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The 4.5-mile-long trail connects Stanley to Redfish Lake within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. It opened last summer after nearly a decade of planning.
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The Forest Service’s recently released “Strategy to Expand Prescribed Fire Training in the West” document is blunt: “The prescribed fire implementation environment continues to grow in complexity, IT READS, whereas the ability of practitioners to practice and hone their expertise has lagged, particularly in the Western United States.” The newly established Western Prescribed Fire Training Center is a major effort to address that workforce issue.
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It made national headlines in October 2022 when Forest Service burn boss Ricky Snodgrass was arrested while overseeing a prescribed fire in rural Oregon. Now, a year and a half later, Snodgrass has been indicted on a misdemeanor reckless burning charge. The union he’s a member of is hopeful that he won’t be found guilty, but a representative says the case has still had impacts.
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The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board recently approved agreements with ranchers to kill wolves for the protection of livestock. Some of the agreements say efforts will include shooting wolves from helicopters or planes on Forest Service land.
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The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program is a bipartisan, 2009 policy that has funded restoration projects across the country, including a number in our region. A new report finds that the vast majority have included efforts to preserve mature and old growth forests. Some environmental groups say it could serve as inspiration for a 2022 Biden administration executive order to mitigate threats to such forests, which support critical ecological processes.
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The U.S. Forest Service manages some 160,000 miles of trails, and maintaining that sprawling system is a major undertaking. Volunteer trail workers have become an essential part of keeping the public’s access open to its vast wild areas.
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The U.S. Forest Service is spending nearly $19 million to fight invasive species threatening the nation’s forests, including several in the Mountain West.
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The U.S. Forest Service purchased an easement to build part of the trail on private property within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
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The U.S. Forest Service is resuming prescribed burns after two of them combined in April to form the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history.
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Through this effort, the Forest Service wants to reduce hazardous fuels and the risk of catastrophic wildfire to cities in southwest Idaho such as Boise, Garden Valley and McCall.