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In the face of mounting legal challenges, the corporate backers of a gold and antimony mine in Central Idaho hosted state and federal dignitaries Friday at the remote site to celebrate recent approvals that have advanced the multibillion-dollar venture — which is at least another three years from operations.
The occasion, labeled a “ribbon cutting” by Perpetua Resources, the mining company behind the large-scale project, was more than eight years in the making. The U.S. Forest Service took that length of time before giving its blessing for the open-pit mine in the Payette National Forest mountains east of McCall — a point of frustration about such permits for Idaho’s federal lawmakers, who have all fully endorsed the project. Perpetua earned federal approval in January to reopen the abandoned site near the community of Yellow Pine, which has been mined off and on dating to the late 19th century. The publicly-traded Canadian gold mining firm, now with its headquarters in Boise, spent handsomely to push what it called the Stibnite Gold Project through the demanding environmental review process. “After eight years of extensive permitting review and over $400 million invested, it is finally time for the Stibnite Gold Project to deliver for America,” Jon Cherry, Perpetua’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “A united vision to produce critical resources urgently needed for national security and to restore an abandoned site, along with the feedback from our communities, have guided us to this monumental milestone.”
At the ceremony Friday, Cherry and other speakers promoted the mine’s importance in delivering the most shovel-ready domestic reserve of antimony in the U.S., including for its use in national defense, the company said in a report of the event. The critical mineral is needed for munitions, including missiles, some nuclear weaponry and other military equipment like night-vision goggles. “This mine offers a secure, reliable, domestic resource for military-grade antimony sulfide and is aligned with the Army’s ongoing ‘Ground-to-Round’ assured munitions strategy for establishing a complete domestic supply chain — from raw material access to material processing to ammunition production — as we modernize and fortify the ‘Arsenal of Democracy,’ ” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John Reim told attendees. Antimony also is used in clean-energy technologies, including liquid-metal batteries, and for purifying glass in solar panels.
Perpetua also announced Friday that it obtained the Forest Service’s permission to begin initial construction in the near future, contingent on securing project financing. That’s expected to be in place “in the coming weeks,” the news release said. But lawsuits cloud the current mining plan and timeline, which envisions about 15 years of operations. Years more would then be spent cleaning up the site, including restoration of historical habitat where salmon spawn along the Salmon River. Perpetua has reported spending more than $20 million already to improve water quality and clean up legacy waste from past mining at the site.
The Nez Perce Tribe holds exclusive treaty rights to fish, hunt and gather on the land where the mine is planned. The tribe’s original agreement is from 1855 — predating both the U.S. Mining Law of 1872 and Idaho statehood in 1890. Last month, the Nez Perce sued in federal court to overturn the Forest Service’s decision to grant final approval to Perpetua. The mine would restrict access to its tribal members, on top of creating heightened risks of mine runoff entering into the headwaters and decreasing dwindling fish populations, according to the lawsuit. “The Forest Service dismissed our requests to consider alternative approaches that would avoid and minimize harm to our treaty rights and life sources and instead adopted Perpetua’s goals and interests for the mine,” Shannon Wheeler, the Nez Perce’s tribal chair, said last month in a statement. “We are filing suit to force the Forest Service to address the mine’s enormous and long-term degradation and destruction to our treaty life sources, and to honor our reserved right to fully and freely exercise our treaty fishing, hunting, and gathering rights as the U.S. government promised over 170 years ago.” Earlier this year, several conservation groups sued in federal court over their own environmental worries from Perpetua’s proposal to mine the old site in a rugged part of Valley County. The lawsuit cited concerns that the project would use toxic chemicals to extract gold, which could harm sensitive ecosystems and salmon near the border of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
Perpetua has signed on as a defendant in both lawsuits, which are in their early stages. State permits pending The mine still requires two more state water quality permits in order to proceed, and also has a state air quality permit tied up in litigation. On Thursday, an Ada County judge sided with the environmental nonprofits the Idaho Conservation League and Save the South Fork Salmon in a lawsuit against the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for its approval of that permit. The state agency sought to dismiss the legal claim on procedural grounds, but now the suit is scheduled to play out this fall. Anna Marron, spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Quality, declined to comment Friday, citing active litigation.
Perpetua anticipates the mine would create nearly 1,000 jobs during construction and more than half that total for operations. Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who attended Friday’s event, offered his support for the enterprise. “Idaho is proud to celebrate this milestone with Perpetua Resources and showcase the ways we are moving forward valuable projects that create hundreds of good-paying jobs that support Idaho’s rural economy,” Little said. “These jobs will allow Idaho’s young people to build rewarding careers right here in the communities of the west-central mountains.”
Preliminary construction, including road and power upgrades, is expected to get underway next month, Cherry told the Valley Lookout. Controlling shareholder: ‘A dream come true’ Friday’s ceremony drew skepticism from opponents of the mine, given that much remains to be resolved — including in the courts — for the project to move forward and begin digging. “There appears to be an element of theater involved,” Will Tiedemann with the Idaho Conservation League told the Idaho Statesman. “So as much as Perpetua does, this ribbon-cutting seems to be heavily influenced by marketing and appearance than the actual construction and permitting factors of starting construction — and when.” Perpetua said it intends for mining to get underway by 2029.
If that happens, the bulk of the 148 million pounds of antimony at the site would be prioritized during the initial years of operations, the company said. That amount is expected to supply only about a third of annual U.S. demand for six years, with the highest-grade material reserved for the military. The vast majority of profits from the mine, however, would come from its 4.8 million ounces of gold. A company-funded independent study from 2012 estimated about 93% of the project’s value derived from gold, while nearly 7% came from antimony and less than 1% from some silver at the site. Antimony would be produced as a byproduct from the excavation process, Cherry has acknowledged, in the company’s primary pursuit: building and operating a gold mine. In an investor call in June, the company’s controlling shareholder, billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, talked about the project exclusively in terms of gold. “
This almost is like a dream come true for us,” he said of the mine’s approvals toward possible operations. “But beyond the current mine plan, we think there is a lot of exploration potential in this site.” Today, with gold prices soaring to all-time highs, the site’s deposit is projected at nearly $18 billion. Antimony also has hovered at record prices this year, with current values placing the mine’s reserve at about $3 billion. To build and operate the mine project was estimated in 2020 to cost $1.3 billion. More recently, Perpetua applied for $2 billion in debt financing from the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., an independent executive branch agency. Perpetua expects its loan application to receive final bank review by spring 2026.
Read more at: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article312145226.html#storylink=cpy
BOZEMAN, Montana — The first time I talked to Eric Dondero, I called his cell phone, and caught him on a sidewalk in the small town of Three Forks. He was asking people to sign a petition. He convinced one man to sign while I listened. Then he told me enthusiastically about his political work: “I’m full-time, all the time! I try to do a good 10 hours per day … I’m a very ideological person. I’m a proud libertarian.”
Dondero was operating as a point man for a campaign that stretches from Arizona to Washington state. I hoped he would allow me into the ground-level operations. “All right,” he said, “you want a really good story? Come on out. I’m standing in front of the Conoco store, you can’t miss me. I’m rockin’ here!”
I drove west from Bozeman, through suburban sprawl and 30 miles of farm country, to the confluence of rivers where Three Forks sits. The town only amounts to a few dozen blocks, and it has a random feel, trailer homes mingled with small houses, a looming talc plant, and a fringe of new, pricier subdivisions mysteriously growing on former wheat fields.
Dondero was hanging around a gas-station store on the not-too-busy main street. Stocky but not imposing, he was dressed to blend in with the Three Forks community (trimmed hair and mustache, jeans and work boots, American flag pin) as well as for a long day under the hot May sun (visor, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt). Petitions were stacked on his clipboard, and even as I approached, he persuaded another passerby to sign. “You’re a great American! I appreciate it!” he told the guy.
We shook hands, and Dondero grinned, animated and immediately likable. I stepped back and watched him work. Locals wheeled their pickup trucks into the parking spaces around the Conoco, and as they walked into the store, Dondero asked them politely, “How are you doing (ma’am or sir)? Are you a registered voter?”
He seemed like an ordinary concerned citizen, not a part of an orchestrated, multistate campaign. But the libertarian movement he belongs to — broader and more powerful than the anemic Libertarian Party — has a growing reach in American politics. The movement’s mission is to maximize individual freedom by limiting government power in everything from taxes to judges’ rulings. One of its national leaders, Grover Norquist, has said that he wants to reduce government “to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
In this campaign, which is playing out in six Western states, the libertarians mostly want to “reform eminent domain” — or at least that’s what they say.
Governments at all levels invoke eminent domain on occasion to condemn property and force the owners to accept a buyout to make room for new roads, electricity lines, urban renewal and other projects that benefit the public. Recently, however, eminent domain has been the target of public outrage, thanks to a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as the Kelo case. The high court held that the city of New London, Conn., could exercise eminent domain to condemn the homes of Susette Kelo and six other holdouts, to make room for a global pharmaceutical company’s 100-acre manufacturing complex. Since then, more than 30 legislatures have either passed or considered laws limiting eminent domain, and ballot initiatives have sprung up from Alaska to South Carolina.
Dondero carried a knee-high posterboard that said simply: “Protect Private Property Rights … Citizens Fighting Eminent Domain Abuse.” Each time he made the pitch, he began, “This is a statewide petition to protect our property rights. To keep that new eminent domain law from coming to Montana and taking our homes away. … I know you saw this on Fox News, or CNN. …” He often referred to the Kelo case: “New London, Conn., they condemned this little old lady’s property to take it away.”
But the patriotic sales pitch hides something else entirely. National libertarian groups are not just funneling big bucks into this campaign to protect a few property owners from eminent domain. They have their sights set on something much bigger — laying waste to land-use regulations used by state and local governments to protect the landscape, the environment and neighborhoods. Their goal has received little attention, partly because of its stealth mode. But the fact that the libertarians just might pull it off makes the campaign the hottest political story in the West this year.
I began to see the pattern in April, during a conversation with John Echeverria, head of the Environmental Law and Policy Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Echeverria called it “eminent domain hysteria.”
“The Kelo case is presented as a caricature in the news,” Echeverria said. “Most people don’t understand the valuable development (that eminent domain) can help generate, and how, if it’s fairly conducted, it can produce entirely fair, even highly favorable outcomes, for affected property owners — they’re paid market value or well above.” We talked about some of the horror stories, where governments use eminent domain in questionable ways. But those are few and far between. What’s really going on, Echeverria said, is that, “The property-rights advocates have exploited Kelo to advance a broader anti-government agenda.”
Libertarians and property-rights activists believe that a huge array of common government regulations on real estate, such as zoning or subdivision limits, “take” away property value. Therefore, they say, the government should compensate the owner, or back off. The extreme view of “regulatory takings” is really at the core of this campaign — not eminent domain.
The campaign to pass regulatory-takings laws began in the 1980s, when libertarians seized on the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says: “Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” They’ve tried to use Congress, state legislatures and ballot initiatives to pass laws that would treat most regulations as takings. Their first big win came in November 2004, when they persuaded Oregon’s voters to pass Measure 37. That initiative blew holes in the strictest land-use system in the country, allowing longtime landowners to escape many state, county and city regulations (HCN, 11/22/04: In Oregon, a lesson learned the hard way).
