U.S. Forest Service

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.

Twenty firefighters have died so far this season, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed across the West.

Vicki Christiansen, who retired as Forest Service chief in 2021, pointed to aggressive agency mandates to quickly extinguish fires as a possible factor at play during this dangerous season.

The tour for the Capitol Christmas Tree has been announced.

The Capitol Christmas Tree, which will be harvested in Idaho this year, has been swapped out because it came down with needlecast disease.

The Yellow Pine Country Club is free to play, and you don't even need to bring your own clubs and balls. But tournaments there are part of how the remote, unincorporated town pays for things like fire station additions.

So-called process based restoration (PBR) has a number of ecological benefits. But it can make ecosystems more resilient to wildfires when they come, and better able to recover in their wake.

There were early signs that this fire season could be a big one, especially the record-low snowpack last winter. In Teton County — near the Grand Targhee Resort — that spurred interest in a novel effort: raising money to help hire a local wildfire mitigation coordinator.

While Sen. Tim Sheehy pushed to end Forest Service inspections of firefighting aircraft, an inspector found a potentially dangerous crack in a plane operated by the company Sheehy founded.

Store shelves are lined with school supplies this time of year, and some already have decorations for Halloween. But Forest Service workers in Idaho are thinking about Christmas.