Current News Coverage
Living with fire: Teton Valleys wildfire mitigation
Teton Valley News, 4-15-26
In last week’s Wildfire article, Fire Chief Mike Maltaverne described a challenging problem that has no simple solutions. Teton Valley is meeting the challenge.
Over the past 15 years, concerned citizens, business owners, land managers and non-profit organizations have taken steps to reduce the potential effects of wildfire in our community before it occurs with practices that are called wildfire mitigation. However, growing wildfire threats and associated issues like wildfire smoke require us to ramp up those mitigation efforts.
One big, new step in that direction is the formation of a wildfire mitigation collaboration in Teton Valley. The group, Teton Valley Fire Action Community Team (TVFACT) was formed in Fall 2025 to accelerate the pace of local wildfire mitigation actions.
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Members of TVFACT are from multiple sectors of our community: HOA representatives, Forest Service Fire and Fuels and Idaho Department of Lands personnel, High Country RC&D, Alta resident Neighborhood Ambassadors, Teton County Idaho and Wyoming Fire Departments, building contractors, Teton County Emergency Management, The Nature Conservancy, Forestry contractors and Greater Yellowstone Fire Action Network.
Read Teton Valley News article
Forest Service shake-up will boost states’ role — but even supporters have concerns
Stateline, 4-14-26
A sweeping reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service signals that the agency is planning to lean heavily on states to help manage millions of acres of federal land, foresters across the West say.
State officials and timber industry leaders say they’ve been given scant details about the plan, which will move the agency’s headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, restructure its regional management, and close scores of research stations in dozens of states.
While they wait for the dust to settle, they’re preparing for the Forest Service — with its workforce slashed by the Trump administration — to ask more of its partners under the new model.
Read Stateline article
Idaho officials urge public to watch for emerald ash borer
Capital Press, 4-14-26
University of Idaho and state lands officials are increasingly concerned about emerald ash borers even though the destructive beetles aren’t yet documented as present.
Monitoring and early detection are “critically important,” UI Canyon County Extension horticulture educator Brad Stokes and Idaho Department of Lands forest health specialist Erika Eidson wrote in a public announcement.
Emerald ash borers have decimated millions of ash trees in their current North American range, “and millions more ash trees in yet-uninfested areas are still at very high risk,” they wrote. Stopping the borer’s spread is infeasible, “but timely proper management can slow it down.”
Read the Capital Press article
Wildfire Education Workshops Scheduled in Waha and Lenore
Big Country News, 4-13-26
Waha, ID, Lenore, ID — The Nez Perce Conservation District and Nez Perce County, in partnership with the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL), invites community members to attend an upcoming educational workshop focused on wildfire awareness, homeowner protection, and evacuation preparedness.
With wildfire seasons becoming increasingly impactful across Idaho, these workshops are designed to provide residents with practical tools and expert guidance to better protect their homes, properties, and families.
Read Big Country article
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