Idaho Matters

A low-intensity burn on the recent Crawford prescribed fire near Cascade, Idaho(Steve Vigil / The Nature Conservancy )

On a Thursday morning in May, Forest Service staff and crew leaders gathered in the Cascade Ranger District Office for a briefing. They were putting a plan together for the nearby, nearly 100-acre Crawford burn on the Boise National Forest.

Matt Haupt, the district’s senior fuels technician, read out the weather: sunny, 70-75, relative humidity in the upper 20s to lower 30s, low winds.

“Today is looking fairly good, a little hotter and drier,” he summarized.

The burning has already taken place earlier in the week, and this day’s work would be mostly mopping up and checking lines. After crew members got their marching orders in the parking lot below, they headed east toward the burn. I jumped in with Haupt, who’s overseeing it.

“The last time it was burned was the spring of 2018,” he said, driving to the project site. “It's mostly ponderosa pine, which typically needs five- to 15-year fire intervals.”

Many ecosystems and species — like the ponderosa pine — are dependent on regular fire. Prescribed fire can bring a number of ecological benefits, as well as significantly reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.

Haupt is with the Forest Service, but that day everyone else was working for The Nature Conservancy — or TNC — an environmental nonprofit.

A Nature Conservancy fire crew gets ready to head out to check the Crawford prescribed fire's lines.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

“The Forest Service still has their overhead structure,” he explained. “The supervision still needs to be there, but it's a lot of the manpower could be taken care of with TNC coming in.”

Federal agencies have committed to dramatically accelerating the pace of prescribed fire. In its 2022 Wildfire Crisis Strategy document, the Forest Service set a goal of treating 50 million additional acres of federal, state, tribal and private land. But last year, a major federal wildfire commission said that the current federal fire workforce — some 19,000 strong — is “not sufficient for the scale of wildfire risk reduction, response, and post-fire recovery work required now, let alone into the future.”

“Federal investment is urgently needed to create new and expanded workforce capacity that is focused on, and tailored to, mitigation, planning, and post-fire response and recovery for communities and landscapes,” the commission’s report read. Efforts to build that workforce, it recommended, should include the public, private and non-governmental sectors.

‘Insatiable need’ 

Jeremy Bailey, TNC’s North America prescribed fire training director, said forests and grasslands’ need for fire is insatiable.

A day after burning operations on this section of the Crawford prescribed fire, the ground is a clean black, and some smoke is visible from the line. (Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

“And so is the need for a workforce that can do that work,” he said. “Back of the envelope, I estimate we need 10,000 employees nationwide.”

Last year, his organization received $45 million over five years from the Forest Service — money he said came out of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They hired some 50 people on top of existing fire staff, and they have 20 to 30 folks out on Forest Service priority projects — like the Crawford burn — on any given day. His TNC colleague Matt Ward said workforce constraints are probably “biggest issue that is complicating everybody's ability to do more projects.”

“We’re adding needed capacity,” Ward said.

‘Instantaneous effect’ 

In a video shared by TNC crew boss Steve Vigil, you can see a snaking line of short flame burning steadily through pine needle duff earlier in the week, the sort of low-intensity fire that prescribed burns often try to create. When I visited, some smoking stumps were still visible from the fireline, but it was mostly clean, blackened forest floor.

“So we are looking at a post-burn landscape,” said TNC crewmember Slug Kaltenbach, my guide on the burn. “This was actually burned yesterday, if you can believe it.”

Kaltenbach, who uses they/them pronouns, is from Eugene, Oregon and is in their fifth year of fire, much of which has been suppression work. But for Kaltenbach, prescribed fire hits different.

“I think that prescription fire is one of the best feelings in the world to have as a job,” they said. “In one day of burning … you're going to have a larger effect than maybe like two weeks of work doing other kinds of initiatives, like thinning or piling. Fire is such an instantaneous effect on the ecosystem.”