The impacts of Measure 37 have been delayed by court battles, and the libertarians are determined to turn the delays to their advantage. Before the fallout in Oregon can be fully understood, they are rushing to pass similar ballot initiatives in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and California. While each initiative has its own sales pitch, they all deliberately tuck the notion inside the unrelated eminent domain controversy. The Los Angeles-based libertarian Reason Foundation mapped the strategy in a 64-page paper published in April, titled Statewide Regulatory Takings Reform: Exporting Oregon’s Measure 37 to Other States. It recommended pushing “Kelo-plus” initiatives, combining eminent domain reform with regulatory takings, to capitalize “on the tremendous public and political momentum generated in the aftermath of the Kelo ruling …”
The initiatives have titles like “Protect Our Homes,” “The Home Owners Protection Effort” and “People’s Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land” — as if the government is about to come in with bulldozers to sweep everyone off their property. But here’s how the initiatives would work: If you could fit 20 houses on your land, plus a junkyard, a gravel mine, and a lemonade stand, and the government limits you to six houses and lemonade, then the government would have to pay you whatever profit you would have made on the unbuilt 14 houses, junkyard and mine. Generally, if the government can’t or won’t pay you, then it would have to drop the regulations.
Eventually, I traced the loose-knit libertarian command chain to the top. Dondero, who lives in Texas, told me he had come to Montana at the suggestion of Paul Jacob, a senior fellow at Americans for Limited Government, a Chicago-area libertarian activist group. Americans for Limited Government has provided loans and expertise to the Montana initiative, plus $827,000 to the Arizona initiative, $200,000 to Washington initiative, and $107,000 to the one in Nevada, according to the Nevada initiative’s leader. Americans for Limited Government has also given $2.5 million to another libertarian group, America at its Best, based in the Washington, D.C., area, which has in turn funneled $100,000 to the Idaho initiative.
One key figure is the chairman of the board of Americans for Limited Government, Howie Rich. A real estate mogul based in New York City, Rich is also on the board of the libertarian flagship Cato Institute in D.C., and heads his own Fund for Democracy. He and Jacob are famous in libertarian circles for funding initiatives in the 1990s that imposed term limits on the congressional delegations in 23 states — limits later struck down by the Supreme Court. This year, Rich says he has funneled nearly $200,000 through a group called Montanans in Action to back the Montana initiative, along with two related initiatives aimed at setting state tax limits and making it easier to recall liberal judges. The head of Montanans in Action, Trevis Butcher, says he doesn’t know Rich, but he declines to say whether he is getting money from the Fund for Democracy; he won’t reveal any of his backers. Records in other states show that Rich has put $1.5 million into the California regulatory-takings initiative, $230,000 into the Idaho one, and $25,000 into the Arizona version.
Rich was not easy to find. He has an unlisted phone number, and his Fund for Democracy has no Web site and is not listed as a business entity in the New York secretary of state’s database. When I found him and explained that I’d tracked all his donations to the campaign, he said, “You’ve done your homework.”
On the phone, Rich was confident of the rightness of his cause. “I believe in the American Dream. … I believe in free markets. I believe that … government has been growing at an excessive rate, at the federal level and in many states,” he said. “I’m happy to support local activists who are working to protect property rights in a whole bunch of states.”
Although the campaign has local allies in each state, the out-of-state money is the driving force: As this story goes to press, it ranges from about 40 percent of the local campaign budget to as high as 99 percent. The exact numbers can be hard to come by, because the libertarians have covered their tracks as much as possible. Montanans in Action has funneled another $600,000 to the California initiative, for example. Montana’s loose campaign finance laws don’t require the group to divulge where that money came from, but it’s unlikely that it originated in a poor rural state like Montana.
The money has frequently paid professional signature gatherers like Dondero, who has worked for libertarian causes for more than 15 years, from Florida to Alaska. (In the midst of the Montana petition drive, just before I met him, he’d been called to Missouri for eight days to collect signatures for another libertarian initiative, one backed by a $1.3 million contribution from Rich.) Dondero was paid $15,428 for his signature gathering and expenses on the Montana initiatives, according to campaign spending reports. The California campaign reportedly paid its petitioners $1 per signature; in Nevada the rate was $1.65; in Idaho $2; and in Arizona as much as $3 per signature. The signature gatherers have a strong incentive to be persuasive.
Dondero and I left the Conoco and walked through Three Forks, tall shade trees giving us relief from the sun. Dondero prefers small towns. He’d already worked Anaconda, Dillon, Montana City, Hamilton. “People are much friendlier in small towns,” he said. “They have time to listen to what you’re saying, and they tend to be more libertarian and anti-government.”
Dondero grew up in Delaware with adoptive parents, the Rittbergs. (He used the name Eric Rittberg until recently.) He spent four years in the Navy, then earned a political science degree from Florida State. He claims to speak at least smidgens of 15 to 20 languages, and has self-published several language and travel books. For six months recently he held a “normal job” at a Houston insurance company, just to build up money for his political travels. He flew into Montana in April, set up his base camp in a Butte apartment, and bought a low-key 1984 Nissan for $700 at a local pawnshop. Then he picked up Montana plates and a bumper sticker: “Proud to be an American.”
Dondero is a natural salesman, and he wielded his lines about eminent domain and the Kelo case to great effect. We came to a house where a woman was mowing her lawn. The machine was roaring and the woman intent on her task; I would not have approached her. But Dondero walked right up and began his rap about eminent domain. She shut off the mower, and shortly, she signed the petition. Walking on, he told me that people mowing lawns are good bets. They want to be interrupted; they’re grateful.
We paused in front of a mobile home, and Dondero observed that people in trailers are also good prospects: “They’re very congenial, amazed that someone is coming to their door to ask them about a political matter.” An elderly woman opened the door, and signed. Across the street, Dondero got a young mother wrestling with a baby in a stroller. Down the block, he got us invited into the porch room of a tidy little house, and it was a three-fer: A gray-haired farmer, just in from the fields, and his son and daughter-in-law all signed.
In fact, most people Dondero approached signed his petition. It only took them a minute or two. Few asked for an explanation; many seemed to sign out of politeness.
In Butte, a Democratic stronghold, and Bozeman, a college town, Dondero ran into liberals who refused to sign and even got in his face. Even in small towns, he sometimes hit fierce opposition.
“I hate liberals,” he told me. “They just don’t get it. … When you petition for the libertarian (causes), you get a thick skin. Nothing fazes you. I’m one of the few people who can do this. I have the guts.”
In my talk with Howie Rich, I told him that, despite the campaign’s sales pitch, I believed these initiatives are about a lot more than eminent domain. Nationwide, eminent domain is invoked on behalf of developers only a few thousand times a year. But the proposed regulatory-takings initiatives are likely to affect millions of property owners, day in and day out, year after year. “I agree with you,” Rich said, “the implications … on the regulatory extent are very far-reaching, very important.” In fact, he said, the originator of the regulatory takings idea, University of Chicago economist Richard Epstein, e-mailed him a while ago, saying that “trillions” of regulations can be cast as takings.
To get perspective, I doubled back to the father of these initiatives, Oregon’s Measure 37. I learned that despite the delays caused by court fights, Oregon property owners have already filed about 2,700 Measure 37 claims, aiming to develop about 143,000 acres. Most claims are designed to loosen up the zoning of farmland and forest land. Some would break small parcels into a few additional lots. Some are from billboard companies that want to put up bigger ads in Portland. Others are for developments of hundreds of new homes, resort hotels and mines. All told, the claimants demand that governments either waive land-use regulations or pay nearly $4 billion in compensation. Not surprisingly, in almost every one of the 700 claims settled to date, governments have waived the regulations.
And that’s likely just the start of an avalanche. Since the Oregon Supreme Court shot down a legal challenge to Measure 37 in February, there’s been a surge in claims. Within a few months, another key court case will decide whether developers can buy land from longtime owners and then file claims to make regulations disappear.
Oregon property-rights advocates say Measure 37 will work out fine, rolling back a heavy-handed, inflexible land-use system. “We’ve had a centralized planning system for so long, it created a lot of animosity in people,” said Dave Hunnicutt, president of the state’s leading property-rights group, Oregonians in Action (HCN, 11/25/02: Planning’s poster child grows up). In the TV ads that helped persuade 61 percent of the voters to approve Measure 37, Oregonians in Action highlighted a woman who’d been fined $15,000 by the city of Portland for cutting weedlike blackberry bushes in her backyard; the city had designated it an “environmental zone” and charged that she’d cut native plants intermingled with the blackberries, Hunnicutt says. Another ad featured a couple who wanted to build a house on rural acreage; they would have been allowed to occupy it only half the year, because it was designated winter habitat for elk, he says.
But now that Measure 37 is taking effect, many Oregonians — including thousands of neighbors who have written official comment letters on the claims — say the new law is a disaster. “It creates indecision and unpredictability for everybody in the state — whether you’re a homeowner, a business(person), a farmer, or an urban dweller, you no longer have a clue what’s going to happen next door, because now there is a free pass to violate laws,” said Elon Hasson, a lobbyist for the state’s leading pro-planning group, 1000 Friends of Oregon.
The most poignant stories come from people who voted for Measure 37, and now see negative impacts on their own neighborhoods and property values. “I voted for the measure because I believe in property rights,” Rose Straher, who lives in tiny Brookings on the southern Oregon coast, told me. The owner of a nearby 10-acre lily farm filed a Measure 37 claim to turn it into a 40-space mobile-home park, and got the Curry County government to waive its regulations. Straher and 46 other neighbors signed a petition opposing it. Measure 37 “has absolutely no protection for the neighborhood,” Straher told me. “You’re giving superior rights to one particular owner. That is a big flaw.”
The initiatives on state ballots this year vary in their specifics, but like Measure 37, they have no language explaining where governments would get money to pay property owners for the impacts of regulations. They are intended not to make regulations workable, but to prevent them entirely.
They would all be more sweeping than Measure 37 in this sense: The new initiatives would apply to all landowners facing new regulations passed by state and local governments. The one in Washington would be retroactive, covering regulations passed since 1995. They all exempt regulations that directly protect health and safety, such as limits on sewage discharges, but those regulations rarely stand in the way of development. Moreover, compared to Oregon, most of the targeted states have immature land-use regulations. All their land-use planning would essentially be frozen, with no chance of evolving in the future, even as the states are hit with population booms. Rapidly growing communities from Boise to Tucson, now inching toward meaningful land-use regulations, would be stopped in their tracks.
A look around Gallatin County, home of Three Forks and Bozeman, made it clear how the Montana initiative would derail land-use planning. It’s Montana’s fastest-growing county, with a population shooting above 75,000. The county commissioners (one Democrat and two Republicans, including a rancher) have launched an effort to begin countywide zoning to address chaotic sprawl, increased traffic congestion, strain on all government services, worsening air pollution, and disappearing open space. If the takings initiative succeeds, it will kill that effort; the county would not be able to pass or enforce any new regulations. Also, there would be no more grassroots efforts to create small zoning districts, as the residents of Bozeman Pass just did, to hold off coalbed methane drillers — not unless the residents could get every property owner within each district to agree to every regulation.
