Forest Service

Public comment on the latest draft environmental impact statement prepared by the Forest Service for plans to resume mining at the historic Stibnite site in Valley County are due January 10, 2023.

The forest service identified Perpetua’s modified plan as its ‘preferred alternative.’ In a press release, the company wrote it was glad that community feedback earlier in the process had made the plan for Stibnite better.

In the fire community, it’s being referred to as STRATO – or Strategic Radio and Tactical Overwatch – a balloon more than 100 feet tall that sits about 60,000 feet up in the sky.

The SNRA was created in 1972, in part to halt development springing up on the Sawtooth Valley floor. There was hardly any local zoning at the time. Subdivisions were growing and more were planned.

The Sawtooth Valley is prime habitat for Chinook and sockeye salmon; it's where the headwaters form to the Salmon River.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is launching an Indian Youth Service Corps with new guidelines. The corps was established in 2019 as part of an amendment to the Public Lands Corps Act. Now, Haaland has published actual guidelines. One of its goals is fostering natural resource and land stewardship skills for young tribal members aged 16 to 30, or 35 if you’re a veteran.

This fire year is on track to be as extreme as the last few. At the same time, some Forest Service areas have had a hard time hiring enough wildland firefighters.

The U.S. Forest Service recently announced a 10-year plan that includes a dramatic increase in treating forests through thinning and prescribed burns. That plan includes treating 20 million acres of Forest Service land, and 30 million acres of other federal, state, tribal, and private lands.

For the second year in a row, groups like the Idaho Conservation League, The National Forest Foundation and the Sawtooth Society are looking for volunteers for a cleanup in the forest. The self-guided effort will take place between Sept. 12 and Sept. 25.

Bald Mountain is the economic driver for the Wood River Valley, drawing more than 400,000 skiers each year to Sun Valley. But forest managers say the health of the mountain’s trees is at risk.