Murphy fire
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Idaho Statesman’s view: Politicians blow smoke when talking wildfires This editorial is about the giant Murphy range fire of 2007 and the attempt by leading Idaho politicians to say it was so hard to control because too much native vegetation had been uneaten by cows. A recent report by the BLM and other government agencies…
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This is a revised version of an earlier story. Here is the news release from the Western Watersheds Project. Rocky Barker also discusses it in his recent blog. BLM Report On The Murphy Complex Wild Fire Shows That Grazing Has Little Effect On Fire Behavior. Idaho BLM has released a long awaited Report on the…
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The land needs to rest from cattle grazing for several seasons after a range fire, but here they are on the tablelands above Jackpot, Nevada, grazing part of the Murphy burn. The sagebrush area is unburned, the rest is obviously burned. Grazing a burn weakens the newly sprouted perennial grasses — the good grasses —…
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Idaho Senate Resources & Environment committee meeting by BE. Perhaps just my feeling, but this tells us so much about the players and their priorities.
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Assistant Secretary of the Interior C. Stephen Allred has visited the area of the huge Murphy rangefire this summer. Afterwards he talked with local politicos. He announced reseeding would be 80% native seed. Fortunately a considerable portion of the area is not invaded with cheatgrass yet and doesn’t need reseeding (or so I’ve been told).…
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This is from the Magic Valley Times-News. A tale of two fires: was Ketchum treated better? Both fires had huge amount of resources poured on them, so I think this story sets up a false comparison. On one hand in the Murphy range fire, you had powerful ranchers to whom politicians bow and scrape. On…