Sawtooth National Recreation Area Project

ESPRI organized and facilitated a community informational exchange including informational posters and a public survey to gather input from the public on hazardous fuels reduction priorities which the Forest Service will utilize to determine priority sites for action and to evaluate land management policies within the national recreation area.

The Sawtooth National Recreation Area is experiencing an outbreak of mountain pine beetles attacking lodgepole pines. As a result, many trees in the forest are dying and turning red. Wildfires in the western United States in recent years has focused attention on forest health and wildfire risk. The Coalition for the Prevention of Catastrophic Wildfire in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and several other organizations and individuals have contacted the Sawtooth National Forest about the concern of increased fire risk. The Forest Service has implemented a number of efforts to reduce fire risk. In addtion, the Forest Service has requested ESPRI's assistance for several tasks.

photo of mountains
Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho.
The discolored pines show the effects of mountain pine beetles

The Sawtooth National Forest has requested to utilize the services of the Environmental Science and Public Policy Research Institute (ESPRI) to assist with organizing and facilitating a public educational forum to discuss wildfire risk and mountain pine beetle activity within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA), and develop a strategy for future action.

The scope of work will include:

  1. Organize and facilitate initial gathering/summit to be held in Stanley prior to end of July. A number of dates have been considered. Our hope is to complete by July 17. ESPRI role would be to work with SNRA to develop agenda, participant list, and proposed outcomes. ESPRI would make contact with all participants, facilitate the gathering, and document the results.
  2. Provide written report summarizing results of initial gathering.
  3. Participate in tabletop exercise and planning with local country and community EMS, scheduled for June 25th in Stanley. This will be an opportunity to interact with many of the “key” community members.
  4. Organize and facilitate a public open house/meeting in Stanley. Such a public meeting could be held in association with the “summit.”
  5. Assist SNRA and Forest Staff in development of a public education/awareness newsletter/newspaper/brochure, describing the situation in Sawtooth Valley. Such a product to be available to public by end of July.
  6. Continue to stay involved throughout the planning process. There may be a need for additional community based meetings. The SNRA may request additional facilitation skills.

ESPRI hosted a SNRA Exchange on Monday, July 19th at the Stanley Community Center. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a common understanding of the mountain pine beetle epidemic and lodgepole pine ecology, SNRA Fire History, actions to date, and methods available to reduce wildfire risk. A copy of the agenda is available in PDF format.

Presentations and Posters

The Crown Fire Cycle: History Will Repeat, a paper by Robert W. Mutch delivered at the Sawtooth Workshop (PDF)

Wildfire, Bugs, and You An Informational Brochure (PDF)

Note: all the following require Powerpoint to view



This page last reviewed July 2004