In recent weeks, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests have signed agreements with the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and Idaho County to collaborate on major restoration projects across the forests.
According to a news release, these partnerships leverage the strengths of all partners to achieve shared stewardship priorities across management boundaries through cooperative agreements, including significant work that proactively reduces the threat to forest communities and private property within the wildland-urban interface.
The primary goal of Good Neighbor Authority (GNA) is to increase the pace and scale of restoration at a watershed scale and to strengthen partnerships between state, tribal, county and federal agencies to get more done across jurisdictional boundaries.
Good Neighbor Authority was authorized in 2014, the first such partnership on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest was with Idaho Department of Lands in 2016 and IDL continues to be a leader in partnerships with the Forests. Congressional expansion of the authority in 2018 to include tribal and county level governments and the historic level of funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act have enabled the investment of over $30,000,000 in North-Central Idaho landscapes. Forest partners will utilize the funds to accomplish restoration goals via local contracts and projects that support the economy of forest communities.
