Ken Lomnick, who manages IDLs private forestry program for the northern area, told the county that the agency administers the Forest Practices Act and provides technical assistance to landowners.

"When a landowner does come in to get a ... notification ... if they're gonna harvest, they come into our office and get a notification," Lomnick said, and he reported 727 active notifications in Bonner County. He said that does not mean all notifications represent active work at the same time, but reflects the number of potential harvest operations.

Lomnick said statewide audit results show roughly 95% compliance with program rules. He described the program's voluntary-compliance approach: field staff visit harvest sites to review protection zones and work with loggers and landowners to achieve compliance.

He said notable harvest volumes came from private lands last year: "October to October there was 27,000,000 harvested off of nonindustrial and industrial private lands," Lomnick said. He described private-forestry services that include insect and disease diagnosis, stewardship planning and referrals to cost-share programs administered by NRCS and other partners.

IDL staff said they provide site visits and technical guidance free to landowners, but they do not write tax plans for property-tax reductions; they will, however, refer landowners to consultants and assist those who demonstrate a longer-term management interest.