About 180,000 acres burned last summer during the Paddock Fire that ignited north of Emmett and charred a huge swath of important winter range for mule deer. And sadly, it wasn’t the only big fire in Southern Idaho.
When wildfires are extinguished, we thank the firefighters, mourn the loss of what burned, and then an army of volunteers led by Idaho Fish and Game descends on the land to give nature a head start regrowing what was lost.
Volunteers collected millions of sagebrush seeds in late fall. Then they returned and replanted thousands of acres with 40 million sagebrush and bitterbrush seeds so when spring arrives, new plants will grow to benefit wildlife that relies on it.