. Rulemaking is an essential component of the new law because without rules, the warning and infraction components of the law are not enforceable.
The rulemaking is needed to define the types of actions or activities that are restricted or prohibited.
IDL and stakeholders who developed the legislation recently met with staff from the Governor's Division of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs and secured authorization from that agency to begin the negotiated rulemaking process. The Land Board authorized IDL to enter into negotiated rulemaking last month.
A draft copy of the new rule has been provided to IDL area managers for internal review.
Successful Training with Women in the Woods
Twenty one participants and 11 instructors, all women, took to the woods last week for hands-on forestry training. The event earned rave reviews from the participants. The participants said they really liked the all woman format, enjoyed learning outside, and liked the small group format for the rotating stations.
The women rotated through nine stations, with some of the favorites being finding and looking at bark beetles, learning how to mark trees for removal for different management goals, and pruning to protect trees from white pine blister rust.
Here is a comment from one participant:
"We touched on assessment as well as implementation. The decisions that go into the planting, tending and taking of trees are decisions based on information gathered using the simplest of tools (a hairbrush to reveal a canker! ) or the highly sophisticated laser hypsometer. And we had the opportunity to use all of them! I didn’t see your behind-the-scenes coordination of contributors and educators but I did see the result and it was incredible. The funds, the forest, the food… the oh so sweet hatchet! If yesterday’s event was itself a ‘forest’ it would get high marks in it’s planting for a strong and diverse stand of women and their contributions to Idaho’s trees! Thank you!"
Women in the Woods was the second event hosted by women foresters from Idaho Department of Lands and the University of Idaho Extension. The first event was Women and Families in Forestry held in March.
Using hatchets to learn about forest health and bark beetle. Hatchets were donated by Idaho Forest Group.
Discussion about forest management goals and objectives on their land.
Maggie Creek Supervisory Area Award
NOAA presented a certificate to IDL's Maggie Creek Supervisory Area for 50 years of Weather Observations in cooperation with the National Weather Service. Alfred Allman is pictured below accepting the award.
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