The exposed soil not yet held in place by regrowth in the Milford Flat area is a fine, chalky, light-brown dirt that, when the wind gets going, can quickly create a dust-bowl atmosphere. Last fall the Utah Highway Patrol closed sections of I-15 through Millard and Beaver counties because of blowing dust.

Utah Division of Air Quality director Cheryl Heying said some of that dust actually made its way north this past spring during strong wind storms.

"The soil just was not being held down by all of the vegetation and it was blowing up into the Wasatch Front, especially Utah County," Heying said.

Heying, Reid and Yardley are hopeful people like Gates, with a lot of help from Mother Nature, will make the good grasses grow again.

The enemy here is still cheatgrass and Scotch thistle.

Cheatgrass spreads easily but dries out quickly when the weather turns hot and dry. Adult Scotch thistle gets huge and hungry for water, it isn't edible to livestock or wildlife and it chokes out more favorable grazing grasses. Also, a lot of people believe there's too much sage, pinyon and juniper in some areas of Utah, particularly in western parts.

Combined, the dry cheat grass, sage, pinyon and juniper can be a recipe for wildfire disasters, like the Milford Flat fire.

Yardley thinks the BLM is about 20 or 30 years behind in thinning areas dominated by sage, pinyon and juniper. He said the BLM should have acted before Milford Flat. "We wouldn't have the problems we're having today," he said. "Why not do it before the fire?"

Yardley has thinned his herd down by 100 head of cattle to about 300, which means he won't have to buy as much feed or try to graze them on land that's scarce these days. "I don't know how many thousands of acres," is his answer when asked how much grazing land he's lost for right now.

"We're still in business," said Yardley, who raised five children on a rancher's income and now has one son in the business with him. "We'll survive."

Looking ahead

One man who will help Yardley survive is Gates.

In a pair of cowboy boots and Wrangler jeans, Gates recently described what has happened after the Milford Flat fire, walking through an area with green shoots that are about shin high.

"It looks really good," he said, reaching down to touch and identify the grasses, some of which were planted and others that are coming back on their own. "I think it's doing very well. It's really responding."