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Show HERALD DAILY B10 Sunday, September 9, 2007 Taking stock of scorched Hanford Reach Shannon Dininny THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HANFORD REACH NATIONAL MONUMENT, Wash. When wildfires raced grass and through tinder-drsagebrush on the Hanford Reach National Monument this summer, much of the worry centered on whether flames would reach radioactive waste at the neighboring Hanford nuclear reservation. Now wildlife officials are taking stock of the devastation to the charred monument itself, which stretches along stretch of the a Columbia River known for salmon runs, bird habitat and rare plant life. The No. 1 threat to this monument was fire, and No. 2 is invasive species, which follows fire," said Greg Hughes, who manages the monument for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife y g "If the endangered pygmy rabbit. "With no sagebrush in that area now, it'll be decades before we can even think about assisting with the recovery," wildlife biologist Heidi said of the tiny, we don't rehabilitate d rabbits. I Another 4,800 acres burned on the Arid Lands ft ever-shrinki- rehabilitation. According to Bill Fish and Wildlife's fire management specialist at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, the Department of Interior's annual budget for such work is about $24.5 million. That money must be shared among all its agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service. Last year was the first time there was more work than money to go around. This year looks even worse, Leenhouts Leen-hout- MP V MV 1 Built have a tasty crunch when your child bites into tlem. But one has a knack for clogging arteries. You can decide which will win with , your child. intt'rmountSuhW s, said. ; "Hanford's got some of the issues that would rank, will help them compete for the dollars. It all depends on what other things come in, too," he said. "We've had increased suppression costs, and even more, emergency stabilization costs, and those are your tax dollars. We try to use them as efficiently as possible, and use them for treatments that work." Agencies can apply for rehabilitation money in the three shrub-stepp- e habitat." years after a wildfire. Hughes is hoping some will come Hanford Reach officials have proposed a $6.1 million through this year to begin the difficult task of repairing the recovery plan for part of the monument, though they aren't charred landscape. In the meantime, it's still proposing to treat, or reseed, all the burned land. Rather, early in September. The wildthey aim to protect those areas fire season may be far from over. He pointed out a remainthat could recover on their own. ing sagebrush stand along the river, and up to a cliff, where Hughes maintains that the recovery effort is essential not the only known population of Umtanum desert buckwheat just for wildlife habitat, but also for wildfire prevention. grows. "We just have to work to "If we end up watching this go back to a weed patch, years prptea these areas that are later, you'll see an increase m - Teft," he said. "And we have to fire intensity, frequency, rate hope we can recover areas that of spread, and maybe we won't burned. It won't come back if catch the next one," he said. "If we don't give Mother Nature a we do nothing ... next time the helping hand." fire will burn across the monument and hit towns and comHanford Reach National munities in the area and we'll Monument: www.fws.gov never stop it." hanfordreach inn ywMw if till For help, visit Furthermore, where there was rehabilitation work from previous fires, the flames spread more slowly this summer, proving the need for work this time around, Hughes said. But he concedes that he's competing for an pot of dollars for wildfire ut New-som- e one-poun- ening 51,000 acres on the monument alone. Most of the acreage already had burned in a massive fire in 2000, shortly after President Clinton designated the 193,000 acres in an almost horseshoe shape as a national monument. But plantings to rehabilitate the land, after that fire went up in smoke Washington, as well as sage sparrows, the sage thrasher, sagebrush vole and sagebrush this land now, we only lizard. Even elk base their moveincrease the risk for ment patterns on what cover more wildfires in the they can get from the wind, such as from sagebrush. The future." monument supports more than 600 elk, but with much of their Greg Hughes this summer. rangeland burned, wildlife exU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Newsome found the damage perts are concerned they will be driven to fanners' property to natural resources depressor the neighboring Hanford ing on a recent tour of the area. The wide expanse of site for food. Ecology Reserve, which has charred acreage still smelted been considered one of the "Definitely after the 2000 few large, contiguous blocks fire, their use patterns changed smoky, weeks after the fire, habitat reto areas where there were still and only pockets of native of arid shrub-stepp- e maining in the Northwest. The grasses and sagebrush escaped remaining sagebrush cover," the flames. Newsome said. reserve used to be part of the Erosion is always a conHanford nuclear site and has Sagebrush doesn't after fire, and it grows very cern after a fire, and an even been closed to the public for decades. Firefighters were able slowly, needing about 30 years greater worry is the spread of noxious weeds and exotic to pinch off the fire before it to mature enough to begin to provide habitat for certain plants, such as Russian thistle. spread too far, but then ... t On Aug, 16, high winds species, Newsome said. They Already, cheatgrass seeds litinclude the sage grouse, which ter the ashy soil up and down pushed flames from private is a threatened species in land onto the reserve, black the monument, waiting to take over the land. Between 2000 and 2006, some 90,000 acres of the monument burned. Those repeated fires, in conjunction with invasive species, prevent the area from restoring itself naturally, Newsome said. "It's not just the fires now. It's the cumulative impact of these fires over time," New-som- e said. "The frequency and intensity of fires pose a threat to native grasses and shrubs in Service. "If we don't rehabilitate this land now, we only increase the risk for more wildfires in the future." Fires have blackened 121 square miles of the monument this summer more than 40 percent of the land area. On the north shore of the Columbia River, the Overlook fire torched 21,083 acres. Firefighters were able to save the old blacksmith shop, a log building near the White Bluffs Boat Lunch, but wildlife habitat wasn't so lucky. Among the casualties: a heron rookery and prime sagebrush habitat for . In accordance with Utah law, notice is hereby given to all registered voters residing. the City of Orem that the Municipal Primary will be held Tuesday, September 11, 2007. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. VOTING REQUIREMENTS: (1) be a United States citizen, (2) be a resident of Utah at least 30 days immediately before the next election, (3) be at least 8 years old by the next election, and (4) be a registered voter, Please note that voters may vote for UP to three candidates. 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