![]() In Northern California, a number of wildfires and the threat of more prompted three national forests to close down the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area, a 780-square mile (2,000-square kilometer) area of granite peaks, lakes and trails, into November. Meanwhile, California’s Dixie Fire - which started July 13 and is the largest wildfire burning in the nation - threatened a dozen small communities in the northern Sierra Nevada even though its southern end was mostly corralled by fire lines.Įxtreme drought conditions have left trees, grass and brush bone-dry throughout many Western states, making them ripe for ignition.Īt the same time, California and some other states face flows of monsoonal moisture that were too high to bring real rain but could create thunderstorms that bring the risk of dry lightning and erratic winds. Particularly hard hit were some ranchers already depending on surplus grass after a fire burned them off their normal pasture last year, she said. ![]() If there’s no water, there’s no good pasture,” Small said. “They’ve got to have pasture where there’s water. An extreme drought that’s blanketing the West has made matters worse for ranchers by stunting vegetation untouched by fire. Yet as flames charred mile after mile of rangeland and forest, fire crews could do little to protect cattle pastures that are crucial to economic survival for some families on the remote reservation.Īs the fire raced across the hilly reservation, tribal member Darlene Small helped her grandson move about 100 head of cattle to a new pasture, only to have to relocate them twice more as the flames from the Richard Spring fire bore down, she said Thursday. On the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, firefighters and local authorities scrambled to save hundreds of homes in the path of a fire that started Sunday and exploded across more than 260 square miles (673 square kilometers) in just a few days, triggering evacuation orders covering thousands of people. West are devouring vast areas of rangeland that cattle ranchers depend upon, setting the stage for a potential shortage of livestock forage as the hot, dry summer grinds on. (AP) - Wildfires tearing through eastern Montana and elsewhere in the U.S. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. ![]() This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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