07/24/08

Rain showers earlier this week gave us a little bit of moisture.

But it wasn't nearly enough to make a big difference in keeping sagebrush and cheatgrass wet.

Angie Roberts, Shoshone BLM said, "The storms we've been having lately aren't having an effect on fuels right now, because they are coming with moisture. But two hours after a storm we can still have a fire because of the moisture levels."

Roberts says cheat grass is a one hour fuel. That means it takes an hour to gain moisture and an hour to lose it.

In contrast, sagebrush is a ten hour fuel, which means a 30 minute rain shower won't do much to make it wetter.

"Taking samples of leaflets off the sagebrush. We then weigh those samples in the field, so that's our wet weight. And then we dry them in the oven to get the dry weight, and then we weigh it again."

Roberts says the Bureau Of Land Management takes samples on the first and the 15th of each month to determine how sagebrush will act if it catches fire.

Also, if humidity is relatively high plants can draw moisture from the air which makes it less likely they'll burn.

"So right now in July, our fire levels are extreme because of our fuel moistures. But that is normal for July. We just want people to be cautious when they're out on our lands, and be watching what you're doing, just so we can keep it from becoming an extreme situation."