11/20/17

Deadwood to get federal grant to reduce wildfire risk

Bighorn sheep seem to doing well in the 2002 Grizzly Gulch burn near Deadwood. The animals are proliferating and waiting to jump in front of a million drunken bikers set to attend the Sturgis Rally.
The city of Deadwood is one of only eight new communities across the country selected to receive technical assistance in 2018 under a national program that helps reduce the impacts from wildfires, including risks and costs. Deadwood Planning and Zoning Administrator Bob Nelson Jr. estimated that the value of the services that will be rendered free of charge to Deadwood through the program in the $30,000 to $40,000 range.
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The Black Hills National Forest is planning prescribed burning on 100,000 acres but Neiman dupes are balking.
The Timber Committee expressed concern regarding the amount of overstory mortality that has occurred in some recent prescribed burns. A concern also exists concerning the use of prescribed burning to kill pine regeneration, as any fire in the Black Hills introduces inherent risks.
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The southern Black Hills are greener and vistas more spectacular after the mountain pine beetle opened view sheds and increased water supplies. Wind Cave National Park is greenest in its history after a prescribed burn took even more invasive grasses than was planned.

However, after the 2012 White Draw Fire cheatgrass under pine between Hot Springs and Pringle looks like hell and appears ready to erupt in flames at any second.

Even though Kristi Noem voted for a bill that helps her earth hater donors like Hulett, Wyoming-based Neiman Enterprises it's unlikely the so-called "Resilient Federal Forests Act" will ever see action in the US Senate.

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