(Idaho Secretary of State, August 28, 2026)
It’s in your house and your furniture. It’s the stack of mail on your counter and the box your Amazon order arrived in. These are just some of the everyday wood products that begin as timber, a critical driver of Idaho’s economy, particularly in places like Lewiston. But the impact goes even further. Our forests also power our schools, and not just the pencils Idaho’s students use in the classroom.
As Secretary of State, I serve on the Idaho Land Board alongside Governor Brad Little, Attorney General Raúl Labrador, State Controller Brandon Woolf, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield. Together, we oversee nearly 2.5 million acres of state endowment land, much of which was granted to Idaho at statehood for a specific purpose: to generate revenue for public schools and other beneficiaries.
At our recent meeting, the Land Board approved a record $132.5 million distribution to Idaho’s schools, universities, and other beneficiaries, surpassing last year’s record of $117.3 million.
I had all of this on my mind during a recent visit to Lewiston, where I got to see two very different sides of Idaho’s forest products industry.
At the Idaho Forest Group Lewiston Mill, which dates back to the early 1920s, we watched timber fresh from Idaho forests make its way through the mill, where it was cut, sorted, and prepared for its next use. From there, we visited Clearwater Paper, an Idaho company with roots stretching back more than 100 years that has continued to reinvent itself.
Next time you pick up a carton of takeout food or see a product displayed in packaging at the grocery store, there’s a chance it came from Idaho. Seeing these operations firsthand, I was struck by their size and scale, but even more by how far the impact of our forests reaches.
Idaho’s forest products industry supports thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity. Our endowment lands take that impact one step further. Revenue generated from those lands goes back to our schools and other beneficiaries, while the lands themselves continue to provide opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, and recreation.
From the lumber in our homes to the packaging on our shelves to the funding for our schools, Idaho’s forests do a lot of work for all of us.
Phil McGrane
ABOUT SECRETARY PHIL McGRANE
Phil McGrane was elected Idaho’s twenty-eighth Secretary of State and took office on January 2, 2023. McGrane served as elected Clerk of Ada County from 2019-2022.McGrane holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, a juris doctorate, and a Master of Public Administration. As a fourth-generation Idahoan, Phil has dedicated his career to making elections in the state of Idaho accessible, secure and transparent.
