Shared Stewardship Case Study: Idaho
In December of 2018, Idaho became the first state to sign a Shared Stewardship agreement with the USDA Forest Service. The governor and USDA Under Secretary Jim Hubbard agreed to focus on reducing fuels and wildfire risk to communities, improving forest health and watershed conditions, and supporting markets to sustain and create jobs in the forest products sector. They set a goal of doubling the number of acres treated on National Forest System lands in Idaho by 2025 by focusing treatments on the 6.1 million acres impacted by insect and disease infestation.
By July of 2019, the Idaho Department of Lands and Forest Service staff from the Northern and Intermountain Regions had identified two priority landscapes to test the Shared Stewardship approach. The northern priority landscape encompasses approximately 2 million acres owned by variety of forest landowners and includes extensive wildland-urban interface where homes, infrastructure, and communities may be at higher risk from wildfire. The southern priority landscape includes 2.3 million acres in small communities and areas where rangelands transition into forest.
They drew from data in the Idaho State Forest Action Plan, Forest Service Regional data, the Forest Service Scenario Investment Planning Platform, and other risk assessment tools when making their selections.
In October 2019, the governor appointed a 19-member Shared Stewardship Advisory Group to identify process, policy, funding, and capacity needs for implementing Shared Stewardship; act as a voice for other interests outside the Advisory Group; advocate for Shared Stewardship to other local, state, regional and national groups; and develop metrics of success. This group is also responsible for stakeholder identification and outreach and will build upon successful collaboratives already in place. During their first meeting the Advisory Group created four teams. These teams are actively engaged in identifying core principles, opportunities, performance metrics and communication needs. On April 14, Governor Little, the Idaho Department of Lands, and other state and Forest Service regional leaders presented and engaged with the Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership and the state’s 10 forest collaboratives in a state-wide virtual conference.
The Idaho Department of Lands and the Forest Service have shared the costs of hiring two Shared Stewardship coordinators, one for each of Idaho’s two priority areas. In addition, the Idaho Department of lands will hire a state coordinator, and the Forest Service Intermountain Region has hired a regional Shared Stewardship coordinator. The Idaho Department of lands and the Natural Resource Conservation Service are also considering sharing the costs of a Shared Stewardship coordinator.
Implementation of Shared Stewardship is already occurring in Idaho. The state and Forest Service have identified “focal areas” in the northern and southern priority landscapes where they have agreed to focus their initial Shared Stewardship investments. The Idaho Department of Lands and Forest Service plan to use all tools available, including Good Neighbor Authority and Cooperative Forestry grants to conduct work on both federal and non-federal lands.
In addition, Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and Western States Fire Manager grant applications will be reviewed to align with Shared Stewardship priorities. Idaho’s Forest Stewardship Program areas will be reviewed to ensure alignment with Shared Stewardship priority landscapes, and Forest Service regional staff will work to improve consistency between the Northern and Intermountain Regional timber and vegetation management plans.