Boise State faculty, students and staff participated in the sixth annual John Freemuth Student Congress in Las Vegas, Nevada, in October. The biennial program recruits 25 students from around the country to spend a week learning about specific public lands issues and potential career pathways. It is organized by a partnership between the Andrus Center for Public Policy, Public Lands Foundation and the National Association of Forest Service Retirees.
Participants toured public land-based solar facilities in the Las Vegas area and learned from working agency practitioners, Tribal leaders and private developers. Grants from the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service contributed more than $80,000 to pay for the conference and a suite of volunteers contributed more than 500 hours of volunteer expertise. The students, recruited from 19 different universities across the country, spent the week designing policy recommendations for the agencies which they will deliver to agency headquarters in spring 2025.
Boise State students Yasaman Jafari and Sierra Santosuosso, faculty members Emily Wakild, Stephanie Lenhart and Sophia Borgias, and Andrus Center staff member Lindsay Virgin were in attendance.