Success Regions 1 & 4, State and Private Forestry

NOVEMBER 2011

Much of the history of the

Silver Valley in northern Idaho’s Silver Valley Idaho is tied to minerals and forests. Up until about 30 years ago, mining, smelting, and A wide array of partners across Shoshone County are working to timber harvest were improve forest health, reduce wildfire threat, and rebuild the local mainstays of the area’s economy through biomass utilization in Idaho’s Silver Valley via the economy. Shoshone Forest Health Collaborative and other efforts. The closure of many mines and smelters, the declaration of a Super Fund within the county. They also wanted to bring back jobs in the county where site around the former Bunker Hill smelter, and the employment had steadily decreased with the decline of mining and timber decrease in timber harvest harvest. They knew the forests needed from nearby national care, and they saw the opportunity to forests has led local elected use the forest products from forest officials to search for a new health and fuels treatments to help economic foundation for rebuild the economic base in their their communities. communities.

Many of the enterprises One of the first steps occurred in 2009 officials are pursuing are when the commissioners convened 100 years after the forest fires of 1910 linked back to the history of forest health experts, biologists, burned 660,000 acres of forest in mining and forestry in the engineers, and interested citizens and Shoshone County and devastated the valley. organizations to a forest restoration and communities of Wallace, Kellogg, Osburn, biomass roundtable to discuss ecologic and Murray, Shoshone County is now the conditions of the areas’ forest and hub of local collaborative effort focused potential to build an energy producing

on improving forest health and reducing biomass facility. wildfire threat. The Shoshone Forest Health The third objective of the Shoshone Forest Collaborative was formed from that

Health Collaborative is to support the use meeting. The collaborative has two Von Helmuth of the biomass that is product of the working groups: the forest health group, US Forest Service forest health and fuels reduction projects. which focuses on identifying and Forest Health Protection developing projects to promote forest Coeur d’Alene Field Office The Shoshone County commissioners wanted to see healthy forests throughout health and reduce wildfire threats and Coeur d’Alene, ID the biomass working group, which the county. They started the discussion Office: 208-765-7342 focuses on economic development and by asking what could be done to improve [email protected] forest health on public and private lands biomass utilization.

Success Regions 1 & 4, State and Private Forestry NOVEMBER 2011

To help private forest landowners in funding sources to help further the residents to thin and prune trees on the Silver Valley plan and implement goals and projects of the the reforestation area and to projects to promote forest health and collaborative. The US Department of establish fuel breaks around 12 biomass utilization, the University of Energy awarded the County a grant communities surrounded by forests. Idaho Forestry Extension conducted to begin quantifying the potential A second S&PF Recovery Act grant workshops to teach landowners sustainable supply of biomass from awarded $1 million to the Idaho about thinning and pruning trees. private lands within the county. Department of Agriculture to work with Shoshone County to conduct The Idaho Forest Owners Association A concerted effort in the late 1970s to additional fuels reduction projects, hosted a field day for forest owners re-forest 5000 acres of bare slopes including treating noxious weeds. which featured demonstrations to surrounding the Bunker Hill smelter help landowners plan and implement has been a great success, so Mary Fritz, Idaho Department of sound forestry practices on their successful that it is now time to thin Lands says “Using partnerships to land. Local businesses, elected the densely growing stands of white accomplish their goals, Shoshone officials, entrepreneurs and others and ponderosa pine. The effort to County is reducing wildfire threats involved in community development maintain the health of those forests is and improving forest health.” participated in the Small Scale Energy benefitting from a $1.8 million from Forest Biomass Workshop. Recovery Act grant from the Forest Together, communities throughout Service’s State and Private Forestry the Silver Valley remain focused on A forest stewardship project is being to the Idaho Department of Lands. ensuring sustainable and healthy developed by the forest health group That grant is funding a forest health forests, providing jobs through to protect the city of Mullan from assessment to help prioritize the stewardship and private contracts, wildfire threats. Shoshone County is forest areas to be treated. The and developing local wood products capitalizing on many different project is employing crews of local and energy from biomass.