Before starting any forest practice, you must file a Notification of Forest Practice and, in most cases, a Certification of Slash Compliance/Fire Hazard Agreement at your local Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) office.

• The Notification of Forest Practice (Notification) is a notice to the state that a forest practice is going to be conducted.
• The Certificate of Slash Compliance/Fire Hazard Agreement (Compliance) is an assurance given to the state that fire hazard reduction or management will be performed after the forest operation.

A Notification and Compliance are required except for:

• Routine road maintenance, recreational uses, grazing by domestic livestock, cone picking, the culture or harvest of Christmas trees on lands used solely for the production of Christmas trees, or harvesting other minor forest products;
• Noncommercial cutting and removal of trees for personal use, such as firewood; and
• Clearing forestland for conversion to surface mining or dredge and placer mining operations under a reclamation plan or dredge permit.

To begin, contact and work with your local IDL Forest Practices Advisor to complete both forms.

• Forms include a signatory line for the Operator as well as the Contractor. It is important that the person taking responsibility for complying with forest practices sign on the Operator signatory line and the person taking responsibility for slash sign on the Contractor signatory line. There must be a valid signature on both signatory lines, even if one person is both the contractor and the operator. If both signatory lines are not signed, the forms will be considered invalid and held at the local IDL office until all signatory lines are completed.
• Forest practices may begin once IDL has approved the forms.
• IDL sends copies of the forms to the landowner, timber owner, and operator.
• The Notification and Compliance are valid for 1 or 2 years, depending on which operating option you have chosen.
• Upon expiration, the Notification and Compliance forms must be renewed before the practice can continue. Extensions and other changes to the forms must be made within 30 days by the person who filed the originals.
• Notification of emergency forest practices due to fire, flood, windthrow, or earthquake may be made up to 48 hours after such practices have started.

Penalties

When a forest operation is found in violation of the Rules, and the operator does not take corrective measures within a requisite period of time, IDL will take enforcement action against the operator who signed the forms. The time period allowed for correction varies according to each violation of the Rules. New forms will not be accepted by IDL until all outstanding violations are resolved. Violation of the Rules is a misdemeanor, and operators with repeated violations may be required to post a bond. IDL can take civil action to recover legal and repair costs if a violation that causes resource damage is not repaired by the operator.