Soda Rehab

“A ll of this carnage here took place in about four or five hours. It burned 100% of our BLM right here but it burned 100 percent of our neighbors BLM rights too.”

 

 

Rancher Ed Wilse is a survivor. After losing 100% of his grazing and dozens of cattle in the 2015 Soda fire that consumed over 260,000 acres on the Idaho / Oregon border, he is rebuilding.

 

"We have cows scattered all over the country. We have steers in A Rock headed to Cascade, we have cows in Crane Creek, steers in Crane Creek. We went through $200,000 in a heartbeat here last year finding very expensive pasture. Still buying expensive hay. we put in over three months getting the seeded back again.”

 

Range rehab. Getting new grass to grow on both private and public land has been under way since the fire burned out last fall. Dave Bunker of Branch Enterprises is a contractor for the BLM assigned to the Owyhee rehab project.

 

"We are pleased with the seeding. Obviously the majority of seeding success is dependent upon moisture and we had a lot of good moisture throughout the winter and spring. We used crested wheat grass, ryegrass and some smaller versions, smaller ryes and squirrel tail for a mixture of 7 to 8 grasses. We plant to compete against cheat grass.”