OCR Text |
Show Prescribed Burn planned by BLf1 A 1,000 acre burn on the east side of the Mineral Mountains is planned for April by the Bureau of Land Management in cooperation with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and North Divide Grazing work pattern, when the weather was favorable, and that aerial broadcast seeding would follow immediately. im-mediately. An anchor chain will be pulled between two tractors to cover the seed. The 1,000 acres is entering a two-year rest rotation from livestock grazing which will allow time for the plants to become established without interrupting scheduled livestock use. "The flat to rolling hills of this area are overgrown with oak and sagebrush,." Joyce continued, "but it is an important range for deer and sage grouse. We want to improve the understory species for wildlife as well as increase forage for livestock. That is the purpose pur-pose of this prescribed burn." The area lies immediately south of Crater Knoll on the east side of the Mineral Mountains about 15 miles northwest of Beaver, at an elevation of 6,500 to 7,500 feet. Company, holder of the allotment on which the burn will be made. North Divide officials said that they would cooperate fully because the burn and subsequent reseeding will improve forage for livestock. In a public meeting on the topic of the burn, they joked, "We will even get out there with matches to help!" If the adjacent private land belonging to the company should burn, it will be reseeded at no cost to them. Joyce Gebhardt, Wildlife Biologist in the BLM Beaver River Resource Area Office, who authored the Habitat Management Plan supporting sup-porting the action, explained that the prescribed burning would be done in a patch |