Klamath Falls News - Locally owned news brand, reporting stories affecting citizens of the Klamath Basin.
KLAMATH BASIN - For several weeks now, as the morning cool turns to the heat of the day, vast swarms of voracious grasshoppers have been pouring out of the dry, largely barren Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge into the surrounding irrigated farm fields around Merrill and Tulelake. Concerns are growing that crop damage could extend into the millions of dollars.
Read MoreThe Bureau of Land Management is initiating environmental analyses of fuel breaks, fuels reduction and habitat restoration projects on sagebrush steppe rangelands in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah and California to ensure healthy, productive working landscapes and wildlife habitats.
Region-wide analysis of impacts and cumulative effects will help the BLM streamline authorization of projects aimed at reducing the threat of wildfires and restoring degraded habitats.
"Fire, invasive annual grasses and conifer encroachment are the most significant threats to sagebrush-steppe in the Great Basin," said BLM Idaho State Director Tim Murphy. "Focusing on these threats is also going to help the BLM protect working landscapes that contribute to healthy local economies."
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