In four nearby rural counties, longtime ranching families have created regulations that make it difficult to subdivide lots smaller than 160 acres. Montanans have also passed ballot initiatives banning game farms and cyanide process gold mining. The takings initiative on this year’s ballot would derail all future efforts like these.
If you live in any of the six states targeted this year and someday you might want a new regulation to put conditions on a Super Wal-Mart, or to protect streambanks from new construction, or to require developers to do anything for open space and affordable housing, you would be wise to vote “no” in November.
Dondero kept on the move after Three Forks. When I called him a week or two later, he was collecting signatures in Milltown, a working-class settlement almost 200 miles to the west, on the fringe of super-liberal Missoula. A week after that, he was working small towns east of Billings, about 150 miles east of Bozeman. He told me he had personally collected at least 10,000 signatures on Montana’s libertarian initiatives. After leaving Montana, he worked on libertarian initiatives in Oregon and Colorado.
From now until November, unless lawsuits jam up the works, libertarians will likely continue to make headway. As in Oregon in 2004, they’ll push their message in statewide TV and radio ads that feature victims of regulations — or, even more compelling, victims of eminent domain. Also as in Oregon, some local financial backing will emerge; developers and timber companies provided most of the money for the Measure 37 campaign.
But there’s a key difference. In Oregon, a huge coalition opposed Measure 37, including environmentalists, governments, planners, architects, nurses, labor, neighborhood associations, the Oregon PTA and the American Cancer Society. They won endorsements from every daily newspaper in the state. They spent twice as much money as the property-rights side. And they still lost. Now, in many of the other states, the opposition is disorganized and poorly funded.
Those who understand what is at stake realize that it’s an emergency. Rodger Schlickeisen, head of Defenders of Wildlife, a national environmental group, hired a consultant to evaluate what happened in Oregon in ’04. He told me that opponents ultimately lost on “the fairness issue.” The Measure 37 campaign used a few compelling examples to portray government as an enemy of property owners.
To beat that kind of campaign, opponents have to take a leaf out of its book: They need to find compelling examples of people who’ve been helped by land-use regulations. “There’s no reason that their side should have the fairness frame. There are huge fairness issues with regard to your neighbors and your community,” Schlickeisen said. One person’s rights can be another person’s ruin, and strong regulations often raise property values, rather than lower them.
“We have to learn how to express that in a compelling way,” Schlickeisen said. “We have a tendency to talk in policy-wonkish terms. We have to learn how to get to people, so they understand what this is all about.”
“It’s all sound bites in a statewide ballot initiative (election),” warned Janet Ellis, head of Montana’s Audubon Society chapter, which is beginning to organize the opposition here. “That’s going to be the challenge, to wrap it up in a few words.” She hopes to assemble a coalition that includes senior citizen groups and churches.
It will be difficult to get voters to see all the ramifications, however. Even Eric Dondero seems oblivious to how the Big Campaign often disguises regulatory takings inside “eminent domain reform.” In my last talk with him, I asked him about it, and he didn’t seem to understand the issue of regulatory takings.
“I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Dondero said. “I guess it means that if a government were to build a big ugly building next to your property, and lowered the value of your property, they’d have to compensate you.” When I explained that it means something else altogether, something much bigger, he said, “To me, that’s a secondary part of this. To me, the main deal is Kelo. That’s what this is all about. Admittedly, I’m not really up on that part of the issue.”
It occurred to me that Dondero is just a foot soldier — courageous in his way and sincere in his beliefs, but not fully aware of how he fits into the overall mission, how his idealism is being used by those above him on the command chain. No doubt many of the people who signed his petition, thinking they were standing up for the principle of private property rights, didn’t understand the ramifications either.
The question for Westerners is this: How much will we choose to understand, when we go to the voting booths this November?
Ray Ring is High Country News Northern Rockies editor.
https://idahocapitalsun.com/2025/09/18/volunteers-sought-for-public-lands-cleanup-in-idahos-sawtooth-national-recreation-area/
Volunteers have collected garbage, broken up illegal fire rings and removed human waste
The House voted to nullify three Bureau of Land Management plans, and critics fear many more could follow.
On the sagebrush plains of eastern Montana, cattle graze alongside mule deer, and pumpjacks rise from coal seams. For nearly a decade, the future of this landscape was hammered out in the Miles City Resource Management Plan, a compromise shaped by ranchers, tribes, hunters, energy companies and conservationists. Now, with one vote in Washington, Congress has thrown that bargain into doubt, and with it, decades of public-lands decisions across the West.
Finalized in November 2024 after years of debate and litigation, the Miles City plan is one of the nation’s largest, governing 12 million acres of BLM land and 55 million acres of federal mineral estate across eastern Montana.
But on Sept. 3, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to overturn three Bureau of Land Management plans, including Miles City, under the Congressional Review Act, the first time the law has ever been applied to land-use planning. Legal experts and conservation groups warn that the consequences could be far-reaching, enabling Congress to unravel decades of environmental protections and management decisions on public lands.
Resource management plans serve as guidelines for how the BLM manages the public lands it oversees. The plans are developed through a lengthy process that combines local and tribal input with environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The goal is to create a blueprint for “multiple use” management, balancing economic activities such as grazing and oil and gas development with other concerns, including wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation and conservation.
In Montana, the disappearance of that blueprint will have immediate consequences. Ranchers face uncertainty on how many cattle they can run, when their permits will be renewed, and what will happen during a serious drought. Tribal cultural sites are likely to be left unprotected and years of tribal consultation overridden. Conservation groups warn that congressional vetoes could sideline science-based safeguards for vulnerable habitats. In Miles City, the resource management plan would have reformed coal seam leases near the Powder River Basin; without those reforms, habitat for elk, mule deer, sharp-tailed grouse and pheasants could be fragmented by new energy development.
The Miles City plan drew input from ranchers, tribes, energy companies, hunters, outdoor recreation groups and conservation groups, and its supporters argue that undoing it sets a dangerous precedent.
“It’s disregarding all the conversations that have happened on the ground,” said Land Tawney of American Hunters and Anglers. “That balance sometimes isn’t perfect for anybody, but it’s a path forward for all.”
Jeanine Alderson, a rancher based near Birney, Montana, said that local ranchers are deeply concerned.
“The biggest reality is the uncertainty, because we’re doing this for the long haul,” Alderson said. She fears it will “just create an endless cycle of litigation that could grind grazing permits to a halt.”
Alderson said the resolution prioritizes the concerns of faraway bureaucrats over local ranchers’ input. “Those of us who live with this don’t have any say in what happens to the land we own and have leased for generations,” she said. “It was a collaborative process, and to have that overturned in one fell swoop is stunning.”
The 1996 Congressional Review Act allows Congress to overturn agency rules within a 60-day window using only a simple majority, bypassing the filibuster. This is the first time resource management plans have ever been treated as “rules.”
“That’s why we’re at an inflection point,” said Chris Winter, director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School. (Disclosure: Winter serves on High Country News’ board of directors.) Resource management plans, he said, have never been submitted to Congress for review. “Applying it now could unravel decades of land-use planning practice,” he said.
The CRA was employed only once before 2017, but the first Trump administration dramatically expanded its use. If this resolution stands, it would subject all RMPs to possible congressional approval, throwing every element of the planning process into doubt. According to Michael Blumm, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, this reinterpretation “calls into question the legitimacy” of the more than 100 plans finalized since the Congressional Review Act became law.
Conservationists and legal experts worry about the act’s “substantially similar” clause, which bars agencies from issuing a new rule that resembles one Congress has rejected. Because the law doesn’t define what counts as “too similar,” an agency could be left in limbo, without guidance on revision, and unable to try again if its replacement is judged to mirror the disapproved version.
“In the absence of guidance, agencies are going to be scratching their heads without a lot of concrete direction,” Winter said. “That will create a lot of confusion and litigation risk.”
Some see this as the latest attempt by the Trump administration to hollow out public-lands protection by stripping authority from land-management agencies and giving it to Congress instead. Montana Reps. Troy Downing and Ryan Zinke, Republicans who have long styled themselves as advocates for small government and local control, both supported the resolution — even after Zinke opposed public-land sell-offs earlier this year. (Neither responded to a request for comment.) Now, the resolution heads to the Senate for a vote within 60 days.
“I fear that this strategy is going to lead to arguments that the system isn’t working, that the agencies aren’t being effective,” said Winter. “And that all of it becomes justification for dismantling the public-lands system over time.”
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Zoë Rom is a writer and journalist based in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. Her work has appeared on NPR and in Outside, and she is the author of Becoming a Sustainable Runner, about how outdoor athletes can become environmental stewards.
LAPWAI – Today, the Nez Perce Tribe filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho, challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s final Record of Decision approving Perpetua Resources Corp.’s (“Perpetua”) Stibnite Gold Project (“Mine”), a massive open pit gold mine in the headwaters of Idaho’s South Fork Salmon River in Idaho. The Mine sits within the Nez Perce Tribe’s homeland, where the Tribe reserved in treaties with the United States its sovereign rights to fish, hunt, gather, pasture, and travel.
The Forest Service’s decision authorizes Perpetua to mine three open pits, establish ore processing facilities, build roads and transmission lines, and impound over 400 acres of the Meadow Creek valley with 120 million tons of mine tailings, inundating spawning and rearing habitat for native fish. The Mine will clear thousands of acres of vegetation, destroy hundreds of acres of wetlands, generate billions of pounds of waste, destroy fish and wildlife habitat, and impair surface water and groundwater regimes well past the life of the mine.
According to the Forest Service’s own final environmental analysis, the Mine will cause significant and long-term impacts to the Tribe’s treaty rights and resources. Operations will require diverting the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, a Nez Perce usual and accustomed fishing place, into a tunnel for over a decade, as well as restricting Tribal members from accessing the area for fishing, hunting, and gathering.
Before Perpetua’s predecessor companies began acquiring interests in the Mine in 2008, the Tribe had secured funding to restore legacy mining impacts on fish passage at the site. The Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resources Management still currently spends approximately $2.8 million annually to restore Chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout populations and habitat in the South Fork Salmon River watershed.
“Our treaty-reserved rights are the supreme law of the land and fundamental to the culture, identity, economy, and sovereignty of the Nez Perce people,” said Shannon F. Wheeler, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. “For nearly a decade, the Tribe has consistently and exhaustively voiced our deep concerns to the Forest Service about the Mine’s threats to our Treaty rights upon which our culture and way of life depend and which jeopardize our ability to transfer our knowledge and customs unique to this area to our children.”
“The Forest Service dismissed our requests to consider alternative approaches that would avoid and minimize harm to our Treaty rights and life sources and instead adopted Perpetua’s goals and interests for the Mine,” Chairman Wheeler said. “We are filing suit to force the Forest Service to address the Mine’s enormous and long-term degradation and destruction to our Treaty life sources, and to honor our reserved right to fully and freely exercise our Treaty fishing, hunting, and gathering rights as the U.S. Government promised over 170 years ago.”
Anna Daly writes: When thinking about outdoor activities to do in and around the Treasure Valley, horseback riding might not be the first to come to mind.
However, there are several ranches within an hour driving distance from Boise that offer horseback trail rides for people of most ages and abilities.
Whether it’s your first time riding or you’re a seasoned rider, horseback riding is a great way to connect with nature and enjoy the scenic views Idaho has to offer.
