Fires hitting Idaho hard
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September 25, 2012 |
By Senator Mike Crapo
This year, Idaho has had more than 600 fires on
federal land. More than 100 of these fires have
burned in excess of 100 acres. As we take stock
of where we go from here, we must continue to
work to ensure that we are prepared for the
worst, equipped with the best methods to deal
with catastrophic fires and trained for
mitigating the consequences of fires.
The impacts of the fires have been hard felt in
Idaho communities. The tragic loss of Anne
Veseth, a student from Moscow who was fighting a
wildfire near Orofino, was a reminder of the
dangerous service of fire crews working to keep
us safe. In addition to the risk to human lives
and health, there have been other impacts.
Homes, property, livestock and pets have been
lost. There has been the stress associated with
the uncertainty of evacuations and lost tourism
revenue. There are also longer term effects like
the loss or impairment of important wildlife
habitat, the release of particulate matter into
the atmosphere, the impact to watershed
functions or water supplies and even significant
releases of carbon dioxide that in bad fire
years can be nearly a quarter of total
emissions.
Additionally, catastrophic fires erode the
resources necessary for prevention. This year,
an estimated more than $90 million has been
spent fighting fires in Idaho, and this cost
will likely grow before the year is over. The
Trinity Ridge fire has burned more than 140,000
acres and cost $27.4 million. The Mustang
Complex fire that has burned more than 280,000
acres has required 960 personnel, including 14
hand crews, 76 engines, 5 bulldozers and 3
helicopters. Estimates have the fire costing
$17.5 million so far.
The dedication and exceptional efforts of the
fire crews near the front lines of Idaho’s fires
are extraordinary. The organization and
communication from the National Interagency Fire
Center, local governments, fire departments and
law enforcement and the level of calm in the
face of fires bearing down on communities make
all the difference. But, we can take steps to
make the fire crews and response coordinators’
jobs less difficult and dangerous. Working
together to ensure effective land management;
reducing fuel loads through grazing and other
fire management tools; and collaborative efforts
to reduce the threat of large-scale wildfire are
essential steps.
Throughout my time in Congress, I have supported
legislation that provides land managers with
more tools to counter unhealthy conditions in
our nation’s forests and other lands to reduce
the threat of fires. For example, I helped enact
the Healthy Forest Restoration Act and the
Forest Landscape Restoration Act to expedite
forest management decisions to enable fuels
reduction, promote landscape-wide forest
restoration projects, encourage collaborative
efforts that create new forest jobs and
prioritize energy and value-added products from
timber harvest. Partnerships between federal,
state and local stakeholders are essential to
productive outcomes and fire prevention on
public lands. The success of the Clearwater
Basin Collaborative with the Selway/Bitterroot
landscape restoration project is an example of
the effectiveness of collaborative efforts in
natural resources management. This project
reduced hazardous fuels near homes; decreased
noxious weeds; improved trail and roads;
produced timber and biomass fuel; and supported
105 full-time and part-time jobs in Fiscal Year
2011.
Together, we can replicate these successes. In
the aftermath of this severe fire season, we
must work together to enable land managers to
reduce the fuel loads that make it possible for
the fires to burn so long and relentlessly. This
can help ensure that more of the limited funding
goes toward fire prevention rather than
resource-depleting response. |
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