Interior Secretary Sally Jewell discusses wildfire strategy

Collaborating with ranchers is essential to fighting wildfires as climate change increases fire danger, U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell said Tuesday at an event in Boise.

“2015 could be a tough one,” Jewell said. “We have climate change impacting landscapes across the country.”

Jewell joined Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service officials to sign a new firefighting strategy for the Great Basin region, including Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California. It focuses on protecting the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, home to the potentially endangered sage grouse and an array of other species.  

Jewell said the new strategy makes the sagebrush steppe ecosystem the No. 1 natural resource priority in the Great Basin, while focusing on four points: Working collaboratively to reduce the size, severity and cost of rangeland fires; addressing the spread of invasive species; positioning resources for the most effective response; and focusing on protecting the life and safety of firefighters.

She praised Otter’s work to establish range fire protection associations in Idaho allowing ranchers to coordinate with wildland firefighters and be first responders to fires on or near their ranching operations.

Otter said there are five fire protection organizations representing 230 ranchers.

“Every year, we get a better report about how many fires we were able to hit and stop while they’re small,” said Otter, whom Jewell greeted warmly as an old friend. “It’s been a program that’s already started to pay huge dividends for us.”

Jewell also was joined by Mike Guerry, a rancher who leads the Three Creek Rangeland Fire Protection Association. He said the system works.

“In the beginning, there were some hesitations on both sides,” he said. “That didn’t last very long – probably the first fire.”

Jewell joined the other officials at the Jim Hall Foothills Learning Center in Boise’s foothills for the announcement; birds twittered in the distance and grasses and foliage swayed behind her.

“This is about saving this ecosystem for future generations,” Jewell said.

Jewell added that 350 species live in the sagebrush steppe ecosystem.

“And as we see the effects of climate change, we see much greater risk to these sagebrush ecosystems,” she said.