Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Idaho's two senior Washington figures, U.S. Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo, want us to believe the Murphy Complex fire that turned 653,000 acres southwest of Twin Falls into ashes might not have been prevented had the Bureau of Land Management abandoned some restrictions and allowed more cattle loose to graze.
Beware of such talk. This is merely this year's wrinkle in the ages-old battle of politicians to pressure the BLM into opening more public lands to cattle grazing, regardless of the negative environmental impact on vegetation and wildlife. Behind this talk also is the real agenda of Western politicians and cattlemen—they want Washington to cede more control of federal lands to states where local officials are an easier touch for relaxing rules.
Ironically, the Otter-Craig-Crapo formula could lead to overgrazing, which would result in the spread of alien plants such as cheat grass, thereby providing increased fuel for fires on rangelands. Back to square one.
Whatever the real, rather than politically imagined, faults of BLM, the agency is bedeviled by a far different and more complex fire menace than in the past.
Idaho's unprecedented fires stem from years of unrelieved drought that have parched the land. And notwithstanding the Bush administration's skepticism about global warming, the phenomenon does exist, and higher temperatures are contributing to the combustibility of rangeland grasses. The Murphy fire also was helped along by 2,600 documented lightning strikes.
Today's fire seasons are beyond anything BLM and other agencies could anticipate.
In 1991, for example, 13 percent of the U.S. Forest Service's budget was for firefighting. For 2008, it's soared to 45 percent.
In 2006, the BLM spent $424 million on fire fighting—and $215 million already this year before the worst fire months have arrived.
If Otter, Craig and Crapo truly want to help BLM spare the land from fires, and not grandstand for the folks at home, they should do a rain dance, not criticize the agency for being unable to outwit Mother Nature's unpredictable ways.
