JEROME, Idaho — The Sawtooth National Forest announced Thursday it will receive $1,659,000 in disaster relief funding to support recovery from the Badger Fire.
The Badger Fire started on Sept. 12, 2020 and was declared 100% contained on Oct. 15, 2020 and out Jan. 4, 2021, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). The final acreage of the fire was 90,190.
Through the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act of 2021, the Sawtooth National Forest requested the disaster relief funding for projects to restore infrastructure and for ecological recovery.
"The Sawtooth National Forest's highest priority is to restore the health of the ecosystem and infrastructure damaged by the Badger Fire. As an agency, and as impacted members of the community, we are committed to meeting the urgency of this work," Forest Supervisor Jim DeMaagd said. "Our disaster recovery work is connected to the agency's recent 10-year fire strategy, Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America's Forests."
Out of the more than 91,000 acres burned during the Badger Fire, 72,768 acres included National Forest System Land managed by the Minidoka Ranger District of the Sawtooth National Forest.
The $1,659,000 in disaster relief funding given to the Sawtooth National Forest is a portion of $1.36 billion provided to the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act of 2021 though supplemental appropriations.
According to the Sawtooth National Forest, the act gives a total of $28.6 billion to federal agencies in new supplemental appropriations for disaster relief recovery.
The Badger Fire began along Forest Service Road 536. According to NWCG, the cause of the fire is still unknown.
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