All of the ranches below have age, weight, clothing requirements, and additional guidelines, so it’s important to check those out before you go.
Flowing Springs Ranch: Located in Robbie Creek, which is about a 45-minute drive from downtown Boise, Flowing Springs Ranch offers trail rides all year long on its 4,000 acres of land. Horseback riding starts at $75/hour per person. The ranch also offers half-day and full-day adventures. For more information and to book a ride, head to Flowing Spring’s website.
Lazy R Ranch: About an hour drive from Boise, along Highway 55, sits the Lazy R Ranch. Near Banks, the 4th-generation working cattle ranch is located in the Dry Buck Valley. Whether you’re a novice, experienced, or in between, a guide will match you with one of their trail horses. Lazy R Ranch offers rides Thursday through Saturday, with 90-minute rides starting at $99. Reservations can be made on the ranch’s website.
Yahoo Corals: This one is a farther drive from Boise, but it is close if you’re in Valley County. Yahoo Corals, located a few miles from downtown McCall, takes riders on trails through the Payette National Forest. Reservations need to be made 3-5 days in advance, with 90-minute trail rides starting at $75. For more information and how to book, head to Yahoo Coral’s website.
ALBERT BECKER Albert Steven Becker passed away peacefully late in the evening on July 27, 2025. Albert was a remarkable man, a loving father and husband. He was an active member of the community in New Meadows, Council, and McCall, ID. Many of you may have read his letters to the editor in the Star News and Council Record. Albert was born to the Becker Brewery legacy, Frederick Becker and Marjorie (Sissie) Jacobsen in Ogden, UT on August 9th, 1952. He was the youngest of four Becker children with older brother Kurt, and older sisters Frieda and Karen. After the death of their father Frederick at a young age, his mother Sissie remarried Paul Seeger. Albert integrated into a blended family, adding brothers Daryl, Billy, and Kent. Paul and Sissie also brought Tony into the world a few years later.
The family relocated to Layton, UT where they emphasized the beauties and pleasures that their hard work provided at their historic Sleepy Springs homestead. His sister Karen’s thoroughbred “Sheba” started his life-long love of horses, and he sold chicken eggs to buy his first horse. He loved horseback riding on the national forest lands that bordered Sleepy Springs with his brothers and sisters. He and his brother Kurt used to race their horses bareback on the FS firebreak roads. After graduating from Layton High school Albert attended Utah State University in Logan, UT graduating in 1975 with a Degree in Range Management and a minor in Watershed Science. He was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. Albert loved the Sigma Nu brotherhood and Utah State rodeo activities.
Albert began working for the U.S. Forest during the summers with his brother Kurt, starting on the trail crew in Warren, ID in 1970. This was the beginning of his lifelong commitment of caring for the land and serving the people where he built lasting friendships and a remarkable career working on the Payette (twice), Wasatch Cache (twice), and Bridger-Teton National Forests. He was very fond of the Gros Ventre Mountain range.
It was 1975 in Logan, UT when Albert went to scout a place to board his horses. It was there he met the love of his life Holly (by golly) Black. She also had “a really nice horse trailer.” Albert and Holly were married in Sandy, UT in 1977. Albert and Holly enjoyed working and living in Jackson and Evanston, WY, and in 1981, moved to beautiful Meadows Valley to work for the USFS on the Payette National Forest. The family was completed with the addition of sons Brandon (1984) and Steven (1987). The family has called Meadows Valley home for 44 years. Albert was a hard worker, a dreamer, a lover, a visionary, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a poet, a cowboy and a valued member of his community.
Al had a genuine soul. He loved his family, his friends, his neighbors, and good horses. He enjoyed finding common ground with others and seeking sustainable solutions for his community and society. Albert often said, “there is nothing better than riding a good horse in good country”. That was likely Albert’s happiest place; on the back of a good horse riding in the mountains of Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.
Albert faced many challenges in life including a traumatic brain injury sustained while fighting a wildfire in the Salmon River breaks. This injury nearly ended his life in 1985 but he persevered. He was optimistic in action and thought and he always found a way to achieve what he set his mind to. Even when mounting a horse became challenging, he practiced in his stable. He rode and packed stock in the mountains with his many friends, and he packed into hunting camp for the annual hunt with his family and closest friends every year. He always looked forward to hunting camp and loved to speculate where he may find a “big mature bull this year”.
Albert will be greatly missed. His family would argue there aren’t many better people in this world than Albert. His loss leaves a big hole that will not easily be filled. He is survived by his brothers Kurt and Tony, sisters Karen and Frieda, wife Holly, sons Steven and Brandon, daughter-in-law Stephany, grandchildren Blaize and Pepper, and a world of friends that he respected and adored. Albert’s celebration of life will be held at his and Holly’s White Tail Ridge arena on September 20th. More details to follow. We appreciate all of your kind words and thoughtfulness. See you down the trail, Al. Albert greatly appreciated these organizations if you would like to donate: Trust for Public Lands National Forest Foundation National Public Radio Population Connection Or a charity of your choice. Photo credit: Kristen Binder
Dana and Karen Bailey are members of the Heartland Chapter of BCHI.
Dana has been assisting with sawyer training for the last 3 year as a sawyer coach.
Please welcome Giovanni Lopez from the Dixie National Forest as our new USFS R4 Crosscut Coordinator. Gio has a strong wilderness background working with both the Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) and the US Forest Service. His previous work history with the MCC had him stationed on the Flathead National Forest working within the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. After MCC, Gio has worked in a variety of locations with the USFS such as the Swan Lake Ranger District on the Flathead NF, the Lolo NF, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie in R-6, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF, and now in his current position on the Dixie National Forest in southern Utah.
Gio has a passion for wilderness skills and developing the skillsets of others as a crosscut instructor and C-Sawyer Evaluator. He is excited for the opportunity to continue building the Regional Crosscut program and working with our Forest Service sawyers and partners in the use of primitive skills/tools.
Gio will be replacing Patrick Brown from the Payette National Forest. Huge “Thank You” to Patrick as he was in this role for approximately 15 years. Patrick will still stay involved in the saw program when he is able, and we sure appreciate his dedication and passion building this program.
If you want to reach out to Giovanni, his email is Giovanni.lopez@usda.gov. Thank you Gio for taking on this collateral role within the R4 Saw Program!
The Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team has taken command of the Rock Fire as of Saturday morning.
Firefighters are making significant progress by utilizing natural terrain, dozer lines, and hose lays to directly attack the fire where conditions permit. Crews near Tamarack Resort are aggressively targeting and extinguishing hot spots while reinforcing control lines along Forest Road 346 and the Tamarack Ski Run “Bliss Run.”
On the west side, the fire has reached ponderosa pine stands, where crews are working directly on the fire’s edge. On the south side, dozers and engines are strengthening containment lines and bringing water into the area to extinguish remaining hot spots. Along the southwest flank, crews are connecting dozer lines to increase containment. On the east side, firefighters are constructing indirect lines to build containment away from the active edge using dozer lines and Forest Road 346 to get ahead of the fire in steep, challenging terrain dominated by subalpine fir and mixed conifer.
Aircraft, including single-engine airtankers (SEATs), scoopers, and helicopters, are supporting ground crews with water and retardant drops. A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) remains in place to ensure safe operations for suppression aircraft flying at low altitudes. Flying non-firefighting aircraft, such as drones, is illegal within the TFR and poses a serious hazard to firefighting aircraft.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for the fire area. Recently burned landscapes are highly vulnerable to flash flooding due to the loss of vegetation and heat-sealed soils, which prevent rain from soaking in and cause water, ash, and debris to run off rapidly. Weather conditions today include minimum humidity of 30–35%, temperatures in the low-to-mid 70s, and southwest winds of 3–8 mph with gusts up to 15 mph, reaching 20 mph on ridge tops. There is a 20% chance of thunderstorms, with some storms potentially producing heavy rain and gusty, erratic winds. Winds are expected to shift to north-northwest at 4 mph Saturday night, with gusts up to 13 mph. Thunderstorm chances continue at 20%, increasing to 30% on Sunday. A drying trend is anticipated after the weekend, which could lead to increased fire activity.
Three Valley County evacuation zones remain at “Ready” status as set by the Valley County Sheriff on August 13. Residents and visitors are urged to stay alert to changing conditions and adhere to all local authority guidance.
Since February, the USDA has shed more than 16,000 employees (source). Now it is offering the public a chance to comment on its ongoing reorganization and staffing plans before the end of the month.
On August 1, 2025, Secretary Rollins announced a reorganization plan for the Department of Agriculture and initiated a 30‑day public comment period for stakeholders to weigh in.
This plan comes on the heels of mass terminations and resignations starting in February that have fundamentally reshaped the agency. The USDA has lost critical staff at the Forest Service who do recreation planning, trail restoration, wildfire mitigation, and conservation planning, among other work.
Outdoor Alliance has been working to mitigate how these significant layoffs will jeopardize vital conservation and public lands work, including things like implementing the bipartisan EXPLORE Act. The proposed reorganization risks further erosion of mission‑critical capabilities at the Forest Service.
The agency is accepting public comments until August 26, and this is a key opportunity for the outdoor community to weigh in about the future of the Forest Service. Everyone who cares about forests, trails, wildlife habitat, and resilient public lands can speak up during this public comment window to strengthen how the USDA stewards our public lands.
Been working with Ben on this and fully support the draft legislation.
Public lands are a hot topic!
Respectfully,
Dan Waugh
Public Lands
501 E. Baybrook Ct
Boise Id, 83706
Dwaugh@alscott.com
Office: 208-424-3873
Cell: 360-791-1591
Public Lands – Idaho Legislator to unveil proposed constitutional amendment (Published in the Idaho Capital Sun)
Senator Ben Adams to Propose Constitutional Amendment Protecting Idaho’s Public Lands
PINE – Senator Ben Adams, (R-Nampa) will unveil a proposed Constitutional Amendment next week aimed at permanently protecting Idaho’s public lands from sale and ensuring they remain open and accessible for future generations.
The amendment, which Adams will introduce in the 2026 legislative session, would prevent the State from selling future lands granted or acquired from the federal government. It also establishes guiding principles—with a focus on conservation, public access, and responsible use.
“Public lands are a precious inheritance for Idahoans who’ve hunted, fished, and explored them for generations,” Adams said. “This amendment makes it clear: these lands are not for sale to the highest bidder. They belong to the people of Idaho—now and always.
The proposal includes the creation of a “Public Lands of the State” trust. Revenues generated from responsible land use, like timber harvesting, grazing, and recreation—would be used to maintain the land and support Idahoans directly, especially in rural communities.
“Our rural schools are often surrounded by public land, but they lack the resources to maintain even basic facilities,” Adams said. “We should be using the abundant natural resources in those areas to benefit the people who live there.”
Adams emphasized that preserving land is not just about conservation but about resisting short-sighted deals and protecting Idaho’s identity.
“Selling off public land for a quick payday is a betrayal of our state motto: Esto Perpetua—let it be perpetual,” Adams said. “This land isn’t a developer’s project or a billionaire’s private hunting retreat. It’s our children’s birthright.
The official unveiling will take place at 12:00 pm on August 15 at the Pine Café in Pine, Idaho. Members of the public and press are encouraged to attend.
