The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests and the Idaho Fish and Game are undertaking an ambitious program of work to improve fish and wildlife habitats and restore healthy forest ecosystems in areas of mutual interest. In 2020, Fish and Game was the second agency to enter into a Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) agreement with the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests following the Idaho Department of Lands. Building on a record of success, an additional 1.3 million dollars has been committed to this partnership for work focused on forest and watershed health, fuels mitigation, and improving fish and wildlife habitat.
Good Neighbor Authority authorizes forests to utilize unique capacities of Tribal, state, and local governments to achieve shared stewardship objectives. This authority allows partners to perform forest and watershed restoration work, fuels reduction, and other activities that will improve forest resilience, and directly benefit local communities and small businesses. Tara Ball, Fish and Game GNA lead said, “This is an avenue for IDFG to better collaborate with the USFS, State, County and Tribal partners to achieve forest restoration on the landscape scale. We are grateful to develop and implement projects together, and thankful to our sister agency (IDL), for leading the way.”
Planned projects include wildlife habitat and watershed improvements, fuels mitigation, large-scale vegetation management treatments, and planning support to expedite Forst Service project implementation. Since 2020, Fish and Game has provided a variety of GNA services including mechanical and hand thinning treatments, prescribed burn preparation, NEPA/NFMA support, resource surveys, access improvements, and noxious weed control. One example of work being conducted this field season includes the initiation of a 3,000 acre deciduous tree and shrub thinning project for wildlife habitat improvement and fuels mitigation, and 35 miles of access improvements and noxious weed control in the Selway River corridor.
Ball said, “We are most excited about the initiation of this project. In the spirit of building a successful GNA partnership, Fish and Game has foregone some of our priorities to support broader Forest needs. We’ve demonstrated our commitment to build a strong partnership that we hoped would support our priorities in the long term. We are starting to see this transpire with work in the Selway, South Fork, and North Fork watersheds and are excited to do good things for wildlife in areas where it matters most.”
Acting Nez Perce-Clearwater Forest Supervisor, Molly Ryan explained “Our partnership with Fish and Game has been instrumental to increasing the pace and scale of habitat improvement and fuels reduction to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfires across our Forests. This recent agreement enables us to continue work that tremendously benefits the people of North-Central Idaho, especially the hunters and anglers who cherish its landscapes and wildlife.”
Photos below illustrate the Selway project area after selective thinning. Carving early seral forest throughout mid and late successional forest provides abundant forage opportunities for wildlife while maintaining adequate cover. A mosaic of forest stand ages and structure provides a greater diversity of flora and fauna and improves overall ecosystem health and resilience.
