2024 Governor's Trail Ride
Director Miller joined the Governor, as well as Directors from many State and Federal natural resource agencies for the annual Governor's Trail Ride hosted by Charlie Lyons at his ranch outside of Mountain Home. This annual ride serves as an opportunity to come together to discuss the nature resources challenges we face, but also the opportunities to overcome them through commitments to working together. Some topics discussed included riparian restoration, post fire recovery, sage grouse conservation planning and recreation. Governor Little says it takes leaders back to when "social networking was done around a campfire."
Photo by Dustin Miller
 Charilie Lyons talking with the riders
IDL's GNA Received Additional Funding From the Forest Service
The USDA Forest Service Northern Region is investing $1.9 million to expand the collaborative work with state partners to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health through the Good Neighbor Authority (GNA).
The investments will fund projects on the Idaho Panhandle and Bitterroot National Forests while also providing funding for staffing capacity for the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
$1 million will go to Idaho to support GNA through staffing and contracting services for work on the ground within the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.
In Idaho, these funds will support approximately 3,000 acres of fuels reduction work administered by IDL such as fuel breaks and vegetation treatments to improve forest health. The funds will also expand road repairs to improve watershed conditions and provide access for wildfire management and implementation of project activities.
Work is underway throughout 621,400 acres of Forest Service land within a 2-million acre landscape in the Idaho Panhandle which was jointly prioritized for fuels reduction and other forest restoration activities.
“These funds will expand the work IDL is able to do on federal ground to better protect our communities,” said Idaho State Forester Craig Foss. “Much of the current GNA work is within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), where homes and forestland meet. This work is vital to help decrease the risk of catastrophic wildfire to adjacent forests, homes, and nearby towns.”
Work on federal lands within the WUI also helps IDL encourage similar work on bordering private forestlands, which in turn better protects the entire landscape, as is the goal of Shared Stewardship.
 GNA project completed in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests - photo by Chase Bolyard
 GNA work underway in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests - photo by Chase Bolyard
Joint Rapid Extraction Module Training Exercise
IDL Firefighters from Priest Lake Forest Protective District (FPD), Pend Oreille Lake FPD, Kootenai Valley FPD and the Coeur d’Alene Interagency Dispatch Center (CDC) participated in a joint training exercise with a Rapid Extraction Module (REM) on Tuesday, June 11th.
The training was conducted with Backcountry Rescue, based out of Boise. REM teams are becoming more common on large fires when firefighters are working in steep and difficult terrain. REM teams are often staged nearby.
REMs are made up of highly trained medical teams, many from the military with specialized training. They are trained in medically stabilizing the injured firefighter, then with the assistance of firefighters, extracting them to safety and additional medical care.
In the June 11 exercise, there was an Incident Within and Incident (IWI) and with a simulated rescue operation performed a using the REM, IDL firefighters and Dispatchers from CDC.
The contractors were training new paramedics and EMT’s on rope rescue, and many of our folks just finished up wilderness first aid this spring. This was the perfect live simulation to hone everyone’s new skills.
The training lasted about four hours and was well received by everyone. The hope is to work with company owner John Meyer and conduct this training each spring.
REMS were established following the Dutch Creek protocols after a firefighter with a broken femur died due to multiple issues extracting him. Federal agencies decided they needed to up their medical response establishing incident commanders IWIs. Many incident management teams are now using an Incident Strategic Alignment Process (ISAP) which reviews the risk of putting firefighters into difficult terrain. REMs are used as a mitigating factor allowing firefighters to engage on a wildfire safely by staging a REM team close by.
Photos of the exercise by Brian Hicks
   
New Facilities and Fleet Manager Position
Meet Derrick Reeves, IDL's Facilities and Fleet Manager, which is a new position for our agency. He previously worked in the timber industry for 30 years, including 13 years with the Ponderosa Supervisory Area.
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IDL has a number of facilities in need of significant upgrades and expansion to accommodate programs that have grown since the facilities were constructed. This position was created to help identify current and future needs, putting us in a position to become proactive with facilities projects and upgrades.
His facilities role includes doing facilities assessments, prioritizing needs, and using that information to assist with allocating agency resources and funding requests for larger projects.
The fleet manager component of the position is primarily focused on acquisition and disposal of vehicles.
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A “Fleet Policy Working Group” was formed and is updating the Fleet Policy Manual and associated forms. The goal is to provide clear procedures for end users to order, transfer and dispose of vehicles, provide links to updated forms, streamline processes to reduce workloads on fiscal personnel, and establish standard vehicle configurations for field and administrative vehicles.
There are 16 administrative sites he is tasked with evaluating and has been to 7 so far. Please welcome him when he visits your area.
Farewell to Eric Wilson
After 30 years of service to IDL and the state of Idaho, Eric Wilson is stepping into retirement.
Employees from the Boise Staff Office celebrated with Eric on Tuesday, June 11 in Cecil Andrus Park across from the office.
Following a taco lunch, Eric was presented with several gifts, including trekking poles, a box of Twinkies, and an antique smelter's ladle to representative of his years as a minerals program manager and then Resource Protection and Assistance Bureau Chief.
The box of Twinkies relates to a 2011 comment Eric made before the Land Board that was picked up by reporter Betsy Russell in her Spokesman-Review article on April 19, 2011. When asked about banning potentially carcinogenic compounds from being injected in fracking fluids, Eric responded it would be too broad a restriction, adding "I think even Twinkies could be carcinogenic if you eat enough of them."
Eric’s last day with IDL will be Friday, June 21.
We thank him for his service and wish him well on his new adventure.
 Eric presented with an antique smelter's ladle - photo by Kourtney Romine
 Commemorative plaque on the antique smelter's ladle- photo by Kourtney Romine
Beautiful Shot of Idaho
 Flowers in bloom in the Owyhees - photo by Ruth Luke
More Photos from Eric's Retirement Party
photos by Kourtney Romine
     
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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