Senator Mike Crapo and USDA Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell were examples of collaboration for the Idaho Environmental Forum (IEF).  The Senator invited Chief Tidwell to the Forum's February 20th luncheon in Boise to discuss the agency's revised Forest Planning Rule.  Not to diminish the informative content of the presentations, a highlight of the Forum was a response by both the Chief and the Senator in the Q&A session. Read more>>

Sawtooth City, Idaho was a a community on a growth trajectory in the 1880's   The discovery of gold in Beaver Creek attracted 200 miners at the peak of activity.  To support the mining operation, entrepreneurs established service businesses  required of a mining operation.  Retailers, a butcher, and a sawmill were among the businesses that invested in the community.  The historic marker on the west side of Highway 75 notes that 80 or more construction workers were employed during the rush for gold.   Read more>>  

Secretary Vilsack announced approval of ten Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Projects (CFLRP).   A fifteen member panel advised the Secretary on the allocation of $10 million for the first year of the new program.  The Omnibus Land Bill of 2009 established the program, with the objective to "encourage the collaborative, science-based ecosystem restoration of priority forest landscapes".  The ten National Forests, located in nine states, are positioned to change the landscape of forest management on federal lands.  Read more>>

All Lands on Deck was the underlying theme of Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell's keynote address to the Andrus Center for Public Policy.  The Symposium, entitled Life in the West: People, Land, Water and Wildlife in a Changing Economy, convened at the  Boise State University Campus on May 1st.  Read more>>

How do stakeholders  acquire a social license for making federal forest land management a reality?    Six panelists were asked to address that question during a conference session held in Boise (March, 2010).   The Climate Change, Bioenergy, and Sustaining the Forests of Idaho and Montana conference attracted an audience as diverse as the six panelists. and the coalitions they represent   Although details of their experience differed, collaboration was the common  approach to secure a social license.    Read more>>