The Courier
NEWS
Tigers and Bears and Gouls, Oh My
This Saturday is the holiday we all love and dread - Halloween. Children love the opportunity to travel from one home to another gathering handfulls of treats. To entice the free flow of candy, they dress up as the most horrible things they can imagine. In some of our communities, this tradition may be modified to a Trunk or Treat where folks fill up the trunks of their cars or pickups and meet at a pre-determined location to make the annual distribution of sugar. Some of us adults love this holiday as well. It brings back nestalgic memories of past halloween celebrations. However, there is the ever preseant dread that one might run out of Treats and be faced with the possiblity of the Trick. Fortunantly, most children are not aware of that option. AND... this year has an added dread... Covid-19. Children may not be thinking much about this virus, but we adults must make adjustments (we aren’t usually the ones wearing masks). Whether you believe Covid is something to worry about... or not... we need to be mindful of those who might be concerned about contracting this disease. On a positive note... there is a silver lining to this year’s Halloween celebration. The very next day - Sunday, November 1st - the sun will magically rise in the east one hour earlier and you will be able to sleep in. The trade off is the sun will disappear one hour earlier than normal in the evening, and many of you will be driving home in the dark for the rest of the year. How does this DayLight magic work? Since most of us get our time from our cell phone, the one hour change is automatic (you don’t have to do a thing). For the rest of us, you’ll have to set your clock(s) back one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning (or the night before).
State Fire Burn Permits No Longer Required
As of October 21st, State burn permits from the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) are no longer required for burning activities outside of city limits. A burn permit from IDL is required for any burning (excluding recreational campfires) outside of city limits during closed fire season, from May 10 through October 20 annually. While state permits will not be required after the 21st, local fire departments, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and/or tribal authorities should be contacted before burning to determine if other permits are required or if local restrictions are in place. Humans, not lightning, caused nearly 80% of the wildfires this year on lands protected by the Idaho Department of Lands, accounting for more than 91% of the acres burned. Many of these fires were cont. page 6... preventable as they were ignited by escaped debris burning and campfires.
News from the Heart of Idaho Camas • Lincoln • Gooding
October 28, 2020
Vol 44 Num 44
Christmas Tree Permits
The Holidays are fast approaching and permits for cutting Christmas trees for personal, family use on the Sawtooth National Forest will be available beginning Friday, November 15, 2020 and will be valid until December 31, 2020. The cost of this year’s permit is $10. This permit will allow a family to choose and cut one tree up to 20 feet tall. There is a limit of one tree per family or organization. Permits will be available at the following locations throughout the Sawtooth National Forest and surrounding areas: Fairfield Area Camas Creek Country Store Twin Falls Area Rock Creek General Store - Hansen Quick Stop & Go Burley Area Minidoka Ranger District Office - Cal Ranch Store Ketchum Area Ketchum Ranger District Office - Sawtooth NRA Hdqtrs LL Green Hardware in Hailey Sawtooth Wood Products in Bellevue Stanley Area Stanley Ranger Station - Lower Stanley Country Store In addition, the USDA Forest Service is modernizing its approach to selling Christmas Tree permits and making them available to purchase through Recreation.gov beginning October 15. There is an additional $2.50 processing fee when purchasing a permit on recreation.gov. The Forest Service moved permit sales to Recreation.gov as an added convenience and to provide an alternative to in-person transactions at offices where staffing may be limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recreation. gov is a one-stop online resource to plan trips, share information and make reservations at more than 103,000 public lands locations nationwide. Depending on the specific area where people choose to cut their trees, a variety of trees are available. These include lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Douglas-fir and pinyon pine. “We strongly recommend that people check with the Forest Service office closest to the area where they plan to cut their tree,” said Julie Thomas, Public Affairs Officer. “Conditions on-theground vary greatly from area to... continued on page 6...