Wildfire Risk Forum
On Monday, April 29, Director Miller participated in the Wildfire Risk Forum panel discussion regarding Community Action, Stakeholder Engagement, Resilience retrofits and Federal Funding.
The forum was hosted by the Idaho Department of Insurance at the National Interagency Fire Center.
As part of the event, Governor Little proclaimed May as Idaho’s Wildfire Awareness Month minutes before the ignition of a wildfire demonstration.
The Governor's proclamation was just minutes before the ignition of a wildfire demonstration. The burn featured a side-by-side look at fire behavior and showed the importance of immediate defensible space, comparing a fire-ready vs. not fire-ready structure.
 Governor proclaiming May Wildfire Awareness Month- photo by Robbie Johnson
 Director Miller participating in a Wildfire Forum panel discussion - photo by Jennifer Russell
 Wildfire demonstration- photo by Robbie Johnson
State Arbor Day Celebration
A crowd of about 100 people gathered for Idaho's Arbor Day celebration, held on April 26 at the Idaho History Museum in Boise's Julia Davis Park.
Director Miller welcomed the guests and read the Arbor Day Proclamation signed by Governor Little.
Idaho State Forester Craig Foss gave a presentation on the History of Arbor Day and the Importance of Forests. Foss and the Director then presented certificates to Treasure Valley's Tree City USA participants. Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell, Eagle, Garden City and Kuna were all recognized for their stewardship.
There was opportunity to see the winning photos from the Arbor Day 2024 Photo Contest, with the youth present to receive recognition. The kids then helped to plant a tree in Julia Davis Park.
 Director Dustin Miller reading the Governor's proclamation. photo by Robbie Johnson
 Craig Foss and Dustin Miller present the Tree Cities USA award to Kuna representatives. photo by Robbie Johnson
Community Meeting Regarding Island Park
On Friday, Director Miller, Division Administrator of Operations Michele Anderson, Roger Hall, Ryan Woodland and Heath Hancock participated in a meeting regarding authorized glamping operations on endowment land in the Island Park area with local community members and district legislators. IDL initiated this meeting.
Local concerns over leasing land for these types of commercial recreation operations have prompted additional engagement between IDL and the Island Park community to ensure our constitutional mandate is understood, but also the concerns of the community are heard. IDL will continue to work with the community to address concerns with the 2024 land use permit and any future glamping leases.
New Monthly Endowment Timber Update on IDL Social Media
Thank you to IDL's Lands Section Manager - Timber Sales and Contract Administrator Jeremy Shawver for leading the release of the new monthly Endowment Timber Update on social media. This puts into context IDL’s excellent work in forest management and its far-reaching positive impacts. It also aligns partners with our outreach and messaging. Jeremy will be providing the information each month. This will secure support and understanding of IDL’s mission. For now, we are posting this on IDL social media, but it will likely evolve from here.
IDL Bring Your Kids to Work Day
The Boise staff office and the Coeur d'Alene staff office had very successful Bring Your Kids to Work Day events on Thursday April 25.
Boise had about 20 children participate. The activities were designed for parents and kids to do together. Kids were given tours of IDL and the State Capitol.
There were a number of hands on stations that included Minerals (Marin Sandborn), Map Genius (Robin Dunn), I want to work in IT (Robert Mason), Understanding Fire (Robbie Johnson) a coloring station, and a chance to meet wildland firefighters with opportunity to roll out hoses, and spray water at a target.
In Coeur d'Alene about 15 children explored various engaging activities. Tree identification sessions, measuring trees, a drone demo, a compass and pacing scavenger hunt, map exploration and lessons about forest insects and disease gave the kids a good overview of careers in timber.
 Learning about fighting wildfire in Boise - photo by Robbie Johnson
 Tree identification station in Coeur d'Alene - photo by Kyel Seigley
Safety Program Survey Results
IDL staff recently participated in a Safety Program Survey.
Overall, the results show that we are doing a good job with our safety efforts. Our managers and supervisors are providing safety related discussions and trainings and supporting additional safety efforts.
The survey was anonymous to allow for open and honest feedback. IDL Safety Officer Vikki Snider responded to some of the comments, here are a couple of the comments and her follow up:
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"It would be nice to have a window breaker/seat belt cutter in each vehicle."
- I agree! While I don't believe we have had an incident that this was needed, it only takes once. I have received authorization to purchase this safety item for EVERY IDL vehicle. I am researching cost, etc. so stay tuned!
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"Where our Area is having issues is in the field with ATV's."
- Read the entire Safety Bulletin
- Review the Survey Results
Southwest RT-130 Class
The Southwest Forest Protective District held a fire refresher class last week. A total of 19 IDL employees participated.
 Members of the class practicing shelter deployment - photo by Ruth Luke
Market Lake Wildlife Management Area Prescribed Burn
IDL's East Idaho Forest Protective District assisted the Idaho Fish and Game and Bureau of Land Management with a prescribed burn of the Market Lake WMA.
Fire Warden Kelly Hoffer, Gary Billman and Katina Kienlen-Hoffer helped burn more than 130 acres of cattails and bulrush to open up the acreage for wildlife. At the time of the photo below Gary was the lead burner for the crew he was assisting.
 photo by Austin Catlin of the BLM
In Case You Missed It
Here's a recap of other recent IDL newsletters you may find interesting:
One Team One Voice Webpage
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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