Healthy Forests Initiative - Fact Sheet

Making A Difference
Caribou - Targhee National Forest - Idaho

Before fuels treatment in Pocatello, Idaho

The Westside Ranger District of the Caribou –Targhee National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, Pocatello Field Office developed an environmental assessment to analyze a proposed fuels management project in and adjacent to the community of Pocatello, Idaho. The project area is located south of Interstate 15 and stretches roughly from Gibson Jack on the west to Inkom on the east. Approximately 27,200 acres are contained within the project analysis area – a mixture of private, federal, state, city and county lands. The project started in October 2003 and should be completed in 2012. The Westside Ranger District is working with the Gateway Interagency Fire Front (GIFF) to coordinate fuel reduction work with the local communities.

Prescribed fire treatment in mountain brush and juniper

The Portneuf Westbench was one of ten environmental assessment pilot projects under the President's Healthy Forests Initiative, announced in August 2002. The goals for this project include:

• Reduce the potential for loss of life, property, and natural resources to wildfires and enhance firefighter safety in the project area.
• Reduce wildfire suppression costs.
• Protect the long-term scenic quality of the area.
• Provide education and incentives for cooperative hazardous fuel management projects on private, county, state, and federal lands in the Pocatello Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) area.
• Meet natural resource goals and objectives described in the National Fire Plan, the Caribou RFP (2003), the BLM Pocatello RMP (1988), and the GIFF Charter.
  

After fuels treatment. Grass and forbes resprouting

Private landowners have participated with the Forest Service to include adjacent lands in prescribed fires and mechanical fuel breaks, thus utilizing natural barriers and avoiding administrative boundaries.

For more information on the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 and the Healthy Forests Initiative, visit www.healthyforests.gov

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