Federal officials plan to put in more fuel breaks along roadways as part of a plan to stop wildfires in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says workers this month will start thinning or removing vegetation on 448 acres (180 hectares) in Idaho with the intention of reducing the flame length and slowing the spread of fast-moving wildfires. Work is expected to go through mid-October.
The fuel break project is part of a $67 million rehabilitation effort following a 2015 wildfire that scorched 436 square miles (1130 square kilometers) of sagebrush steppe that supports cattle grazing and some 350 species of wildlife, including sage grouse.
Officials say the project overall will put in fuel breaks on BLM land along 271 miles (436 kilometers) of existing roadways.
