ICYMI: Trees on Idaho 55 look like they're dying. One fell & killed a teen. What's the cause?

ICYMI 2023
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If you’ve driven between Boise and McCall along Idaho 55, you might have noticed that a large number of pine trees along the roadway appear dead or dying.

Now, a teenager is dead after an ailing tree fell during a wind storm.

Colton Jones died June 7th when a tree along Idaho 55 north of Horseshoe Bend hit the car he was riding in with his grandmother.  Jones was an 8th grader at Payette Lakes Middle School in McCall, according to his obituary.

Boise County Sheriff Scott Turner told BoiseDev that the tree that fell on the car was half dead on the top. It happened just north of Horseshoe Bend.

The Idaho Transportation Department said the tree that fell during the storm was “within 30 feet of the edge of the pavement, which we consider to be our right of way,” and said the tree was on an easement with the Boise National Forest.

Last summer, KTVB’s The 208 program did a segment on the issue of the visibly ailing trees along the highway. At the end of the report, anchor Brian Holmes said John Wallace with the Boise National Forest told him that the trees along 55 are “still pretty solid for at least another year, not in any danger of falling over onto cars or anything like that.”

But in the case of the tree that hit the car carrying Jones, it fell less than a year after the KTVB report. Wallace, the Emmett District Ranger for the Boise National Forest, told BoiseDev this particular Ponderosa Pine is different from many of the others.

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“The tree that fell was not affected by the current issues we have out there,” Wallace said. “That tree had no needles on it whatsoever. That tree had been dead at least two to three years in my opinion.”

Wallace said that ITD is responsible for this particular tree.

“Even though the land is managed by the forest service or Bureau of Land Management, the transportation department has the right to manage  — the responsibility.”

ITD said it partners with the USFS on tree removal.

This week, less than a month after Jones’ death, a logging operation has started along the corridor. ITD tells BoiseDev it does these operations every year.

“ITD annually partners with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management for tree assessment and removal, by providing highway traffic control operations,” former ITD spokesperson Brian Rick told BoiseDev last week. Rick is no longer with the department. “This year, ITD has also initiated a contract to help the Forest Service and BLM in their tree removal operations between Gardena and Banks.”

BoiseDev asked Wallace if the logging action underway this week was sped up or done because of Jones’ death.

“I have no comment to that.”

Wallace said discussions have been ongoing about cleaning up dead trees. But it didn’t happen in time to clear the tree that ultimately killed Jones.

“(We’ve been in) discussion with ITD since 2022 trying to coordinate something – and it’s just unfortunate did happen before we could take management action,” he said.

The logging operation started earlier this week. A vague message on ITD’s website said “minor operations” were underway, but didn’t specify what. Social media users said delays of up to an hour took place yesterday due to the logging.

After BoiseDev asked questions about the logging operation, and after the operation started, the agency put out a news release about the logging operation.

Senator Rick Just serves on the Idaho Senate’s transportation committee.

He said he was at an open house with elected officials for ITD District Three just a few days after Jones’ death. A number of ITD staff gathered with elected officials, mayors and others.

“(ITD officials) were quite emotional about it,” Just said. “We’ve got to get someone up there to take care of those trees.”

Why are so many trees dying?

So why do so many trees look like they are dead or dying? The number of trees that look like they are in poor shape is striking. While you’ll notice orange-colored pine trees throughout the forested hillsides, there is a significant concentration of dead trees right along the roadway – particularly on the side closest to the Payette River. In some sections, every tree is orange in color. On a recent survey of the area by BoiseDev, the problem extends for miles, from Horseshoe Bend northward.

Wallace said recent trips with forest health staff to the area — including in June, indicate a needle blight may be impacting the trees, along with other factors.

“Tress usually carry three years of needle growth. In the fall, they shed year three needles, and in the spring the start year one again, so it’s a continuous cycle.”

The trees are a bit like a three-year high school. Needles start as sophomores, fresh and new in their first year. The next season, they’re juniors, in the prime of their high school career. Then, they’re seniors, and at the end of that year – they graduate, so to speak, and fall off the tree.

But Wallace says Blight is impacting those second-year needles.

“What you saw out there… this fall and spring, was the year three needles that were dead and have since fallen off, and now the year two needles are falling off.”

But, he said there’s some hope.

“Year one needles are turning green.”

He said the forest health team thinks that moist, wet and humid environments along river beds in recent years are causing the issue.

“If we get a drier spring, with less humidity, those trees should recover. Just because they have the needle blight – they aren’t a dying tree or a hazard.”

Both Wallace and ITD said there are a number of factors at play.

“There are many variables that impact trees adjacent to our state road system and beyond, including drought, fire, insects, soil salinity, rainfall, disease, density of the trees, weather and other naturally occurring phenomenon,” Rick said.

Wallace said the suspected blight can amplify the other issues.

“It stresses the trees to the point that other outside influences like beetles, like drought, like the emissions from the vehicles, like the marginal habitat they are living in (makes them) susceptible to other things.”

Many of the orange pine trees are on the downslope side of the road — the side closest to the Payette River. Trees on the other side — the upslope side — don’t seem to be struggling as much. If issues like vehicle emissions, rain, beetles or drought are the cause — why are trees struggling more on one side of the road than the other?

“The cause or them being on the downhill side – I don’t have an answer for that. I don’t… it’s out of my expertise,” Wallace said.

Salt products?

Neither Wallace nor ITD brought up road deicing agents unprompted. But social media is filled with people speculating it’s the salt placed on the roadway to mitigate icy conditions for drivers.

Sen. Just echoed some of what has been floating around social media.

“It seems to be just right along the river on the downslope from the highway,” he said. “It sounded suspicious to me. What I’m hearing is people are suspicious of the change in road salt.”

Last winter, ITD said it moved to a new product informally known as blue salt on Idaho 55 from Horseshoe Bend to Paddy Flat Rd., according to the Star News of McCall. That product, which is called IceKicker from Utah company Saltworx, was first used in January of 2022.

The product is still salt — but a propriety blend mixed with a blue color. The company claims the product is less corrosive than typical road salt and melts ice and snow faster.

According to its product data sheet, IceKicker is 97% sodium chloride — better known as salt. It also includes half a percent each of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium chloride.

ITD said it “understands the impact our winter maintenance activities had on SH-55 trees was likely very low.”

Rick said the agency worked to contain costs, make sure the road is safe, and improve road-clearing techniques.

“The goal was achieved to reduce the amount of salt used by one-third and keep safety for winter travelers a priority, while reducing potential roadside impacts,” he said.

A national research project called Clear Roads is looking at so-called enhanced salts. Rick said the project is underway, but not yet complete, but that the agency is monitoring the work.

Wallace said salt could be one factor in the mix, however.

“It’s a contributing factor. I take forest health folks’ word if they think… it’s a combination,” Wallace said. “It’s not one thing, but when you have a multitude of things affecting things and putting stress on them, it doesn’t take much of a change to show a difference.”

Ultimately these trees are facing many stressing factors: Road salts, dry hot summers, vehicle exhaust, tree density, pathogens, and soil companions.

“There are six things here that in a perfect environment a tree could survive some of them, but when you’re in that corridor, you’re in marginal habitat — you’re looking at desert encroachment — any one thing is going to tip the pendulum.  Trees have a way of surviving — but ultimately, trees die. Sometimes we can figure out the cause, but other times we don’t.”