If it’s not grazed to the dirt or nothing but clearcuts obviously the management is wrong
I don't know the # but It has been grazed on the boarder by the same families for my whole life. Payne's, Stanford's, Kershner's, Brasher's, Elordi's. Things looked the same to me.The only real changes I have noticed is that when Pat passed away the 06 moved some rights and possibly property to his hired hand. But it still had cows on it. I didn't see the Blacks or Simplots cows south of mud flat but the fire was stopped right at the edge of that allotment. So that doesn't really support the assumption of no cows = fire.
That combined with drought, lightning and wind, the only thing that's going to keep things from burning this year is bare ground. You can achieve that with grazing but that just ruins it a different way with a longer lasting effect. Yet to see a grazed area show any real difference than an ungrazed area under fire. Same with logging/forest management, it's really not a factor at this point, watching areas with excellent fire/fuels/timber management like Sinlahekin wildlife area explode. The only real factor at this point are where is the start and what direction/how hard is the wind blowing.
Yeah, IDFG will have to put some serious effort into cheatgrass mitigation after this summer
