Idaho governor says federal-state program may tame wildfires

Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little says local, state and federal officials along with conservation groups and logging interests have to find common ground so that increasingly destructive wildfires in the U.S. West can be reduced.

Little on Tuesday told several hundred participants at an Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership meeting that they have the chance to make Idaho a successful example of a new federal-state program called “shared stewardship.”

Idaho signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture late last year that allows state participation in federal timber sales and restoration work like prescribed burns and tree planting on private, state and federal lands.

The Idaho Forest Restoration Partnership is tasked to find two areas in Idaho by July 1 for shared stewardship activities that could ultimately become templates for other states.