Idaho businessman gets role in Trump administration overseeing agency he clashed with
President-elect Donald Trump has appointed a prominent Idaho businessman whose Sawtooth ranch airstrip has been at the center of controversy and an ongoing lawsuit to serve as Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at the Department of Agriculture.
In a news release Thursday evening, Idaho Gov. Brad Little applauded the appointment of Mike Boren, who co-founded Boise-based software company Clearwater Analytics with his brother, David.
“As a resident of Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley, Mike understands rural America,” Little said in a statement. “He will work hand in hand with President Trump to fundamentally transform how lands and fires are managed here in the West.”
The Idaho Statesman reached out to a spokesperson for Boren for comment.
The position will have Boren overseeing the U.S. Forest Service and compliance with environmental laws, like the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. It wasn’t immediately clear what experience, if any, Boren has with forestry or wildfire management, though a statement from Trump in Little’s news release said Boren volunteered with the Sawtooth Valley Rural Fire Department.
“In Idaho, we manage our lands effectively and efficiently,” Little said in his statement. “I am looking forward to watching Mike bring that same mentality to the Forest Service.”
Trump praised Boren as a “successful businessman” and noted he served as a board member for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Boren was appointed for a six-year term on the board in 2016, according to reporting from Idaho Business Review.
Sen. Jim Risch also applauded Boren’s appointment, posting on social media that “finally, an Idaho voice will be at the table when it comes to forest management.”
Boren, brother have clashed with Forest Service
Boren and his brother have been involved in separate controversies in the Sawtooths that involve the U.S. Forest Service. Boren in 2021 drew criticism for his use of a field on his ranch south of Stanley as a private airstrip. When he applied for a conditional use permit – which Custer County officials approved – public comments accused him of flouting federal regulations and violating the scenic easement terms of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, of which his ranch is a part.
Kirk Flannigan, area ranger for the SNRA, told Custer County commissioners in a statement that while Boren had not worked with the SNRA to ensure the airstrip and other developments complied with the scenic easement, Flannigan ultimately didn’t believe the development violated the easement.
In 2022, Boren filed a defamation lawsuit against several critics of the airstrip and alleged they told “reckless lies” about his compliance with federal regulations. The lawsuit was dismissed multiple times, and Boren appealed the dismissals to the Idaho Supreme Court, which last month reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to the 7th Judicial District.
David Boren sued the Forest Service in a case that he unsuccessfully tried to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court last year. David Boren’s lawsuit was over the Stanley to Redfish Lake Trail, which opened in fall 2023. Part of the trail is on the Sawtooth Ranch property David Boren purchased in 2016, at which time there was already an easement agreement between the previous property owners and the Forest Service for the route.
David Boren has alleged the Forest Service failed to conduct appropriate studies on the proposed trail route. The Department of Justice asked for a temporary restraining order against David and Michael Boren in June 2020 after one or both of the brothers flew a helicopter low over construction crews working on the trail. Crews said they were hit with debris kicked up by the helicopter’s rotors, and one witness described seeing an unidentified passenger in the aircraft making “obscene gestures.”
A judge declined to grant the restraining order but warned the Borens against further interference in the project.