Idaho Environmental Forum presents 

a special President’s Day luncheon

Monday, February 20, 2012  

with U.S. Senator Mike Crapo and his special guest,

      Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tom Tidwell

 Senator Crapo has invited Chief Tidwell to Idaho because of the success Idaho has had with the collaborative land management process on the Clearwater Basin Collaborative.  Coincidentally, this was the subject of IEF’s most recent program, on February 2, 2012.

That process worked with the Owyhee Initiative and is spreading to other areas, such as the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative in Idaho’s Panhandle, the Lemhi  County Forest Restoration Group, the Clearwater Basin Collaborative, and closer to Boise the Payette Forest Coalition and Boise Forest Coalition.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Forest Service Wednesday announced eight national forests that will be the first to revise their land management plans using a new National Forest System Planning Rule, after it is finalized in the months ahead.

The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest in Idaho, the Chugach National Forest in Alaska, the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico, El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico and California’s Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra National Forests will begin revising their plans shortly after a final rule is selected.

BLM Hosts Gateway West Sage-Grouse

Public Information Meetings in Wyoming and Idaho

 CHEYENNE, WY – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will present information and answer questions about the sage-grouse habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) for the proposed Gateway West Transmission Line Project at two public information meetings in February in Wyoming and Idaho.  The HEA serves as one part of the Framework for Sage-Grouse Analysis for Interstate Transmission Lines, developed by the BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The meetings will be held as follows:

Today the Idaho Recreation Council and Chris/Lois Schwarzhoff, with the support of the Village of Yellow Pine and Big Creek Lodge and Outfitters, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, asking the Court to set aside and void the 2008 Travel Plan for motorized travel in the Payette National Forest.  The Plaintiffs are specifically challenging aspects of the Travel Plan that closed historic road use in the area of Big Creek and Yellow Pine.  Thank you for your interest in this case of great importance to rural Idaho communities and Idaho’s recreation users.