BLM Begins Work on the Paradigm Fuel Breaks Project
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Boise - Starting in early October, crews from the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Boise District will begin work on the Paradigm Fuel Breaks project, a system of fuel breaks built along both sides of existing roads. Fuel breaks will eventually be put in place from Boise to Glenns Ferry.
Fuel breaks are buffers of reduced vegetation designed to stop the spread of wildfires. Fuel breaks also give firefighters safe and strategic corridors in which to fight fires.
This month, BLM will mow and disk in 100-200 foot buffers along roads between Interstate 84 and the Danskin Mountains (southeast of Boise). A total of 1,021 acres will be disked and 438 acres will be mowed, resulting in about 70 miles of treated roadways.
Work is scheduled to begin in October and will last for three to four weeks, depending on weather conditions. This fall’s work will be the first phase of a five- to 10-year project.
The Paradigm project area has one of the highest wildfire ignition rates in the country. Since 1980, some 650 fires have burned more than 170,000 acres in the Interstate 84 corridor between Boise and Glenns Ferry.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.