Forest Service, BLM and county officials outline large wildfire projects and staffing plans near Pocatello

Chris Cole, a U.S. Forest Service official who said he is serving as the interim detailer, told the Bannock County Board of Commissioners on May 1 that the Forest Service is managing several large projects aimed at forest health and reducing wildfire spread near Pocatello.

Cole said the Raley Canyon project covers about 1,400 acres, with roughly 750 acres completed to date, and is focused on wildlife winter-range improvements and reducing potential fire spread. He described a second project, Stone King, as a roughly 3,000-acre thinning effort that abuts Bannock County across the Caribou County line; about 250 acres of thinning have been completed there. Cole also outlined the Lower Toponce project — an approximately 12,000-acre effort around Pocatello intended to reduce wildland-urban interface fire risk, improve forest health and reduce fuels.

Those projects, Cole said, will include mechanical treatments and, where appropriate, logging. He told…