Idaho Power fuel break would clear forest along Jesse Creek transmission line
Jesse Creek Transmission Line Fuel Break
U.S. Forest Service· Salmon-Challis National Forest, Salmon-Cobalt Ranger DistrictU.S. Forest Service project page ↗
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Idaho
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Advocates for the West
Works Idaho: represented Western Watersheds Project in the Jarbidge grazing litigation, winning 2004 and 2005 NEPA rulings, a 2009 injunction that grazing-as-usual must end, and a 2011 order closing 17 allotments across the 625,000-acre resource area..
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Idaho: plaintiff and co-counsel in the February 2025 lawsuit arguing federal wildlife agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to protect salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and wolverine from the mine..
- Idaho Conservation League
Works Idaho: mobilized Idahoans to file Interior Department comments defending Craters of the Moon during the 2017 national monument review, arguing shrinkage would damage the economies of Blaine, Butte, Minidoka, and Power counties..
- Western Watersheds Project
Works Idaho: has litigated BLM grazing mismanagement across 1.4 million acres of the Jarbidge and Bruneau river canyonlands since the early 2000s, winning injunctions against permit overruns and Ninth Circuit-affirmed orders requiring allotment assessments and stream protections..
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
The Forest Service would expand vegetation clearing beyond Idaho Power's existing right-of-way on Salmon-Challis National Forest.
What’s at risk
Public forest land along the Idaho Power transmission line corridor and adjacent Forest System Roads faces expanded clearing. The proposal would extend fuel reduction work outside the existing private utility right-of-way into national forest land.
If this goes through
The expanded fuel break would be established on Salmon-Challis National Forest land beyond the Idaho Power right-of-way, permanently altering vegetation in that corridor.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
6 holes in the agency’s own analysis
Make these points, in your own words
- I oppose this action as proposed, and I ask the agency to weigh the specific harms below.
- The project description says the fuel break will increase 'defensible space of the transmission line outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way,' but the notice never states the acreage, width, or linear extent of the proposed fuel break. Without these figures the public cannot assess ground disturbance, habitat loss, or erosion risk. The agency should disclose the proposed treatment area in acres and linear miles before the decision is made.
- The notice identifies the project purpose as 'Fuels management; Land management planning' but does not state which Forest Plan standards and guidelines govern the project, whether the project is consistent with the Salmon-Challis Forest Plan, or whether any plan amendment is needed. The agency should identify the applicable Forest Plan direction and confirm consistency before relying on a CE.
- The location description names four specific Forest System Roads and an Idaho Power transmission line corridor but does not disclose whether the project area overlaps with any inventoried roadless areas, wilderness study areas, or designated wilderness. Fuel-break treatments in or adjacent to such areas raise legal questions a CE cannot resolve without disclosure. The agency should map and disclose any proximity to roadless or protected areas.
- The notice mentions no consultation with Tribal governments, even though the project area is in Lemhi County, Idaho, which is within the ancestral territory of the Lemhi Shoshone and Bannock peoples. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and Executive Order 13175 require government-to-government consultation. The agency should disclose what Tribal consultation has occurred or is planned before the CE decision is finalized.
Show all 8 points from the document
- The notice does not identify what vegetation will be removed, what equipment or methods will be used, or how slash will be disposed of. A fuel break along multiple roads and a transmission line could involve mechanical treatment, prescribed fire, herbicides, or mastication, each with distinct environmental effects. The public cannot comment meaningfully without this information. The agency should disclose the treatment methods before the NEPA process closes.
- The notice states the project will expand defensible space 'outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way' but does not disclose whether Idaho Power has applied for or holds a special-use permit for the additional ground disturbed on National Forest System land, nor whether coordination with FERC-regulated transmission infrastructure is required. This is a legal prerequisite, not a minor detail. The agency should clarify the authorization basis for any treatment outside the existing right-of-way.
- Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
In the agency’s own words
To create a strategically located fuel break along the Idaho Power transmission line and Forest System Roads within the wildland-urban interface (WUI), increasing the defensible space of the transmission line outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way.
Did the agency answer?
6 issues are on this record. The agency has not published its decision document yet, so each one stays pending until the agency answers.
Issues on the record, awaiting the decision
- PendingThe location description names four specific Forest System Roads and an Idaho Power transmission line corridor but does not disclose whether the project area overlaps with any inventoried roadless are
The location description names four specific Forest System Roads and an Idaho Power transmission line corridor but does not disclose whether the project area overlaps with any inventoried roadless areas, wilderness study areas, or designated wilderness. Fuel-break treatments in or adjacent to such areas raise legal questions a CE cannot resolve without disclosure. The agency should map and disclose any proximity to roadless or protected areas.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice does not identify what vegetation will be removed, what equipment or methods will be used, or how slash will be disposed of.
The notice does not identify what vegetation will be removed, what equipment or methods will be used, or how slash will be disposed of. A fuel break along multiple roads and a transmission line could involve mechanical treatment, prescribed fire, herbicides, or mastication, each with distinct environmental effects. The public cannot comment meaningfully without this information. The agency should disclose the treatment methods before the NEPA process closes.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice states the project will expand defensible space 'outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way' but does not disclose whether Idaho Power has applied for or holds a special-use permit for the add
The notice states the project will expand defensible space 'outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way' but does not disclose whether Idaho Power has applied for or holds a special-use permit for the additional ground disturbed on National Forest System land, nor whether coordination with FERC-regulated transmission infrastructure is required. This is a legal prerequisite, not a minor detail. The agency should clarify the authorization basis for any treatment outside the existing right-of-way.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe project description says the fuel break will increase 'defensible space of the transmission line outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way,' but the notice never states the acreage, width, or linear
The project description says the fuel break will increase 'defensible space of the transmission line outside of the Idaho Power right-of-way,' but the notice never states the acreage, width, or linear extent of the proposed fuel break. Without these figures the public cannot assess ground disturbance, habitat loss, or erosion risk. The agency should disclose the proposed treatment area in acres and linear miles before the decision is made.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice identifies the project purpose as 'Fuels management; Land management planning' but does not state which Forest Plan standards and guidelines govern the project, whether the project is consi
The notice identifies the project purpose as 'Fuels management; Land management planning' but does not state which Forest Plan standards and guidelines govern the project, whether the project is consistent with the Salmon-Challis Forest Plan, or whether any plan amendment is needed. The agency should identify the applicable Forest Plan direction and confirm consistency before relying on a CE.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
- PendingThe notice mentions no consultation with Tribal governments, even though the project area is in Lemhi County, Idaho, which is within the ancestral territory of the Lemhi Shoshone and Bannock peoples.
The notice mentions no consultation with Tribal governments, even though the project area is in Lemhi County, Idaho, which is within the ancestral territory of the Lemhi Shoshone and Bannock peoples. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and Executive Order 13175 require government-to-government consultation. The agency should disclose what Tribal consultation has occurred or is planned before the CE decision is finalized.
A hole PLAN found in the agency’s own notice, quote verified against the text
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