In late September 2024, smoke poured across Idaho's remote Owyhee County as at least 20 separate fires broke out near Josephine Creek Ranch. A state investigation by the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) later found that Steve Boren, who manages the ranch, set those fires himself — without the burn permit required by law, and during a period when state officials had put a hold on all burning because of dangerously dry conditions.

That afternoon, Steve Boren told fire dispatchers, "All is good. The fires stayed on private land," according to the IDL investigation. But the fires he set actually burned on land that the state of Idaho owns and rents out to the ranch's operating company for cattle grazing — not the private land he claimed. When investigators asked about the missing permit, he said it was "a mistake," according to the department's report. Containing the resulting 5,600-acre wildfire cost taxpayers close to $950,000.

Michael Boren — a tech industry multimillionaire whom President Trump appointed to a post overseeing the U.S. Forest Service — holds a financial stake in the ranch, according to his 2026 disclosure. When land tied to a federal land-management official is burned without a permit and dispatchers are told a fire is contained to private ground when it isn't, taxpayers pay the price and public land bears the damage.

The Idaho Department of Lands and the U.S. Department of Agriculture should hold Josephine Creek Ranch Inc. and its managers fully accountable — recovering the full cost of containment and reviewing whether Michael Boren's ties to the ranch created a conflict of interest in his federal role.

Sign the petition to demand real accountability for the Josephine Creek Ranch wildfire — before unpermitted burns like this one cost the public even more.