About Our Staff

names are listed in alphabetical order by last name ... click on the name to send an email

Sheldon Keafer is the Payette Lake Area Manager. A graduate of the University of Idaho with a degree in forestry, Sheldon moved to McCall in 1990 from the Clearwater Valley taking the position of Forest Area Manager. He also serves, when needed, as the Division Supervisor and Type III Incident Commander.

Chris Clark is a Resource Supervisor for forest management on endowment land in the area. Chris is responsible for planning, supervising and directing professional resource managers, along with temporary employees, to meet forest management objectives on part of the Area's 105,725 forested acreage. The Area annually prepares for harvest and administers 15 million board feet of saw logs.

Scott Corkill is our Lands Resource Supervisor. After farming and ranching on the Palouse Prairie of Idaho for many years, he joined the Department in March of 2005. Scott manages or supervises the leasing programs for range, minerals, cottage sites and commercial properties in the area. He also handles the Area's lake protection activities, noxious weed control and mined land reclamation.

Diane Green has been with the Department of Lands since 1990. In the early years of her career she worked as a Log Scaler and then proceeded on to Senior Log Scaler.  She now fills the position of Lands Resource Specialist focusing mostly on mineral leasing and reclamation. To broaden her experience, she also assists with the Navigable Waters and Range programs.

Scott Howerton joined the Department in January 2005 as a Senior Resource Specialist. He has spent the previous seven years as a forest management consultant and procurement forester in the Missouri Ozarks. He also had eight years of service with the U. S. Forest Service, mainly right here on the Payette National Forest. Scott will be managing approximately 35,000 acres of endowment land near Council, Idaho. His duties will include preparing and administering timber sales, road projects and forest improvement projects.

Savilla Kiely is our Administrative Assistant. Savilla coordinates daily schedules and keeps the front office running smoothly. When not taking care of her administrative duties, Savilla helps in expanded dispatch with the Payette National Forest and with the local Type III team in the Finance Section.

John Lillehaug is the Area's Private Forestry Specialist. John administers the Forest Practices Act for private logging operations from White Bird to Weiser. He also provides technical assistance to private land operations regarding management of their forest lands. This assistance may include management plans, timber harvesting methods, timber stand improvement projects (pre-commercial thinning and tree planting), hazardous fuel treatment or insect and disease identification. John has been with the Payette Lake area since 1984. He serves as Logistic Section Chief on a Type II Incident Management team as well as assisting the local Type III team.

Mike Payne is a Resource Supervisor for forest management. A graduate from the University of Montana, he has been with the Department full time since 1994. Mike is responsible for the supervision of professional resource managers and up to six temporary employees. He reviews and sells timber sales that make up a part of the Area's annual cut.

Chris Vetter is one of three state lands foresters on the Area. A Senior Resource Specialist on the Payette Lakes Area since 1989, Chris manages the state's nearly 28,000 acres of forest lands from Donnelly to Smith's Ferry and West Mountain to East Mountain. Most of her time is spent designing and administering the timber sales that provide income to the state's endowment funds.

Howard Wright started his career with IDL as a Resource Specialist in September 2001. Howard came to us from Virginia where he worked for seven years with the Virginia Department of Forestry as an area forester, serving private landowners. Howard's unit of management is endowment lands surrounding the town site of McCall. This is probably the most political and controversial unit to manage due to the sensitivity of the lake and the recreational activities that are connected with McCall.