Southern Idaho Ranchers Face Hardship After Fire

Every day, David Drollinger is reminded of how close the Cox’s Well fire came to him.

He sees the black scorched ground less than one-quarter mile from where he has lived all summer at Frenchman’s Cabin west of Atomic City. He watches over rancher Vaughn Wood’s 500 cattle on their summer range in the Big Desert.

“I was ready to leave,” said Drollinger about the lightning-caused fire that started Aug. 27.

He changed his mind when Wood came out from Blackfoot and fire trucks from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory came to keep the ground wet around the cabin.

“I thought if the boss can stay, so can I,” Drollinger said.

Wood did not have any livestock losses from the fire.

But the fire has caused hardship for 36 ranchers who graze 6,000 cattle and 25,000 sheep on the desert in spring and fall.

They cannot graze their livestock in the burned areas for two years, according to Bureau of Land Management regulations.

“They’re trying to find private pasture,” said Tom Gooch, rangeland manager for the BLM in Idaho Falls.

To help ranchers, the BLM will propose opening Conservation Reserve Program land for ranchers next spring, Gooch said. CRP land is set aside to protect soil from erosion.

In some areas, where vegetation was not burned, the ranchers may be allowed to put some animals in spring, he said.

They may have to put up some electric fence in the spring to keep livestock off the burn, Gooch said.

There is 105 miles of fence in the burned area, Gooch said, but not all of it was destroyed. He estimated that materials to fix the fence will cost $10,000.