Still Looking for the Cause of an Idaho Wildfire 5 Years Later

The damage will take a generation, maybe two, to heal.  It struck me that the Badger Fire, which ravaged the hills south and southeast of Twin Falls, happened five years ago.  It didn’t just burn for weeks; it burned into the next year.  You can see the timeline by clicking here.  More than 90,000 acres were scorched in the South Hills and Albion Mountains.

The smoke billowed and drifted for miles and miles, obscuring the Snake River Canyon, north of Twin Falls.  Five years later, the theory is that the fire was man-made.  Someone accidentally, or intentionally, set the spark.  There have been no arrests, but at the time, law enforcement gave me the impression it had someone in mind, but a lot of potential evidence went up in smoke.

Isolation Can Breed Criminal Activity

The thing about the backcountry is that there’s very little surveillance, and most people would probably recoil at the notion of constantly being monitored by Big Brother.  The idea is that when you go into the wild lands, you’re leaving behind concerns and looking for a little privacy.

Efforts to restore habitat continue.  Idaho Fish and Game, along with various other partners, has been planting brush, and a small army of volunteers is regularly involved.   But planting costs money, and there’s only so much available through charity and government.

A Hands-Off Approach is the Wrong Solution

There were fires before people arrived in what we call the American West, and there will be fires in the future.  The question remains: how will we manage the land to limit damage?  I believe we’ve learned over the last three decades that a hands-free approach doesn’t work.