BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Sawtooth Valley Wildland Fire Collaborative will hold two days of informational sessions and panel discussions reflecting on the 2024 wildfire season in the Sawtooth Valley and exploring ways future wildfires can be mitigated.

The event, open to the public, will be held May 29 at Luther Heights Bible Camp near Stanley and on May 30 at the Stanley Community Building.

It will include a panel discussion examining the 2024 fire season and a Q&A with Custer County commissioners, the sheriff and emergency manager. Topics to be discussed include fire mitigation in Blaine and Custer counties, fire ecology and post-fire recovery and Wildfire 101, or “When Lightning Strikes.”

The 2024 fire season was particularly bad around Stanley with the Bench Lakes Fire threatening Redfish Lake Lodge and the Wapiti Fire threatening Stanley and its suburbs.

Agenda (subject to change):

May 29, 2025 | Luther Heights Bible Camp | 10:00 - 4:00

10:00   Fire Collaborative updates

10:30   Fire mitigation in Custer and Blaine Counties

11:00   Idaho Fish and Game

11:20   Public input session

12:30   Lunch provided

1:30     Structural hardening and defensible space

2:30     Smiley Creek field trip: fire ecology and post-fire recovery

May 30, 2025 | Stanley Community Building | 10:00 - 4:00

10:00   Mental health after Wapiti Fire

10:40   Salmon River Electric Cooperative

11:00   When lightning strikes: Wildfires 101

11:30   Q&A with Custer County

12:00   Lunch provided

12:45   2024 fire season: panel discussion

3:00     Stanley Lake field trip

RSVP at https://sawtoothfirecollab.org/