BLM extends comment period for Soda Fire fuel breaks
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has extended the period for public comments on the plan to build a network of fuel breaks in the Soda Fire burn area. Comments will now be accepted through June 10, 2016.
“The BLM was able to take emergency actions to address most of the immediate wildfire threats to the local communities and the Soda Fire rehabilitation treatments currently underway,” said Owyhee Field Office Manager Michelle Ryerson. “This has allowed us to give the public a little more time to thoroughly review the environmental assessment.”
The proposed fuel breaks will comprise corridors of reduced fuels alongside selected roads. The Owyhee and Malheur Field Offices will use roads for fuel breaks that provide safe access for wildland fire equipment and personnel, as well as roads that offer the best potential for protecting Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) treatments and wildlife habitat. Road maintenance will also be part of fuel break development. The BLM is analyzing a variety of methods to create fuel breaks including mechanical and chemical treatments, seedings, and targeted grazing.
The August 2015 Soda Fire burned nearly 280,000 acres of public and private lands in Idaho and Oregon, destroying property and threatening entire communities. Since last summer, the BLM has been working on an unprecedented ESR campaign in the Soda Fire burn to minimize threats to life and property resulting from the fire and to prevent further degradation of land and resources.
For more information—or to submit comments on the plans for the fuel break network—please contact the BLM’s Owyhee Field Office at (208) 896-5912. Comments may be emailed to mryerson@blm.gov or sent through the mail to 20 First Avenue West, Marsing, Idaho 83639. The environmental assessment (including maps of the proposed fuel break system) for this project can be reviewed at the BLM’s ePlanning website: http://1.usa.gov/1Wr8EGD. Comments will be accepted through June 10, 2016.
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.