38-401. SUPERVISION BY DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LANDS. The director of the department of lands shall have the supervision, control and management of all fire hazards created by insects, disease, other natural causes, or by any person engaged in harvesting timber, ties, logs, poles, posts, cordwood, pulpwood, or any other forest product or potential forest product upon lands within the state of Idaho for the protection of forest resources, and shall have supervision, control and management of all fire hazard reduction plans, programs and regulations of or under the forestry laws of the state of Idaho.

The supervision, control, management or reduction, or any combination thereof, of fire hazards referred to in this section and in this chapter may include or be limited to the taking of protective measures reasonably intended to prevent the injury to or the destruction of forest resources without the actual abatement of the hazard. It shall be the public policy of this state, without unnecessarily restricting the director of the department of lands, to reduce, wherever practical, fire hazards by disposal or treatment of the slash created by the harvesting of forest products, having due regard for the effective and economical overall protection of forest land and resources.

In those cases where complete disposal or treatment of the slash is not planned or where partial disposal or treatment is planned the state forest warden shall submit to the director a detailed plan of protection for each separate operation listing the proposed expenditures and the amounts collected or to be collected. The director may approve such plan if the proposed expenditures are limited to one or more of the following:

1. Acquisition of equipment needed for fire protection or reduction of fire hazards referred to in this section.

2. Construction of appropriate structures aiding in fire protection or hazard reduction.

3. Acquisition or contracting for communications or a communication system.

4. Acquisition of appropriate tools, machinery and equipment needed for fire protection or hazard reduction.

5. Payment of personnel and apportioned overhead employed by the forest protective district.

6. Road maintenance and construction in slash areas where a fire hazard exists.

The percentage of total moneys accredited to each forest protective district that may be used within the district for protective measures in lieu of actual abatement of the fire hazards shall be determined annually by the director.

History:

[38-401, added 1945, ch. 74, sec. 1, p. 108; am. 1957, ch. 183, sec. 1, p. 357; am. 1969, ch. 89, sec. 1, p. 296; am. 1974, ch. 17, sec. 12, p. 308.]