Public Lands

Idaho’s seven national forests cover millions of acres of land in the state, and that’s just a portion of public land in the Gem State. Dick Smith is trying to educate folks about these public lands.

Small businesses in the West were hit hard, especially those that mitigate and suppress wildfires on the ground.

They include analyzing aggregated cell phone location data, public social media and visitor surveys.

The Roadless Rule has been in place for decades. Lawmakers are divided.

A new analysis of public federal workforce data shows about 5,800 fewer workers at public lands agencies in 2025 compared to the year before.

It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.

Sen. Jim Risch voted to advance Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management, igniting debate in Idaho over the future of the state's public lands.

Note: this is an encore edition of Reader’s Corner. The episode originally aired in March 2018.An interview with David Philipps about his book, Wild Horse Country.

Last year, lawmakers turned to the Congressional Review Act to overturn Biden-era resources plans. Now, the tool is being looked at to unwind other public lands management actions.

President Trump’s selection of Pearce has provoked a backlash from many environmental groups and local Western officials, who point to his record of supporting public land sales and the oil and gas industry.