Senator Ben Adams is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and third-term legislator representing District 12. He has been a vocal advocate for veterans, constitutional principles, and protecting Idaho’s land, people, and way of life.
Media Availability: Senator Adams is available for interviews before and after the event. To schedule a time, contact his office at 208-546-9393
The U.S. Forest Service has been searching for an identity almost since the federal government began managing trees in the 19th century.
It started in 1876 inventorying public lands to prevent over-logging. Then it became the lumber provider to the nation. Now, just shy of its 150th birthday, the Forest Service faces another fundamental reorganization announced by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last week.
Or not. A week after Rollins’ announcement, the Senate Agriculture Committee ordered Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden to present a “Review of the USDA Reorganization Proposal.” Many public lands watchdogs hoped the Wednesday hearing would clarify where the idea came from and how the Forest Service’s tree focus fit in the farm-and-ranch world of the Department of Agriculture.
During the hearing on July 30, Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Arkansas, offered his appreciation that Vaden, who took the job just two weeks before Rollins announced the reorganization on July 24, was working on his third week when he was summoned to explain the plan.
Ranking member Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, was less welcoming.
“The reason for the short notice is because the administration put out a half-baked plan with no notice,” Klobuchar said. Rearranging a major department that had already lost 15,000 staff members at a time when tariffs and pests such as the screwworm are roiling farm markets is “nothing short of a disaster,” she said.
Sharon Friedman, former Forest Service regional planning director, called the Rollins memo “way out of the normal range of ‘things to do.’” In particular, she pointed to the proposal to phase out Forest Service regional offices, instead of shrink them from the current nine to some smaller number. Earlier this year, draft maps showing a two- or three-region compression were in circulation.
“I think Congress is going to say this is a really stupid, bad idea,” Friedman told Mountain Journal on July 29 ahead of the hearing. “Go back to the drawing board.”
The National Association of Forest Service Retirees was equally aghast. “We do not see anything in the proposal that would improve services or efficiency,” they wrote in a July 29 letter to Senate committee leaders Boozeman and Klobuchar. “Rather, it appears to simply cut staffing and funding without describing how the work will continue to get done. It provides the classic direction to do more with less.”
NAFSR Chairman Steve Ellis told Mountain Journal the proposed reorganization of the Forest Service is nothing new. “I’ve been through a lot of these in my career, going back to when Jimmy Carter was in the White House,” he said. “The political ones are easy to smell, and this has the political smell to it. I doubt that it came from the Forest Service. It came from higher up. They were told ‘Eliminate regional offices and station offices — figure it out.’”
Where to call home?
While the impact that Rollins’ reorganization plan might have on the Forest Service has drawn particular attention, it affects all 29 agencies within the Agriculture Department. Rollins told Politico on Friday that “perhaps 50 to 70 percent of our Washington, D.C. staff will want to move” to five new hubs the agency is creating and the rest should seek jobs in the private sector.
That amounts to about 2,600 of the 4,600 USDA staff now in Washington, D.C. offices. The department has about 100,000 employees nationwide, 90 percent of whom work outside the national headquarters area.
The regional hubs would be in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. The memo did not say if the Forest Service regional offices would be redistributed among those five cities or eliminated altogether.
Vaden told senators that the plan removed some layers of middle management. “But that does not automatically mean everyone located in a former regional office of an agency will be moved,” he said. Vaden also pledged that USDA would help with moving costs for current employees, while “building the next generation of USDA leadership” in the regional hubs.
Most of Wednesday’s Senate hearing focused on two issues: Why there was so little advance notice of the plan and what senators’ districts were being considered for receiving the USDA jobs Rollins was moving out of Washington, D.C.
Senator John Hoeven, R-North Dakota, praised the reorganization’s goals, but warned he needed to see more collaboration with Congress.
“There’s a difference between you selecting hubs on your own and if we work together and come up with a plan,” Hoeven said. “Is this an outcome that we’re going to talk about, or a fait accompli?”
But Vaden did reveal a few expectations for the Forest Service.
Senator Ben Jay Luján, D-New Mexico, asked about the impact of “eliminating a regional office” of the Forest Service. Vaden replied that the Forest Service’s national human resources office in Albuquerque would not be affected in the reorganization, but that “the regional office will no longer be there.” Its building is already on a federal list to be closed and sold, and its employees would “be absorbed to other areas or asked to move.”
In his testimony, Vaden said one of the biggest reasons for the organization was to get the USDA workforce out of the National Capitol Region, which has “one of the highest costs of living in the country.” Federal salaries include a “locality rate,” or pay boost, to help employees afford expensive areas. The Washington, D.C. locality rate is 33.94 percent above a federal job’s base pay. Federal workers with new families couldn’t afford to buy homes in the Capitol area, where prices are averaging more than $800,000, he said.
What saves money?
“If you’re really looking for savings and belt tightening, focusing on the higher level of the organization doesn’t bother me,” said Mary Erickson, the recently retired supervisor of the Custer-Gallatin National Forest. “It’s not like you couldn’t downsize the regional offices, but the transitional costs of that are daunting. As you eliminate regional offices, where does that work go? And how do you do that in a year’s time? That’s a lot of work. And they say they don’t want to do this in fire season. Those are pretty long these days.”
Erickson pointed out that Fort Collins’ locality rate is 30.52 percent, resulting in almost no payroll savings. And although Salt Lake City’s locality rate is 17.06 percent, Utah’s public land is predominantly managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, not the Forest Service.
“There’s been no explanation for those locations,” Erickson said. “No one seems to know who’s the mastermind behind this design.”
Nor does there appear to be any acknowledgement of previous federal reorganization attempts. Congress created a Special Agent in the Agriculture Department to survey the nation’s public forests in 1876, and opened a Division of Forestry in 1881. A decade later, Congress passed oversight of “forest reserves” to the Interior Department. President Theodore Roosevelt moved it back to Agriculture in 1905, naming Gifford Pinchot the first chief of the Forest Service.
An official history of the Forest Service’s first century labels eight more evolutions, including “The War Years,” “Environmentalism/Public Participation Era” and “Ecosystem Management and the Future Era.”
Ellis recalled the attempt at slimming down the BLM during the Clinton administration.
“They decided to take the district office layer out, which is like removing the forest supervisor layer in the National Forest System,” Ellis said. “It ended up costing a lot of money to move people around and get out of office leases. It ended up being a total flop. When the second Bush administration came on, they quietly put that layer back in.”
The first Trump administration took a similar track in 2019 when it moved the BLM headquarters out of Washington, D.C. Staff were dispersed to new offices in Colorado, Nevada, Utah and several other bases.
A 2021 survey of BLM workers by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility reported that 87 percent of reassigned employees either retired or quit rather than move. The field offices were staffed largely by new hires who lacked the scientific or experiential backgrounds of the former staff. “This lack of expertise in new hires has resulted in a shunning of science at the agency, and even a demonization of intellectual culture in some cases,” the PEER report stated.
It also resulted in a paucity of workers handling public business. At the time, the Utah area reported an average of one BLM employee for every 37,277 acres of public land. Arches National Park, which is surrounded by BLM lands, had one employee for every 1,530 acres.
Biden administration Interior Secretary Tracy Stone-Manning moved much of the BLM headquarters staff back to Washington in 2022. But she also reinforced the Colorado office, expanding its contingent from 27 positions under Trump to 56.
Friedman now runs the forestry policy blog Smokey Wire. She was a planning director in 2007 when a “Transformation Team” explored ways of performing Forest Service duties better. It did not appear to consider moving to another part of the federal org chart, such as Interior. But Friedman noted her own inability to find out what it actually accomplished: “I couldn’t find any documentation for the effort. It wasn’t even clear whom I would ask at the Forest Service. Historian? Archivist? I got some phone numbers and emails, but no one returned the messages.”
Some of that effort looked into moving the Forest Service from Agriculture to Interior. A 2009 Government Accountability Office report concluded “a move would provide few efficiencies in the short term and could diminish the role the Forest Service plays in state and private land management … [If] the objective of a move is to improve land management and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the agencies’ diverse programs, other options might achieve better results.”
The 2009 GAO report also cataloged other past consolidation initiatives. One was the colocation of wildland firefighting experts from the Forest Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs to create the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. That took place in 1965.
Where’s the Fire?
One particular problem drags public lands management off balance: wildfire.
While logging trees and grazing cows and digging trail occur far from the average American’s attention, forest fires are literally front-page news. The Forest Service routinely spends nearly half its annual budget fighting fire. It handles between 70 and 80 percent of the public land ignitions, with Interior agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management chasing most of the rest.
Federal firefighters have long chaffed at being just a tool in a larger agency’s land management toolbox, according to Freidman.
“There’s a tension between wildfire people and everybody else,” she said. “They got pay raises and nobody else did. They want to work for other wildfire people, because they feel they’re a national asset. They think they shouldn’t have others holding them back when they could be making money.”
But wildfire and public land management are woven together in a tight braid. Fire-dependent ecosystems cover most of the western United States. Local ranger districts not only map and monitor their surrounding forest for fire potential, their staffs often donate their time to the community volunteer fire department and ambulance service.
Removing fire duties from the Forest Service would “hollow out” the agency, according to Ellis.
“Fire is integrated in every program the Forest Service does,” he said. “Anything you do on public lands affects the fuel. It isn’t just burning slash piles. It’s how you graze range land. It’s timber harvest. That’s all fuels management. The fuel in Los Angeles fires [last January] was homes.”
During the hearing, Senator Klobuchar asked if there was a bigger plan to move the Forest Service, or parts of it, to some other cabinet agency. She particularly wanted to know about the fate of wildland firefighting.
Vaden replied that the president’s budget, not the reorganization plan, called for the centralization of wildfire services. In other responses, Vaden said the Missoula-based Fire Lab would not be moving, and that the Salt Lake City regional hub was chosen in part because it offered “aviation assets” that would help the Forest Service in the “administration’s plan regarding centralizing wildfire efforts.”
Congress had already shown resistance to other Trump administration moves. Last week, both the House and Senate Appropriations committees rejected a plan to wrap the Forest Service’s firefighting duties into a new wildland fire management service housed in the Interior Department. Despite a Trump executive order creating the consolidated wildfire service and Forest Service and Interior budget reports detailing how it would work, congressional budgeters put the 2026 wildfire allocations back in their traditional multiagency bankbooks.
“The committee is disappointed with the utter lack of regard for complying with Congressional intent on spending funds as appropriated,” the Senate Appropriations Committee bill report stated. On other pages, the Senate committee overruled Trump’s order changing the name of North America’s highest mountain from Denali to McKinley. And it blocked an Interior Department plan to hand over some unnamed small national park facilities to state management.
“Over my whole career, the president’s budget, if you took it as reality, was completely drastic,” Erickson said. “We always expected it was going to be moderated by the Congressional process. Up to this point with Trump, you hadn’t seen that. Maybe we’re seeing some good signs there.”
This morning, USDA Secretary Rollins announced a major reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and restructuring of the U.S. Forest Service.
The Press Release can be found here
.The Secretarial Memorandum can be found here. Secretary Memorandum: SM 1078-015 sm-1078-015
Here are some key takeaways (USDA-wide, not just the Forest Service):
- USDA currently has about 4,600 employees in the Washington, D.C. area. That will be reduced to 2,000. Employees will be relocated to new Hubs or the field.
