Upcoming Symposium: Breaking the Current Fire Cycle, February 1-2, 2011

Guest post by Neil Rimbey, Idaho Section


The Boise District BLM Resource Advisory Council, the Society for Range Management, the Agricultural Research Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service and others are sponsoring a Symposium on February 1-2, 2011 in Boise, Idaho. “How Can Resource Management Break the Current Fire Cycle?” is designed to identify fire, fuel and vegetation management methods appropriate for conserving high value and degraded Wyoming Sagebrush steppe habitats by reducing fire frequency. The session will be highlighted by the Keynote Address by Dr. Jim Young, author of the recent book, Cheatgrass: Fire and Forage on the Range. Jim will summarize over 40 years of research on the ecology, management and control of cheatgrass. This background information will set the stage for jumping into 5 key questions:

1. Given the opportunity to develop major, strategic fire breaks, what kinds of fuel breaks would be effective and affordable to create, maintain and persist?
2. What other kinds of fuel breaks and tools can be used most effectively in areas with frequent wildfires and areas which still maintain Wyoming sagebrush stands?
3. In light of listings of threatened or endangered species in the sagebrush steppe system, is a fuel reduction program feasible and what suitability criteria, mitigation and administrative procedures will allow for its establishment?
4. How can various fuel reduction tools be coordinated across land ownerships to facilitate the next step of rangeland rehabilitation?
5. What monitoring and management protocols can be established to ensure that we achieve short-, intermediate- and long-term goals associated with fuel management, decreasing fire frequency and rangeland rehabilitation?

These questions will be explored by panels of experts and practitioners associated with each area. They will involve active audience participation through questions and dialog.

The session will be held at the Washington Group International Conference facility (800 Park Blvd.) in the heart of downtown Boise. More information is available via the following website:
http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/res/resource_advisory/boise/boise_district_rac.html

Additional questions? Contact Neil Rimbey (208-454-6566 or nrimbey@uidaho.edu), or Ted Hoffman (208-587-6374 or brokeno@mindspring.com )

International Mountain Section Meeting

 
The International Mountain section meeting was held near Nanton, Alberta July 15-17.  Members and families came from both Alberta and Montana to attend an action-packed IMS section meeting.

We began with a thorough historical account of ranching in the area.  Following the Thursday evening barbecue, our speakers started off with when the continental plates collided and narrated through to the past three years.  It was fun to hear about the ice age, homesteading, and current issues and trends, all in one evening.

The Friday tour was loaded with site visits and interesting information.  We toured several oil well reclamation sites.  Local restoration projects are geared toward matching reclaimed lands with the surrounding landscape.  In particular, projects focus on planting rough and Idaho fescue near well sites and associated monitoring efforts.  We learned about innovative approaches to drilling as well, including padded well sites.

A highlight was the tour of the Waldron Grazing Cooperative Association, where small ranchers can buy shares to supplement their grazing operations.  The Co-op demonstrated their solar water pump and fescue seed harvesting equipment (click to watch clips of the seed harvester in action online: video 1 and video 2).  My personal favorite was the targeted grazing demonstration, where the Co-op is using sheep to graze leafy spurge.  Cattle will not graze leafy spurge, and sheep need to acquire a taste for the invasive plant - according to the ranch manager, the key to getting sheep to graze it, is to let them regulate themselves so they do not burn their throats.  Thus far they have been having good success with their targeted grazing efforts, are breeding the sheep for meat, and are saving $15,000 each year on spray costs!  In the words of the ranch manager, they have "turned spurge from a liability into an asset".

Other highlights included the Vandervalk's spectacular home cooking for each meal, and activities and prizes for the kids who accompanied the tour.

Thanks to the International Mountain Section for their hospitality and a great learning experience!