By Savannah McDade Posted June 2, 2010
Living in the Great Basin, wildfires are a prominent concern every summer, and lately, there has been a great deal of controversy brewing up between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Livestock Ranchers due to the significant increase of land being burned.
Why is the Great Basin experiencing increasingly harsh fire seasons? Why should Nevadans be concerned? What should be done? An Elko lawyer named Grant Gerber created a campaign called ‘Smoked Bear’ in order to evoke the importance of finding solutions to wildfire issues.
According to an article printed in the “Elko Daily”, Gerber believes that increasing livestock grazing would maintain invasive weeds, therefore, reducing the number of wildfires that are destroying the Northern Nevada ecosystem. Gerber’s campaign has sparked many arguments, many say that even if the BLM gave ranchers more grazing rights that the livestock would not consume the invasive weeds (such as cheatgrass) because the weeds have no nutritional value.
Some rebut this argument by saying that ranchers should let their livestock graze earlier in the year before the weeds have wizened. Many also contest that livestock are the primary cause for the lack of topsoil and blame livestock for the increase in fires.
I am not a rancher, and I certainly am not an ecologist, therefore I am approaching this topic with an open mind and a lot of research. According to www.dcnr.nv.gov, three significant events have occurred in the Great Basin that resulted in the fire issues that Nevada is experiencing today. One was the introduction of cattle, sheep, and horses which resulted in overgrazing, therefore, decreasing the number of fires and acres burned. The second reason is that invasive weeds have taken over, and the third reason is that people have not educated themselves and do not realize that wildfires are a natural and essential part of the environment and attempt to completely abolish wildfires, which is very detrimental. Also, because if these issues, rather than a natural wildfire pattern, fewer fires occur and more acres are burning, “In recent years, nationally there has been less of an increase in the number of wildland fires, but the acreage burned has increased dramatically.” (dcnr.nv.gov)
I do not have a solution to the issue, however, people, especially younger generations need to better educate themselves and realize that this is a major issue affecting the habitat. If people do not start stepping up to the plate, the Great Basin will be at major risk of losing the natural, beautiful sagebrush that the territory is known for.