- USDA’s five Hubs will be: Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah
- USDA will vacate certain office spaces in Washington, D.C. and will revisit (but retain) “the utilization and functions in the USDA…Yates Building…” which has been the permanent home of the Forest Service since the 1990s.
- This is the first step in a multi-step, multi-month process of reorganization and restructuring to reduce the size and costs of the USDA workforce. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation Department-wide.
What does this mean for the Forest Service?
There will be more information and announcements in the coming weeks and months. Here’s what we know from the Secretarial Memo:
- The Forest Service will phase out the nine Regional Offices over the next year. Implementation of the Regional Office phase out will consider the current fire season.
- While not stated in the Memo, we expect current Regional staff to be reassigned or relocated to the Hubs or individual forests.
- It’s our intel that Regional Foresters will also take on larger geographic and administrative responsibilities.
- Note: None of the Hubs are in AFRC’s service area and have little correlation to the National Forest System land base.
- The Forest Service will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau, Alaska and an eastern service center in Athens, Georgia.
- The current stand-alone Research Stations will be consolidated into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado.
- The Forest Service will retain the Fire Sciences Lab and Forest Products Lab.
We’ll continue to gather and share more information about these significant structural changes to USDA and the Forest Service. We are already in touch with key agency leaders to better understand implications for the Forest Service, our industry, and our work. Change is disruptive. AFRC will continue to strategize and adapt accordingly to maximize our advocacy and effectiveness for our members under this new structure. One thing is clear: the restructuring underscores the power and importance of AFRC’s model of having a presence, relationships, and involvement at the local and national forest level.
Sincerely,
Travis Joseph
President/CEO
American Forest Resource Council
(Washington, D.C., July 24, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), refocusing its core operations to better align with its founding mission of supporting American farming, ranching, and forestry.
Over the last four years, USDA’s workforce grew by 8%, and employees’ salaries increased by 14.5% – including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. This all occurred without any tangible increase in service to USDA’s core constituencies across the agricultural sector. USDA’s footprint in the National Capital Region (NCR) is underutilized and redundant, plagued by rampant overspending and decades of mismanagement and costly deferred maintenance. President Trump has made it clear government needs to be scrutinized, and after this thorough review of USDA, the results show a bloated, expensive, and unsustainable organization.
To be clear, all critical functions of the Department will continue uninterrupted. For example, we are at the height of fire season, and to date, have not only exceeded hiring goals, but have preserved the ability to continue to hire. Earlier this year, Secretary Rollins issued a Secretarial Memorandum exempting National Security and Public Safety positions from the federal hiring freeze. These 52 position classifications carry out functions that are critical to the safety and security of the American people, our national forests, and the inspection and safety of the Nation’s agriculture and food supply system. These positions will not be eliminated. However, employees may be subject to relocation.
“American agriculture feeds, clothes, and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the Department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers we are mandated to support. President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country,” said Secretary Rollins. “We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on. We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”
The reorganization consists of four pillars:
- Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
- Bring USDA closer to its customers
- Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
- Consolidate redundant support functions
To bring USDA closer to the people it serves while also providing a more affordable cost of living for USDA employees, USDA has developed a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and NCR staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations. The Department currently has approximately 4,600 employees within the National Capital Region (NCR). This Region has one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94%. In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living. Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR.
USDA will vacate and return to the General Services Administration the South Building, Braddock Place, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and revisit utilization and functions in the USDA Whitten Building, Yates Building, and the National Agricultural Library. The George Washington Carver Center will also be utilized until space optimization activities are completed. These buildings have a backlog of costly deferred maintenance and currently are occupied below the minimum set by law. For example, the South Building has approximately $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance and has an average daily occupancy of less than 1,900 individuals for a building that can house over 6,000 employees.
USDA’s five hub locations and current Federal locality rates are:
- Raleigh, North Carolina (22.24%)
- Kansas City, Missouri (18.97%)
- Indianapolis, Indiana (18.15%)
- Fort Collins, Colorado (30.52%)
- Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06%)
View the Secretary Memorandum (PDF, 2.6 MB)
This is only the first phase of a multi-month process. Over the next month and where applicable, USDA senior leadership will notify offices with more information on relocation to one of the regional hubs.
To make certain USDA can afford its workforce, this reorganization is another step of the Department’s process of reducing its workforce. Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.
Dan Waugh – Public Lands
501 E. Baybrook Ct
Boise Id, 83706
Office: 208-424-3873
Cell: 360-791-1591
Fire crews remain on the ground in the Payette National Forest, working to contain three wildfires, with efforts focused on protecting structures at two lodges along the Salmon River, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Big Bear Fire
The Big Bear Fire started on July 9 from a lightning strike in the Krassel Ranger District and has burned approximately 2,529 acres.
Officials in a Wednesday, July 16 update said flames moved into the Arctic Creek drainage and around Arctic Creek Lodge overnight, prompting firefighters to begin structure protection efforts.
The U.S. Forest Service said the lodge remains unaffected, and firefighters will continue to protect structures using pumps and sprinklers. Structure protection also remains in place at River of No Return Lodge.
The Payette National Forest is coordinating with the Salmon-Challis National Forest regarding rafting on the Salmon River.
Rush Fire
The Rush Fire has burned 747 acres since it started on July 10 due to lightning.
The U.S. Forest Service said on Tuesday, July 15, firefighters at Taylor Ranch created fire lines to protect threatened structures. The fire remained active overnight into Wednesday, until humidity levels reduced the fire’s behavior.
Crews remain on scene and are prepared to begin back-firing operations if needed, according to the Forest Service. The Soldier Bar airstrip burned over and is closed for public safety as of Wednesday, July 16.
Skunk Fire
The Skunk Fire has burned roughly 4 acres in the McCall Ranger District. The fire is 60% contained as of July 16.
The human-caused fire started on July 13 north of Skunk Springs between Forest Service roads 337 and 340, southeast of Warren Summit.
The Forest Service on Tuesday said fire activity was minimal within its established containment lines. No active fire was reported along the perimeter.
Officials said firefighters plan to focus on mop-up operations on Wednesday, July 16.
For further information regarding these fires, visit the U.S. Forest Service website here.
There’s nothing wrong with buying cheap products from Walmart — everyone loves a good deal — but sometimes it can backfire. In the case of a new Ozark Trail recall, that’s literally what happened to several people injured by water bottles.
Walmart announced a massive recall Thursday of its Ozark Trail water bottles. The one-piece, screwcap lid can evidently pop off from built-up pressure, causing impact and laceration injuries. If you own a silver 64-ounce stainless steel insulated water bottle from Ozark Trail purchased at Walmart, you should stop using it immediately to avoid potential injuries, government regulators said this week.
Approximately 850,000 of these water bottles have been recalled, according to a July 10 notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The model number — listed on the packaging but not on the product — is 83-662. Walmart has been selling this product since 2017 for around $15.
Walmart received three reports of consumers being struck in the face after the water bottle lid was violently expelled. https://gearjunkie.com/food-hydration/walmart-ozark-trail-water-bottle-recall
Author: Tracy Bringhurst
Published: 12:30 PM MDT June 30, 2025
MCCALL, Idaho — The Payette National Forest announced on Monday that it is proposing changes to recreation fees at various sites throughout the forest, with public comments open through September 15.
Forest Supervisor Matthew Davis stated that the fees are crucial for maintaining high-quality recreation experiences.
“We recognize how important our recreation areas are to local communities and visitors of the Payette National Forest,” Davis said. “Recreation fees are a critical funding source that helps us provide clean, safe, and accessible recreation opportunities.”
Even with the proposed changes, more than 52% of forest recreation sites would remain free to use, according to the Forest Service.
The 2004 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act allows the Forest Service to retain at least 80% of collected recreation fees for local use in operating, maintaining and improving sites. Revenue would help fund infrastructure improvements and additional seasonal recreation staff.
The Forest Service said recreation fees help provide quality opportunities that meet modern visitor expectations while creating a more financially sustainable program for future generations.
The public can submit comments through Sept. 15 by mail to Payette National Forest, Attention: Emily Simpson, 500 North Mission Street, McCall, Idaho 83638. Comments are also accepted online.
Oral comments can be provided in person to Simpson during business hours, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by calling 208-634-0700.
After public comment closes, the proposed fee changes will be reviewed by a citizens’ advisory committee representing various recreation interest groups. The committee will submit recommendations to the Regional Forester for a final decision.
More information is available here. Payette National Forest | Proposed Changes to Recreation Fees on the Payette National Forest | Forest Service
Public Commentary Period
The public is invited to provide comments on these proposed changes until September 15, 2025. This public comment period allows you to ask questions and share feedback with agency decision-makers. Your comments regarding the proposed fee change will be considered.
How to Provide Comments
To ensure that your comments are considered, please share your comments no later than September 15, 2025 using one of the methods listed below.
Online
Comments can be provided online at https://arcg.is/1eKXDW0.
Postal Mail
Utilizing the downloadable Recreation Fee Proposal Comment Form, send postal mail comments to:
Payette National Forest
Attn: Emily Simpson
500 N Mission Street, McCall, ID 83638
Oral Comments
Oral comments must be made in person at the Payette National Forest Supervisor’s Office during normal business hours (Monday- Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.), or by calling 208-634-0700 and indicating you would like to provide comments on the proposed recreation fee changes.
Comments will be accepted by email at this email address:
Please ensure to list Recreation Fee Changes in the subject line.
(Santa Fe, N.M., June 23, 2025) – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced during a meeting of the Western Governors’ Association in New Mexico, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule. This outdated administrative rule contradicts the will of Congress and goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands. Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production.
This rule is overly restrictive and poses real harm to millions of acres of our national forests. In total, 30% of National Forest System lands are impacted by this rule. For example, nearly 60% of forest service land in Utah is restricted from road development and is unable to be properly managed for fire risk. In Montana, it is 58%, and in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest in the country, 92% is impacted. This also hurts jobs and economic development across rural America. Utah alone estimates the roadless rule alone creates a 25% decrease in economic development in the forestry sector.
“Once again, President Trump is removing absurd obstacles to common sense management of our natural resources by rescinding the overly restrictive roadless rule,” said Secretary Brooke Rollins. “This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests. It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land.”
This action aligns with President Trump’s Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation to get rid of overcomplicated, burdensome barriers that hamper American business and innovation. It will also allow more decisions to be made at the local level, helping land managers make the best decisions to protect people, communities and resources based on their unique local conditions.
Of the 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas covered under the 2001 Roadless Rule, 28 million acres are in areas at high or very high risk of wildfire. Rescinding this rule will allow this land to be managed at the local forest level, with more flexibility to take swift action to reduce wildfire risk and help protect surrounding communities and infrastructure.
Breaking news: Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to sell off up to 3.3 million acres of public lands appears to have been removed from the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill.
Over the past two weeks, hundreds of thousands of outdoor enthusiasts—alongside hunters, anglers, motorized users, and conservationists—spoke up to defend public lands. Late yesterday evening, the land sales were removed on a technicality by the Senate parliamentarian, meaning that this dangerous proposal is out of the budget bill for now.
