Utah gets funding to control wildfire

Utah has received another fiscal boost in federal stimulus money, this time with a little more than $600,000 being directed to the state to help control wildland fires.

The money from the U.S. Department of Interior amounts to $641,000 for three areas in Utah, including a fuel break at Desert Reserve and "fuels" management at Low Hills Sage Antimony.

Utah's share is part of an overall Interior spending package of $15 million that is being used to fund 55 projects to reduce hazardous fuels on thousands of acres of federal land to protect communities at risk from wildland fires, support local economies and rehabilitate ecosystems damaged by wildfire. The funding is part of $3 billion the Interior is investing in the nation's economy under President Obama's recovery plan.

Under the Department's Wildland Fire Management program, fuels reduction treatments thin overgrown woodlands, reduce accumulated deadwood and dense underbrush to lessen the potential for intense wildland fire and post-fire damage, and limit the proliferation and spread of invasive species and diseases.

— Amy Joi O'Donoghue