The IDL Community Forestry program recently lost one of its long time contributors and community forestry assistant. Stephen Drinkard passed away in October. Drinkard served as the North Idaho community forestry assistant for many years. In this role, Mr Drinkard assisted Idaho’s northern communities with tree ordinance development, tree management planning, and technical assistance with any tree-related projects.

Stephen was a true renaissance man from his time playing baseball in city leagues in Southern California to earning his MA in English literature from UCLA and MA in adult education from the University of Idaho. Stephen served as Sandpoint’s grant administrator from 1999 to 2012 and secured $13 of grant funding for every dollar they paid him through his years of service.

The IDL Community Forestry program owes a great debt to Mr. Drinkard for his many years of service to the program and his constant assistance to Northern Idaho cities like Sandpoint. A full dedication for Stephen can be found in the Sandpoint Reader here.