TNC crewmember Slug Kaltenbach(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

They’re also drawn to the way TNC operates. Wildland fire has a reputation for brutal work schedules and long, unpredictable stretches away from friends and family. Poor work-life balance was one of the barriers to recruitment and retention in the federal fire workforce identified by the Government Accountability Office in 2022. TNC gives its workers fixed schedules, meaning they know exactly when they’ll be home.

That’s allowed Kaltenbach to be an active part of the Moon Mountain String Band back in Eugene, hard to imagine in other corners of fire.

Kaltenbach identifies as non-binary, and said they appreciate the near gender parity and diversity they see in their TNC colleagues, which contrasts sharply with federal counterparts. In fiscal year 2021, 84% of federal firefighters identified as men, and 72% identified as white. Limited workforce diversity was another challenge faced by federal fire agencies cited in the GAO report.

“We're super excited to have 50% of our workforce represented by women because that is not that is not the norm in the wildfire workforce,” TNC’s Bailey said.

Slug and their colleagues are also able to complete trainings and get professional qualifications on burns. All of these things together, they said, point toward a more sustainable, attractive way to do fire. And there’s always the most basic draw.

“Playing with fire is fun,” Kaltenbach said. “In a controlled way, of course.”

‘We need help’ 

Back at the district headquarters, Ranger Chris Bentley said that the TNC partnership is “exactly the direction we need to go.”

Chris Bentley, ranger on the Boise National Forest's Cascade District, explains how TNC crews fit into his agency's goals for prescribed fire. "It's just absolutely vital that we bring in these types of agreements and these types of partnerships. We can't do it on our own. We wouldn't want to even if we could."(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

“We're still going to try to attract the traditional firefighter workforce for ourselves, for the Forest Service,” he added. “But we need help. We're not going to be able to do the work on our own. We're just not. There's too much work to be done, it’s too important that we succeed.”

He readily acknowledged that the TNC crews are a drop in the bucket compared to the needed workforce.

“But, you know, every drop counts,” he said.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

(Canva )

Across the country, many parents and educators are struggling with the same question: "Should cell phones be kept out of school?"

Well, for more than 200 families in the Boise School District, the answer may be yes.

As more research emerges linking technology and social media to poor mental health, parents are in search of solutions, looking for ways to help their kids. Which is why one local group is working to make changes with a new set of initiatives.

Local parents Kim Washington, Tara Coffland and Nicola Blair joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this effort.

(Louis A Habash
/ Flickr)

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Boise, Idaho Wastewater SARS-COV-2 data.( City of Boise)

The level of COVID-19 is up in Boise, at least according to the spike of the disease found in the city's wastewater. Plus, we know bird flu is hitting Idaho's dairy cows, but what about beef cattle?

Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this and answer your questions!

(Canva )

When a power line falls and sparks a wildfire that burns through homes and neighborhoods, who pays for the destruction?

That’s the question being asked in several states, including Idaho, after the deadly Santiam fire in Oregon. Four years ago, the fire killed 11 people and burned more than 5,000 homes and buildings.

PacifiCorp, which provides power to six states, including Idaho, was found liable for billions of dollars in damages, and it and other power companies are looking for ways to reduce liabilities after such fires.

So who should pay the price after fires like the Santiam fire in Oregon, the Marshall fire in Colorado, or the Maui fire that killed over 100 people in Hawaii?

Kylie Mohr took a deep dive into the subject for High Country News, and she joined Idaho Matters to talk more about what she found. 

(CATCH )

With an excessive heat warning in place through Saturday, many people are trying to stay out of the sun but for people experiencing homelessness, this can be hard to do.

Which is why the local nonprofit CATCH is requesting essential items to help keep this vulnerable community safe.

Connor O'Hora, CATCH's outreach team lead, and Cassidy Landry, a former client of CATCH, joined Idaho Matters to talk more.

(JGI/Tom Grill / Getty Images/Tetra images RF)

Last year, a new law went into effect, expanding the rights of pregnant workers across the U.S.

Now, regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act have been finalized, offering clearer guidelines on what protections can be expected in the workplace.

Charlotte Burrows, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about these rights.

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean ( City of Boise)

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean says she’d “like nothing more than to weigh in” on controversial rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court. But that’s not going to stop her, she says, from making clear that a number of those decisions directly impact Boise.

“When I knock on doors and talk to our residents, I’ve talked to moms whose daughters have moved away and aren’t going to come back until they’re done having kids, because they’re not sure whether or not it’s safe to be pregnant in Idaho,” said McLean. “And in Boise, I’m talking with doctors who are leaving or are deeply considering their next steps.”

McLean weighed in on the high court’s recent ruling concerning Idaho’s abortion ban and how it conflicts with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. In a wide-ranging conversation with Morning Edition host George Prentice, McLean also discussed another SCOTUS decision – Johnson v. Grants Pass – plus, housing, jobs, law enforcement and much more.

Housing

The Idaho Community Foundation will cover the costs of services people need when exiting homelessness into a home.

"We have great public private partnerships that are making housing for folks exiting homelessness," said McLean. "Think families will have the chance to live at Park Apartments? Folks with medical needs ultimately will have homes near Fire Station five, and this summer we're breaking ground on New Path 2.0, a place for 95 people exiting homelessness into homes of their own."

The Foundation will cover the costs of services to keep people housed and on the road to self-sufficiency.

Johnson v. Grants Pass

This ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court essentially bans people from sleeping in public spaces. McLean says the city has to be focused on long-term solutions and the root causes of issues related to homelessness.

"What solves this problem is the great collaborative work and solutions focus that Boiseans have had in the last six years, and will continue to have to bring homes to market for folks from all walks of life to support the organizations that are rapidly rehousing families."

McLean went on to say that Boise isn't making the mistakes that other cities have made in regards to homelessness.

Abortion in Boise and Idaho

Abortion in Idaho remains a hot topic, especially after the recent EMTALA ruling from SCOTUS. McLean has not been shy when weighing in on the topic, and said the decision on personal medical issues, emergency or not, are to be made between families and their doctors.

"With government having no space, no room in that conversation, no place in that conversation," said McLean. "And it's for that reason that the city said we would not waste resources on investigating accusations of abortions."

The opinion from SCOTUS does not rule on the merit of the case but sends the case back to lower courts. This 6-3 ruling vacates the previous stay and sends the case back to the Ninth Circuit which will decide on the outcome.

CHIPS Implementation Task Force

McLean was chosen to chair the CHIPS Implementation Task Force in June of this year. The CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act was signed into law in August 2022 and is intended to get microchip manufacturing back to the United States.

Axios reports the task force will "provide mayors in other key cities opportunities for collaboration to address supply chain issues and scale effective strategies for sustainable chip industry development."

The act made an investment in Boise-based Micron, but McLean said it will also open doors to make sure the city is working with universities, community colleges and labor unions to create training programs in this field.

The search for a new police chief

Mayor McLean said they will be announcing the finalists for the Boise Police Chief position within the next week and there will be plenty of opportunities for community members to engage with the finalists.

Right now there are about 34 vacancies within the police department, with 25 officers set to be hired and join the police academy this month. McLean said they have been very intentional during the hiring process and the current police chief Ron Winegar has been working to find to find the right people to be in these roles.

"It is so important to continue to see crime rates go down, to continue to see the trust and relationship between our officers and residents remain strong, because that's what keeps those links between the officers that we are hiring and the residents they serve, well," said McLean.

Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren

Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio

( Opera Idaho)

This weekend, Opera in the Park is returning to downtown Boise for an evening of music that you won't soon forget.

Stacey Trenteseaux, the general director of Opera Idaho, and soprano Cecilia Violetta Lopez join Idaho Matters to talk more about the upcoming event.

( Roseanna Marcum)

In March of 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Nampa was looking for a way to connect with the community without spending time indoors.

That’s when Puptricks was born. This local dog gathering brought together neighbors and their pups, allowing people to have some fun while their dogs showed off their tricks or dressed up in costumes to show off their cuteness.

The event was a success, and it’s almost time for the fourth annual Puptricks. Nampa Civic Center Facility Director Andrea Peachey and sales and marketing manager Roseanna Marcum joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.