Backcountry Musings

Contact: Babete Anderson, National Press Officer, (202) 205-1782, branderson@fs.fed.us

During the months of February, March and April the Squawbutte Chapter of BCHI hosts three public fun rides as a way to introduce potential member to the organization and get current and former members back on their horses after the winter layoff. With the Owyhee area being generally snow free in February and March, we hold our first rides in that area.

Celebration Park, Birds of Prey
February 21, 2016 – 26 Members and Guests signed up for this event, not all showed up. Lou Ann also posted this event on a local horse site and that attracted more guest! Weather was blue sky’s with a crisp breeze from the east. Due to the number of riders, we broke up into a number of groups and took different trails out to the old corrals for a snack break. Laurie B and Linda E continued up the canyon almost to Swan Falls. All returned to the parking lot with smiles and claimed they would be back for the March ride to Diamond Basin. Photo’s by Laurie, Lisa and Rob.

Diamond Basin – Owyhee Foot hills
March 20, 2016 – Diamond Basin Corrals 43.10950,-116.60297 GPS On this almost perfect March day, 50’s with a light breeze and blue skies, 24 members and guest meet at the corrals on the old stage coach road to Sliver City. By 10:30 most had arrive and were saddled up. Terry & Phil lead off and in small groups the rest followed up the old stage coach road. We shared this road with 4-wheelers, side by sides and motor cycles. All encounters were pleasant with courtesy show by both the motorized users and the horsemen. After the 4 hour ride, we share finger food and got to know each other a bit better. A very successful ride! Photo’s by Lou Ann, Nicole, Laurie, Lisa & Rob

Johnson Creek Fun Ride and Potluck
April 10, 2016 Johnson Creek Ride and Potluck. Johnson Creek is just outside of the once town of Montour, ID. Montour is about three miles south of Sweet, ID and was removed a number of years ago and the area became wet lands for birds and wild life on the Payette River. Regan Peak a core of an old volcano, towers over the area. Johnson Creek, is a primitive public road that heads south and if you follow it far enough you would reach the Emmett Cycle Park. On this day, we had 16 riders who enjoyed exploring the area with trail boss, Terry MacDonald. After the ride the group, joined other members at Linda and Rob Adams home in Sweet for a spring potluck. Great food was enjoyed by old and new members as they got caught up on what they had been doing over the winter months.

The year 2015 set new wildfire records in the United States. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, almost 10 million acres burned. Many thousands of homes burned in these fires, each one full of memories – now reduced to ashes. Over seventy fire fighters perished in their efforts to combat wildfires in the US in 2015, not to mention citizen deaths.

If you live in a seasonally dry climate with abundant flammable vegetation, your residence is vulnerable to wildland fire. Lightning, accidents, and criminals ignite these fires every year. Fire is unpredictable. If there are weaknesses in your home’s fire protection scheme, fire can gain the upper hand because of some overlooked or seemingly inconsequential factor. Don’t let that happen to you.

As a homeowner, you can take a number of steps to protect your property and reduce the spread of wildland fires. This guide provides information and lists clear action steps you can take to avoid becoming a statistic. Keep reading for more information.

Surviving a Wildfire

Two factors have emerged as the primary determinants of a home’s ability to survive wildfires: choosing fire-resistant roofing material and creating a wildfire defensible zone. First, it is important to choose a fire-resistant roofing material that is rated a minimum of class C when building a house in or near forests or grasslands. (Class B and A offer progressively better protection.) Avoid flammable materials such as wood or shake shingles. Second, create a fuel free zone around your home where fire has nothing to burn – this is called the defensible space. By creating a wildfire defensible zone, homes are less vulnerable from this naturally occurring phenomenon and the chance of spreading wildfires is greatly reduced.

If you are a homeowner and you are interested in protecting your home from wildfires, follow the FireWise guidelines. While you may not be able to accomplish all of these measures, each will increase your home’s safety and survival during a wildfire. Start with the easiest and least expensive actions. Begin your work closest to the house and move outward. Keep working on the more difficult items until you have completed your entire project.

Choose surrounding vegetation wisely: maintain a greenbelt (irrigated if possible) immediately around your home using grass, a flower garden and/or fire-resistant ornamental shrubbery. An alternative is rock or other non-combustible material, which may be preferable if your house is made of wood or other flammable materials. Avoid using bark or wood chip mulch in this area.

Read the following list for practical steps you can take to protect your home and property and preserve life.

Imagine a fun afternoon hike around Mt. Baker. You’re enjoying the quiet of the forest, the dappled light shining through the trees, and the intoxicating smell of the leaves when thick fog rolls in unexpectedly at 4:00 p.m. In a panic, you follow the wrong trail for hours along a progressively steeper face until you’ve run out of daylight.

Imagine being on a snowmobile in the back-country with friends, zipping through the powder and chasing each other between the tree trunks when a blizzard sets in and the last snowmobile doesn’t show up at the rendezvous point.

Or imagine the mountain biking trip you’ve been daydreaming about for months, bombing down the mountain with the wind in your face. You get separated from your group on a tricky portion of singletrack, and decide to press on when you come to an unknown fork in the trail. Feeling exhausted and dehydrated, you take a corner too fast and crash, taco–ing your front wheel and breaking your collar bone.

Lost, hurt, stranded – these scenarios and others like them play out over three thousand times per year in the United States. Folks heading outdoors in search of adventure don’t plan on getting lost or hurt in the wilderness. It can happen to the best of us, and when it does, people underestimate the challenges of the wilderness and overestimate their own ability.

To help you avoid becoming a statistic by rightly explaining the dangers of the wilderness and ensuring that you are physically and mentally prepared for any snags during your adventures, we’ve put together this wilderness survival guide.

• Stay Found – Make Survival Training a Waste of Time
• Fear the Weather – Wilderness Enemy Number One
• Communication – It’s Not Just For Married People
• Buddy Up – One Is The Loneliest Number
• Survival Kit – The New Ten Essentials, Plus…
• Survival Priorities – Remember The Rule of 3

Read More