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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Interior secretary seeks wildfire strategy that protects habitat

Keith Ridler Associated Press

BOISE – Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is calling for a new wildfire-fighting strategy to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country that supports cattle ranching and is home to a struggling bird species.

She issued an order Tuesday seeking a “science-based” approach that safeguards the greater sage grouse while contending with fires that have been especially destructive in the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California.

The wide-ranging Western bird has been on a collision course in recent years with oil and gas, agriculture and other industries.

Jewell’s order stems at least in part from a conference this fall in Boise that brought together scientists and land managers to find collaborative ways to protect Great Basin rangelands from the plague of increasingly intense wildfires.

One change suggested by Neil Kornze, director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, was to put the protection of rangeland resources ahead of property. The protection of human life would remain the top priority.

“If we were to flip the bottom two, it would change a lot, and it would be hard,” Kornze said in closing remarks at the conference. “It would be hard to explain that to some of our urban and mixed-landscape firefighting partners.”

Jewell’s order creates a task force and sets a March 1 deadline for it to report on guidelines for the 2015 wildfire season.

Rangeland wildfires in the West have grown more massive and destructive in recent decades. Scientists say warmer and drier summers have extended the region’s wildfire seasons, which are made worse by fire-prone invasive species, particularly cheatgrass.

The recurring fires wipe out grazing areas for cattle and native plants such as sagebrush, in turn eliminating the native species that rely on them.

Since 2012, more than 2.5 million acres of sage grouse habitat has burned on BLM land, said task force member Janice Schneider, assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management. It can take decades for sagebrush to return, though non-native plants often move in first, only to burn a few years later.

Jewell’s order is an attempt to stop that cycle and protect the sagebrush steppe that is generally considered part of the iconic Western landscape.