Nearly 3 weeks later, Boise Foothills fire is fully contained. What’s the cost, damage?
The large-scale wildfire in the Boise Foothills that has burned for nearly three weeks is fully contained after it torched thousands of acres of crucial winter wildlife habitat and cost millions in suppression efforts.
The Valley Fire, which sparked about a mile east of Boise near Idaho 21 from a downed Idaho Power line on Oct. 4, was 100% contained Wednesday, fire officials said. That means barriers have been fully established around the fire’s perimeter to stop its spread, though crews may still be working on hot spots within the burned area.
The Idaho Department of Lands, Bureau of Land Management and Boise Fire Department worked on the blaze, which threatened homes in the immediate hours after it started.
But it will take some time to decide whether Idaho Power is responsible for the $5.2 million price tag for fire suppression, Sharla Arledge, spokesperson for the Department of Lands, said in an email to the Idaho Statesman. Idaho Power, the state’s primary electricity provider, declined to comment further. Spokesperson Sven Berg cited the ongoing fire investigation.
In a statement last week, the power company said that investigators found a broken cross arm on a power pole that likely caused a live wire to touch the ground. Idaho Power said it had inspected the equipment multiple times this year and found no evidence of damage or rot.
Fire restitution cases — and even reimbursement between the agencies that work together on wildfires — can take years to settle. Reimbursement to local agencies, like Boise Fire, typically take about a month, Arledge said. The Department of Lands and Boise Fire did not yet have a cost breakdown for each agency’s portion of the firefighting costs.
Rehabilitating the burned area will add to overall cost of the fire.
The Valley Fire burned nearly 10,000 acres, most of it in the Idaho Department of Fish and Game-managed Boise River Wildlife Management Area that surrounds Lucky Peak Lake. The 36,000-acre wildlife management area is major winter habitat for the largest herd of mule deer in the state, according to Fish and Game. It was closed to the public— and remains so — until further notice.
Second wildfire adds to costs, habitat challenges
Just days before the Valley Fire, a separate 750 acres of the wildlife management area was scorched when a hiker burned used toilet paper, sparking the Three Point Fire.
Brian Pearson, spokesperson for Fish and Game’s Southwest Region, said in a phone interview that there’s a lot of uncertainty around the extent of the fires’ damage, recovery costs and impact on wildlife.
Fish and Game has $235,000 in development and mitigation funds to go toward Valley Fire rehabilitation by the end of the year, Pearson said. He noted that amount “pales in comparison” to the ongoing rehabilitation costs.
The agency plans to reseed the area with native grasses, sagebrush and other vegetation to replicate the pre-fire habitat. But the hilly terrain means seeds will likely need to be spread by aerial application or hand-planted seedlings — both costlier options than reseeding using tractors, he said.
Fish and Game is looking for volunteers to help collect seeds from nearby plants and aid in reseeding. Anyone interested in volunteering can fill out a form online with their contact information and availability.
Rehabilitating the wildlife management area will take time, Pearson said.
“This isn’t a one-and-done thing,” he said. “We don’t go out and seed it and it’s done and recovered. We’re still hand-planting some areas that burned 15 years ago.”
It’s unclear where additional recovery funds will come from. Fish and Game does not have a dedicated budget for fire restoration. Pearson said the agency receives some fire recovery funds from the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donors can direct contributions specifically to wildfire recovery.
Fish and Game officials are waiting to see what the fire damage will mean for wildlife. The two wildfires burned nearly one-third of the management area.
“It’s really hard in a broad sense to say what the impacts to animals are going to be,” Pearson said. “That will depend on the severity of this winter and the intensity of burn itself.”
As one possible effect, Boise residents could see more wildlife on the roads and in their yards because of the fires, said Angela Rossmann, a member of the Idaho chapter of environmental group Great Old Broads for Wilderness.
Rossmann, who previously worked as director of the conservation group Harris Ranch Wildlife Mitigation Association, told the Statesman in a phone interview that residents should avoid feeding wildlife. Supplemental food could be difficult for wildlife to digest or lure them closer to yards where they may ingest toxic landscaping plants like yew, she said.
Favorable weather could restore some grasses before winter, when deer and elk move to lower elevations, Pearson said. The Southwest Region’s winter feeding advisory committee will assess conditions through the winter. In severe winters, the agency sometimes supplements wildlife with feeding stations, but that’s not without its complications either, he said.
“In a lot of cases, it’s simply impossible to put food on the ground that’s the equivalent of what the fire burned,” he said. “There’s no way to feed all the animals affected.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 4:14 PM.
