Fire season having less impact, cost on state lands this year
This year’s fire season has burned 113,547 acres in Idaho to date, the state Land Board heard today, but just 575 acres of that was on state endowment land or in Idaho Department of Lands protection areas. That compares to a 20-year average of 4,256 acres by this point. State spending for firefighting so far this year is $6.2 million, of which $2.1 million is reimbursable from other agencies, for a net cost of $4.1 million. Last year at this time, the state’s costs were at $15.3 million.
The difference this year, state Forester David Groeschl told the Land Board, is that northern Idaho forests aren’t as dry as they were last year. “So far this fire season we’ve had some cooler temperatures, more moisture, especially in northern Idaho, where last year we were much hotter and drier,” Groeschl said. “Things are starting to heat up and dry out, so things can change fairly rapidly, but so far we’ve been doing very well compared to last year.”
The biggest fire of concern right now, he said, is the Pioneer Fire, which is on Forest Service jurisdiction in the Boise National Forest. That fire is around 76,000 acres and 50 percent contained, he said, with 1,800 firefighters working on it. It continues to burn to the north, he said. “It will likely be burning in the interior until we get some season-ending event, either snow or rain.”