News

City Club Missoula – Officials Say Montana Needs To Fight Fire With Fire

June 11, 2019 /

MATR Sponsor (view all)

Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.

It’s going to take fire — and a lot of it — to fight wildfire in the Missoula Valley, where it is and always has been part of the landscape. Experts say it’s also going to take more prescribed burning, new levels of government agency coordination and new layers of government regulation to make a difference.

U.S. Forest Service Fire Scientist Mark Finney says Western Montana has only two options when it comes to wildfire.

By Edward O’Brien

https://www.mtpr.org/post/montana-needs-fight-fire-fire-officials-say

***************************

City Club Missoula discusses fire risk reduction

Fire season is just around the corner, and Montana is looking for new ways to adapt.

City Club Missoula hosted its monthly panel on Monday where fire experts discussed reducing the risk of wildfires in the coming months

“There’s several things we know: We live in a landscape shaped by fire, and that’s not going to change. We live in an area affected by smoke, and that’s not going to change,” said moderator Karen DiBari.

The Forest Service, the Missoula Ranger District and Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier say they are collaborating on a project called “Wildfire-Adapted Missoula,” to tackle the reality of fire season.