Lawmakers heard you, and the proposal to sell off millions of acres was already facing strong headwinds and was on the cusp of being scaled back or removed prior to this ruling.
This is a big win—for a few important reasons:
• Those 3.3 million acres will remain public, for now, accessible to the 175 million Americans who recreate each year.
• The outdoor community showed up in force. In just days, more than half a million letters poured into Congress—a volume we’ve never seen before.
• Lawmakers responded. In the past week, multiple Senators publicly opposed the sell-off proposal, sending a clear signal that these ideas aren’t welcome.
Thank you for raising your voice. This community continues to show that when public lands are under threat, we are ready to fight for them.
That said, we’re not out of the woods yet. Senator Mike Lee has already indicated he plans to revise his proposal and push again for public land sell-offs—this time with narrower language that he hopes will pass.
We’ll keep fighting—and we hope you will too.
Perpetua eyes possible Stibnite mine expansion – Valley Lookout
A gold and antimony mine approved in eastern Valley County is well-positioned for future expansion, according to executives for the mining company.
On Wednesday, Perpetua Resources outlined preliminary plans for a possible expansion of its Stibnite mine, which was approved earlier this year following an eight-year review by the Payette National Forest.
Marcelo Kim, who chairs the company’s corporate board, told shareholders that the company will explore additional zones that could add as much as 2.4 million ounces of gold to the mine’s current reserve of 4.8 million ounces.
“We believe there are ample high-grade extensions to our existing reserves that we plan to drill out,” Kim said. “Should we be able to bring this material into reserves, we could see a substantial benefit to our gold production from higher grades as well as antimony production.”
A shareholder presentation included a map showing more than two dozen new exploration zones and nine “priority targets.” Many of the areas are adjacent to the two existing pit mines the company is already permitted to develop.
Kim said the exploration zones are based on mineralization the company has observed and “not blue sky prospects.”
However, any expansion of the company’s planned mining operations would require further regulatory approval from the Payette and other agencies.
Marty Boughton, a Perpetua spokesperson, told Valley Lookout the acreage for the exploration zones is not currently available.
“We haven’t finalized a detailed plan yet, just some forward-looking targets,” Boughton said. “Our primary focus is bringing the Stibnite Gold Project as permitted online.”
Latest stock offering
Wednesday’s investor presentation came on the heels of Perpetua securing another $425 million in financing following a stock offering that opened last week.
The offering initially was for $300 million, but the company increased it to $325 million to fund the additional exploration work, Kim said.
At the same time, Paulson & Co., a New York City investment firm led by billionaire John Paulson, agreed to purchase another $100 million in stock.
The purchase raised Paulson’s total investment in Perpetua to $185 million since 2016. The firm owns about 32.3 million shares of Perpetua stock, giving it a 31% ownership stake in the company as its largest investor, Boughton said.
Kim, a Paulson partner since 2011, was appointed to his role as board chairman in 2020 when five longtime board members resigned amid Paulson’s demands for leadership changes.
$2B loan application
Most of the $425 million Perpetua raised through the stock offering will be used to meet equity requirements for a $2 billion loan the company applied for through the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
If approved, the loan would fund the $2.2 billion cost to build the mine, a process that Perpetua estimates would take two to three years.
Construction cannot begin, however, until Perpetua receives approval from the Payette on a financial assurance package that guarantees funding for clean-up of the site.
The company is actively seeking financial assurances totaling about $155 million to cover the construction phase of the project. It currently expects to begin mining operations in 2029.
Project background
Perpetua plans to extract more than $6 billion in gold, silver, and antimony from Stibnite, the site of historic mining operations during World War II and as far back as 1899.
The mine could produce an estimated 148 million pounds of antimony and 4.8 million ounces of gold, which would account for nearly all of the mine’s projected revenue.
The metals would be extracted from three open pit mines totaling about 473 acres within the 1,740-acre project zone, which is about three miles from the Frank Church – River of No Return Wilderness.
Opponents of the mine fear it could pollute the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, which flows through the project site, and cause other environmental damage.
Water quality in the East Fork and other streams at the proposed mine site does not currently meet federal drinking water standards due to high concentrations of arsenic and antimony from pollutants left by previous mining companies.
Perpetua’s mining proposal is authorized by the General Mining Act of 1872, a federal law that allows anyone to patent mining claims on public land.
A review of the project began in 2016 under the National Environmental Policy Act, a federal law that requires all projects that could affect natural resources to be studied for environmental harm. 
Public Lands Eligible for Sale interactive Map
#2 Accident/Incident Narrative (Broken Foot):
Date/Time of Near Miss
05/31/2025 3:30 PM
Location (trail number and description of scene)
3382, Chimney Peak trail southeast of Middle Santiam Wilderness
Weather: Warm, sunny
Trail work activity (relating to incident)
Logging with power saws
Description of Near Miss
Sawyer was standing on a large log cutting a 40″ log that was on top of the log the sawyer was standing on. The objective was to cut the upper log so that it dropped to the ground and make a less complex cut at the trail. The sawyer made an offside cut on the downhill side of the log, moved to the uphill onside and started the onside cut. The sawyer stopped cutting while another person assisted with starting a wedge into the offside then moved to a safe area. The sawyer continued the onside cut for a short time and was getting ready to place a wedge in the kerf in the top of the log. The onside cut was started but did not get very far when the log split out, driving the uncut portion toward the sawyer and down. The chainsaw was thrown to the ground away from the sawyer. The uncut portion of the log hit the sawyer’s left foot on the way down. The log’s fibers were compromised by rot more so at the current cut than at the previous cut only a few feet further up the log. The sawyer was able to hike back to the trailhead.
Lessons learned; Recommendations to avoid similar event in the future:
Rotting fiber in a log can change within a few feet. Don’t expect that the holding wood will be the same a short distance away from a previous cut. Stand as far away as possible when doing the onside cut.
https://wildernessskillsinstitute.org/nrwsi/
Bryce Shull
Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute, 5/19-5/23/2025
The season finally feels like it’s begun. After a week of indoor training in Missoula, my fellow SBFC Fellows and I were eager to get into the field and attend the Northern Rockies Wilderness Skills Institute (NRWSI) at Powell Ranger Station in the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. Nestled beside the beautiful Lochsa River and bordering the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, Powell is a perfect setting to kick off a season of stewardship.
Going into the NRWSI, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t know how big Powell would be, how many people would be there, or what exactly our classes would cover.
We left Missoula early Monday morning, making a quick stop at the Lolo Pass Visitor Center before arriving at Powell. My first impression was surprise— Powell was much larger than I anticipated. The station included bunkhouses, a gym, a barn, storage facilities, and more. Even more striking was the scenery: the Lochsa River flowed right next to the station, and the surrounding mountains made it feel like we were tucked into a hidden gem. But what stood out the most was the deep sense of community. Returning participants greeted each other like old friends, former coworkers reunited, and complete strangers bonded over their shared passion for wilderness stewardship.
On Tuesday, training began in earnest. All of the SBFC Fellows were enrolled in the Trail Maintenance Foundational Skills course. We loaded tools and gear into the rigs and headed to a nearby trail, where seasoned trail workers from across the country shared their knowledge and experience. We got our hands on crosscut saws, axes, Pulaskis, McLeods, and picks. For some fellows, this was their first time using these tools. Regardless of our experience levels, we all shared a common excitement for the week ahead and for the season as a whole.
Our second class focused specifically on crosscut saws. We learned how to properly care for, maintain, and use them in the field. We bucked logs, felled trees both large and small, and gained confidence using crosscuts and axes through hands-on practice. READ MORE
Finding Human Connection in the Largest Wilderness Area in the Lower 48
Raegan Dick | Wilderness Ranger Fellow
Norton Ridge/Marble Creek Trail, Salmon-Challis Forest
05/26-05/31/2025
On the third day of this hitch, I was nervous. The day before, we had made it 2.5 miles up Norton Ridge— a daunting 5.5-mile trail that gains nearly 4,000 feet of elevation to an abandoned fire lookout deep within the Salmon-Challis Forest. It was a tough trail, and I knew it would only get harder the higher we climbed.
As we climbed Norton Ridge that morning, we ran into a woman named Kristin and her two dogs. She lives on a ranch inholding within the wilderness— one we had admired from across the Salmon River earlier in the day. We chatted briefly about our respective work before continuing up the trail.
By the end of the workday, around 3.5 to 4 miles in, our crew decided to push to the summit and see the fire lookout. The temperature had climbed to 85 degrees, and most of us were nearly out of water, but the opportunity to explore the fire lookout was within reach, so we went for it.
It turned out to be one of the hardest hikes I’ve ever done. Even after four weeks out west, I’m still adjusting to the elevation— the 7,500-foot difference from my home in Michigan hit me hard. The heat, lack of water, and general fatigue from a full day of trail work compounded the challenge, but quitting wasn’t an option.
The fire lookout came into view as we reached the summit, and I knew it was all worth it. Now eye-level with the snow-capped peaks, it felt like you could see for miles and miles in any direction you looked, almost like being on another planet.
As we began our 6.5-mile hike back to base camp, I was preoccupied with how relieving it would be to finally collect and filter water from the river once we were back. All of a sudden, I slipped down the toe of the trail and twisted my ankle. The pain was sharp, but I knew that the only choice was to continue forward, one foot in front of the other. READ MORE
Dale Forrester Obituary
October 26, 1939 – May 25, 2025
Emmett, Idaho – Dale Edward Forrester passed away at home May 25, 2025 in Emmett, Idaho at age 85 surrounded by family.
Dale was born on October 26, 1939 in Riceville, Tennessee to Robert and Grace Forrester. He was the youngest of nine children. At the age of 8, his family moved from Tennessee to Mesa, Idaho where he began a new way of life. Then, in 1954, he and his family moved from Mesa to Emmett where he attended high school. In his junior year he joined the National Guard. He then graduated in 1957. Two years later in 1961, he was placed on active duty orders during the Berlin Crisis to Ft. Lewis, Washington. Before leaving, he married the love of his life for 63 years, Linda Gates. After serving a year at Ft. Lewis, Dale and Linda moved to Richland, Washington where they had two wonderful sons, Neal and Don.
In 1969 Dale and his family returned to Idaho. Dale went to work for the Boise Fire Department in 1970 where he made many lifelong friends in his 25 year career. He achieved the rank of captain where he was well liked and highly respected by his crew.
Anyone who knew Dale was aware of his love for the outdoors. Archery was his main passion, and he was instrumental in promoting organized archery in the area. In 1972 Dale and Linda opened D & L Archery which they owned and operated for 8 years. During these 8 years, they shared their knowledge and enthusiasm of archery with multitudes of people, and he with several friends started Treasure Valley Bowhunters. Then in 1973 he spearheaded the start of the Idaho State Bowhunters. He passed his love for hunting and archery down to his family where they spent many years pursuing this passion.
In his later years fishing became his favorite pastime. Brownlee Reservoir and Cascade Lake were some of his favorite fishing spots.
Dale was preceded in death by his mother and father, Robert and Grace; his brothers, Vern, John, Kyle, Norman and Taylor; his sisters, Margaret, Mary Lee, and Elizabeth Ann.
