Idaho governor says federal-state program may tame wildfires

Local, state and federal officials along with conservation groups and logging interests have to find common ground to reduce increasingly destructive wildfires in the U.S. West, Gov. Brad Little said Tuesday. He told several hundred participants at an Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership meeting that they have the chance to make a new federal-state program called the “shared stewardship” agreement a success. “We have got to get this done,” the Republican said. “I think the consensus from both ends of the scale is that we have to do this right.” Idaho signed the agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture late last year that allows state participation in federal timber sales and restoration work like prescribed burns and tree planting on private, state and federal lands. The partnership is tasked with finding two areas in the state by July 1 for shared stewardship activities that could ultimately become templates for other states. The group, comprised of logging companies, conservation groups, scientists, and state and federal officials, is meeting for a two-day workshop in Boise to discuss strategy. U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Jim Hubbard told the group public sentiment is behind collaborative, landscape-scale efforts. “We’re seeing (lightning strike) ignitions that produce large fires that we can’t control,” he said. “We’re smoking out communities — enough that it’s a human health issue.” The stewardship agreement is an outgrowth of a smaller program called the Good Neighbor Authority, created in the 2014 Farm Bill, which allows Idaho and other states to assist on timber sales and restoration work like prescribed burns on U.S. Forest Service land. Money made from timber sales pays for the restoration work as well as for workers assisting on the projects...MORE