BLM

The Wildland Fire Leadership Council is meeting for the first time in Boise. The national committee was created in 2002, and includes officials from different national and state firefighting agencies. They meet regularly, often not leaving Washington D.C.

Wednesday, the group is getting a chance to see the effects of wildfire in the Great Basin firsthand.

The Cherry Road Fire burned about 55 square miles in eastern Oregon, just on the other side of the Idaho border, near Homedale. The wildfire has been contained, but did significant damage to a heavily-used wild horse pasture.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials have decided to reaffirm their previous decision to close a popular hot spring near Boise. The decision to close the hot spring for five years comes after failed attempts over the last year from citizen groups to keep Skinny Dipper Hot Spring open.

For the first time, U.S. officials have sent firefighters to help battle a giant blaze in Canada that has destroyed parts of Fort McMurray in Alberta.

The National Interagency Fire Center says 100 firefighters flew out of in Boise, Idaho, on Wednesday morning and another 100 left from Missoula, Montana.

Officials say the firefighters are from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service.

Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell announced $10 million to go toward making landscapes more resilient against wildfires across the country. It’s a continuation of a directive she made last year in Boise. She made the announcement Tuesday at the National Interagency Fire Center.

Seven places identified as possible long-term replacement sites for the Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey are smack-dab in the middle of sage grouse country. Loud airport noise, roads, buildings and towers are all things that could disturb the bird, which is famously particular about its habitat.

Since Saturday, an armed group has occupied a federal complex at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. Led by Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy, the members say they are there in large part to protest federal land management policies.

So far no violence has occurred, though some of the militants have said they are willing to die for their cause.

Ann Kennedy’s bacterial compound is called ACK55, and it has been shown to cut the amount of cheatgrass in half in just a few years.

The Department of Agriculture soil scientist is getting closer to seeing her discovery registered with the EPA, and is giving state and federal land managers hope in the battle against the invasive weed. Once it gets approved, farmers can begin using it to treat cheatgrass on their land.