Dale is survived by his wife, Linda; children, Neal (Shannon) Forrester and Don (Rochelle) Forrester; grandchildren, Dylan (Sami) Forrester, Taylor Forrester (Kaleigh Gomez), Bryce Forrester; great-grandchildren, Hayden and Larson Forrester
Dale was well known for his quick wit and sarcastic sense of humor. He loved a good practical joke. He influenced the lives of so many people while passing on his excitement for the outdoors. He loved his family dearly and he will be deeply missed.
Services will be held at Potter Funeral Chapel on Monday, June 2, 2025 with a viewing at 12 p.m. and a funeral service at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at the Emmett Cemetery.
Exploring the wilderness can be a rewarding and enriching experience, but it also comes with inherent risks. Accidents can happen at any time, and being in a remote location often means that medical help is not immediately available. Knowing basic first aid procedures is essential for preventing minor injuries from becoming serious and for responding effectively to emergencies. Whether you need to treat cuts and burns, stabilize fractures, or manage environmental hazards like dehydration or hypothermia, preparedness can make all the difference. By understanding fundamental first aid techniques and taking proactive safety measures, outdoor enthusiasts can minimize risks and ensure a safer, more enjoyable adventure.
Wilderness Survival Basics
Surviving in the wilderness requires preparation, awareness, and adaptability. Injuries, harsh weather, and a lack of resources can quickly turn a simple outing into a dangerous situation. Knowing how to respond to medical emergencies, build shelter, find water, and start a fire can mean the difference between life and death. First aid skills can help manage injuries like cuts, burns, and fractures until professional medical help is available. Understanding basic survival techniques and carrying essential supplies can prevent minor setbacks from escalating into life-threatening situations.
How to Find and Purify Water
Water is the most critical resource for survival, but drinking untreated water from natural sources can lead to severe illness from bacteria, parasites, or chemicals. Dehydration can quickly cause fatigue, confusion, and even organ failure. To ensure safe hydration, collect water from clear, flowing sources and purify it by boiling it, filtering it, or using purification tablets. If no natural water sources are available, use techniques such as collecting rainwater or making solar stills. Staying hydrated and consuming clean water is essential for maintaining strength and preventing medical complications in the wild.
- How to Purify Water in the Wild
- Two Ways to Purify Water
- How to Find Clean Water in an Emergency
- Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water
- Purifying Your Drinking Water
The Importance of Building a Shelter
Exposure to extreme temperatures, rain, or wind can cause hypothermia or heatstroke, making shelter a top survival priority. A well-constructed shelter provides protection from the elements, conserves body heat, and reduces the risk of weather-related illnesses. If you’re stranded, look for natural formations like caves or dense tree cover for quick shelter. Use materials like branches, leaves, or tarps to build a sturdy structure. Insulation is key, and adding layers of foliage or dry material can help regulate your body temperature once you’re inside. Knowing how to construct an emergency shelter can keep you safe until rescue or better conditions arise.
- Building a Survival Shelter
- Learn How to Build a Wilderness Survival Shelter
- Surviving the Elements: Building Your First Shelter Like a Pro
- Emergency Survival Shelter
Building a Fire
Fire is essential for warmth, cooking, purifying water, and signaling for help, but improper fire management can lead to serious burns or uncontrolled wildfires. In survival situations, having the ability to start a fire without matches or lighters is crucial. Use dry tinder, kindling, and larger logs to build a sustainable fire, and always keep it contained in a fire pit or surrounded by rocks to prevent it from spreading. If someone suffers a burn, cool the area with clean water (if available) and keep it covered to prevent infection.
- How to Build Your Campfire
- Guide to Building a Campfire
- Key Steps for Building a Successful Campfire
- Rediscovering the Lost Art of Building a Fire
- How to Start a Campfire Even When it’s Wet
How to Make a Stretcher
A well-constructed stretcher can be a lifesaver when seeking medical assistance in the wild. Transporting an injured person in the wilderness can be challenging, but knowing how to make a makeshift stretcher can prevent further injury and help move them to safety. Using sturdy materials such as branches, rope, or a tarp, a stretcher can provide stability for someone with a broken bone, sprain, or serious wound. If materials aren’t available, a fireman’s carry or two-person assist can help move the injured individual. When handling a person with a potential spinal injury, keep them as still as possible and avoid sudden movements.
- How to Make an Improvised Stretcher
- Emergency Duct Tape Field Stretcher
- Making an Improvised Stretcher in a Real Emergency
- Evacuating an Injured Person
Fractures
A broken bone in the wilderness can be debilitating and, if not stabilized, can worsen with movement. Fractures require immediate attention to prevent further damage, internal bleeding, or infection. Immobilize the injured limb using a splint made from sticks, cloth, or a backpack frame, and avoid putting weight on the injury. If a bone is protruding through the skin, cover it with a clean dressing to reduce the infection risk.
- Fractures
- Dealing With Bone Fractures
- Types of Fractures
- Everything You Need to Know About Fractures
- Causes and Treatments for Bone Fractures
Bug and Animal Bites
Bug and animal bites can range from irritating to life-threatening, depending on the species and severity of the bite. Insect bites may cause allergic reactions or transmit diseases like Lyme disease or malaria, while animal bites can lead to infections or rabies exposure. If bitten, clean the wound immediately with water and soap, apply an antiseptic, and bandage it to prevent infection. If the bite is from a venomous snake or spider, keep the affected limb immobilized, stay calm, and seek emergency medical care. Avoid provoking wildlife, and use insect repellent, long clothing, and proper food storage to reduce the risk of bites.
- Useful Tips to Deal With Domestic and Wild Animal Bites
- Signs and Symptoms of Animal Bites
- Summer Safety Series: Bites
- Bites and Stings
How to Build a Kit for Emergencies
A well-prepared first aid kit is a survival essential for any outdoor adventure. If someone is hurt, having the right supplies can help you manage wounds, stabilize injuries, and prevent infections until help arrives. Essential items include bandages, antiseptic wipes, pain relievers, medical tape, tweezers, a tourniquet, water purification tablets, and a whistle for signaling for help. Personalize your kit based on the environment, length of trip, and medical conditions of the group. Regularly check and replace expired items to ensure preparedness.
As the Department of the Interior develops a plan to “restore American prosperity” by exploiting Western natural resources, a Wyoming attorney who has steeled rural communities against federal policies is atop the hierarchy that will marshal the effort.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum last month appointed Karen Budd-Falen as temporary deputy secretary and his senior advisor. As the department fleshes out a four-year strategic plan to use natural resources across 19.9 million acres of national parks and Bureau of Land Management property in Wyoming, Budd-Falen will be in the Interior’s second-highest position.
A draft of the four-year Interior plan leaked to Public Domain outlines department objectives for prosperity, security and recreation. Conservationists have decried elements they say would dismantle environmental safeguards, turn over federal property, promote energy development and favor rural communities over nationwide interests.
The Interior Department last week blasted the leak and called its publication “irresponsible.”
“It is beyond unacceptable that an internal document in the draft/deliberative process is being shared with the media before a decision point has been made,” Interior’s press office wrote WyoFile on Thursday. “Not only is this unacceptable behavior, it is irresponsible for a media outlet to publish a draft document.
“We will take this leak of an internal, pre-decisional document very seriously and find out who is responsible,” the statement reads.
The draft plan, which the agency said is “not final nor ready for release,” sets four goals and several objectives to accomplish them. Interior’s drafted goals are to restore American prosperity, ensure national security through infrastructure and innovation, and allow sustainable enjoyment of natural resources. It would do all that through the fourth goal — collaboration with states, tribes and local governments.
The draft plan to restore American prosperity would use American energy to “lower… costs and increases affordability.” But it includes elements that worry conservationists who fear damage to Interior agencies including the National Park Service, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The plan would “deregulate” to increase “clean coal” production and oil and gas drilling. It would streamline the National Environmental Policy Act, a law designed to safeguard the environment. And it would reduce the cost of grazing, which critics say is already too low.
The draft would “release federal holdings” — divest Americans of their public property — to allow states and communities to reduce housing costs. Interior would support agriculture and increase revenues from logging, non-energy mining, and grazing. The draft treats natural resources as assets, viewing federal holdings for the economic value that can be derived from them.
The leaked document “reads like an industry wish list,” the Center for Western Priorities said in a statement. It includes “a thinly veiled reference to the seizure and sale of public lands,” according to the conservation group.
The draft treats the West’s natural resources “as nothing more than numbers on a balance sheet,” Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala said in a statement. In the plan, those resources are “products to be sold off and exploited to help pay for tax cuts for Elon Musk and Trump’s fellow billionaires,” she said.
“It resembles a business plan from a desperate CEO, not a framework to steward public lands for the benefit of all Americans,” Rokala’s statement reads.
To her post, Budd-Falen brings years of experience fighting for ranchers and other public land users and developers. The federal government has been a frequent adversary, but so has Western Watersheds Project, another conservation group that focuses on public land grazing.
She represented a group of ranchers who sued Western Watersheds for trespassing when a field worker collected water to test for pollution caused by grazing. She advised rural counties to adopt land use plans they could leverage when contesting federal programs on public land in their areas. She also represented stock growers who sided against four Missouri hunters who corner crossed to hunt public land on Elk Mountain in Carbon County. She represented the Cliven Bundy family and others as they fought grazing reductions imposed after Las Vegas developers were permitted to occupy desert tortoise habitat. That family later became infamous for armed standoffs with federal officials over use of public land.
I invite you to watch my second video (or read the transcript below), where I talk about our agency priorities and my focus areas as Chief. I continue to believe that safety must be our highest priority, no matter where you work. We must be safe in the course of our duties, and we must look out for one another.
I also share a bit more about what I mean when I say we need to get back to basics. Everyone, including the public, knows that we fight fires, but we do so much more, from forest management to outdoor recreation to mineral and energy management. By focusing on the fundamentals of our work, we can do more to support the health and vitality of our forests and grasslands and neighboring communities.
Overall, our work is built upon relationships and communication, from those with one another to our partners, and I look forward to communicating with all of you through these videos and as we meet in person.
TRANSCRIPT
When I came in, people were asking, “What are the priorities? What are we focused on?” I looked at a couple different things. One, first and foremost, was safety.
And as we prepare for fire season or when, regardless of whether you’re a firefighter, but just doing your job day to day can be hard. And so to me, first and foremost, as we do our jobs, it’s got to be safe, how we perform them and looking out for each other. Another big focus for me is trying to get back to basics. To me, like, really focusing on what our primary responsibilities and duties are that we do.
We’re fighting fire. We have a forest management program. We have a recreation, outdoor recreation program, the minerals program, oil and gas.
But the recreation program, for me, is an area that I’ve learned a lot about that. We have over two hundred million users on an annual basis that recreate on national forest lands.
I mean, so that the interest in the use and how we’re viewed is so positive, I think when I’ve looked at some of the customer survey results, we have like seventy percent positivity in terms of like how people view us and how we interact with the public. So it’s significant, the work that we do, it’s critical, and how we deliver that to the public.
And, you know, one thing that I didn’t mention was the role of relationships, right, and partnerships. But whether it’s in fire, whether it’s in archaeology, whether it’s recreation, we have so many partners. I really think we are in the relationship business, and you all see that in how you do your jobs. Maintaining those relationships and spending the time to to get to know people, in and out of work, is critical, for us to do our jobs effectively.