U.S. Forest Service

The Forest Service's new chief recently published a letter that called for wildfires to be suppressed "as swiftly as possible." That may sound prudent to many, but it raised eyebrows among some who study fire policy. They worried that it may signal a return to aggressive suppression that has been linked to growing wildfire severity.

Plaintiffs say it would damage the area’s native plants and water supply.

Despite public land making up about 63% of Idaho, it will not be affected by the latest Trump administration attempt to rollback regulations related to roads and logging on forest service acreage.

It's Friday and time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters catches you up on the past week's headlines.

An Idaho businessman tapped to become the new leader of the U.S. Forest Service faced little questioning over his past land disputes with the agency during his confirmation hearing.

In recent months, thousands of federal workers have been laid off, impacting many agencies across the nation, including the U.S. Forest Service and non-profits like the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation.

Massive federal layoffs are hitting communities across the West, including rural, recreation hotspots like McCall, Idaho. Here's how that town is responding.

The Forest Corps, a new collaboration between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service, just inaugurated its first cohort of nearly 90 members. They’ll be sent out into priority landscapes across the West to do fuels reduction, prescribed burn and tree reseeding projects, all intended to support the USFS’ broader Wildfire Crisis and Reforestation strategies.

In the wake of the devastating Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in 2022, the U.S. Forest Service paused prescribed fires – which started the infernos – to review the agency’s program. A newly released Government Accountability Office report looks into how well the agency has implemented changes since then. While acknowledging that changes necessary to resume burning have been made, the government watchdog says more work remains.

The cost of housing has long been an issue for wildland firefighters, many of whom end up living in vehicles or camping on days off to avoid those expenses.