Bluegrass Growers’ Big Burn Day Thousands Of Acres Torched, But Sandpoint Escapes Smoke

Amber, blue and gray clouds of grass-fire smoke roiled off the Rathdrum Prairie on Tuesday in the biggest field burning day of the season.

And for the first time in memory, Sandpoint wasn’t getting a speck of the plume that obliterated Coeur d’Alene’s northwestern horizon.

Winds were blowing out of the southeast, “so it’s missing us,” said Fields Cobb of the Clean Air Coalition. “It’s the first time in my experience.”

But “I’m sure they are getting clobbered over there in the west,” Cobb said.

Oldtown Mayor Brian Orr said his burg is smoky, but it’s hard to tell whether it’s coming from the Rathdrum Prairie or the Lakeview fire, on the east side of Lake Pend Oreille.

Grass growers ignited between 3,000 and 4,000 acres of stubble Tuesday, nearly four times what’s been torched on the Rathdrum Prairie the other two days of field burning so far this year. “We are 83 percent done,” said Linda Clovis of the Intermountain Grass Growers Association.

“We should be able to finish it all up in one day.”

There are about 9,100 acres of lawn and turf grass seed fields registered for burning so far this year, the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality said.

The fields are burned to get rid of stubble and reduce disease and insects. Growers say it is the only economical way to clear their fields.

The practice draws criticism because of the choking smoke from both Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Several varieties of bluegrass can be grown profitably without burning, said members of Save Our Summers.

In addition, as much as 10 percent of the acreage burned on the Rathdrum Prairie is cereal grain acreage, not grass fields, the group said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo