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>> NARRATOR: Between June 6th and July 16th, 2012, more than 132,000 acres of sagebrush-steppe
across southern Idaho were consumed by wild land fire.
The complex ecological relationship between sagebrush and wild land fire is in the spotlight
this year, as the BLM works to keep the Greater sage-grouse off the list of Threatened and
Endangered species.
Conserving remaining sage-grouse habitat, the agency believes, is the way to conserve
the species - and the key to continuing to manage sage-lands for multiple-use.
Identifying intact habitat is the first step in conserving it.
>> KLOTT: The area's a great area for sage-grouse because there's a huge diversity of plants
here - a lot of forms, or flowering plants - there's probably 20 to 30 species just in
this little area, 3 kinds of sagebrush - just great habitat for sage-grouse, the diversity
of plants support a wide variety of insects that are important for sage-grouse.
>> NARRATOR: Nearly three-quarters of the prime sagebrush habitat lost in Idaho so far
this year burned in just nine days in two large fires. Restoring sagebrush can take
much longer.
>> HILTY: With larger and larger fires, the potential for natural dispersal has decreased
exponentially. It's gotten to the place where it just plain doesn't come back naturally
unless you're in higher elevations where you have intermittent unburned communities.
>> NARRATOR: Even before a fire is fully contained, interdisciplinary teams of resource specialists
begin planning how to treat and restore burned areas.
>> HILTY: The challenge that faces the ID Team is to look at the important resources,
look at the condition, determine what absolutely needs assistance to meet objectives for managing
a healthy resource and then to put the puzzle together to figure out how those treatments
will be places on the ground in a way that makes ecological sense and financial sense.
>> NARRATOR: Re-seeding or re-planting with native vegetation is the standard treatment
- but with some areas re-burning at much shorter intervals, slow-growing plants like sagebrush
may not have time to re-establish or grow tall enough to serve as habitat before the
next fire.
For some areas that have burned this year, the BLM will explore additional techniques
for enhanced, long-term protection of public lands and the resources they hold.