Following the late-summer House Draw Fire, which scorched roughly 28,000 acres of public land in northeastern Wyoming, grazing allotments are under reassessment as state and federal agencies evaluate the fire’s impact on vegetation and soil health, Gillette News Record reports.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Wyoming’s Office of State Lands and Investments report that future grazing on affected lands will depend on ongoing studies, with vegetation regrowth, soil recovery, and invasive species control shaping future leasing decisions.
The House Draw Fire, part of a larger complex fire incident across Johnson, Sheridan, and Campbell counties, affected approximately 16,629 acres of BLM-managed land and 11,760 acres of state land. While firefighting crews successfully protected vital infrastructure, grazing lands bore the brunt of the damage, according to Jason Crowder, interim director of Wyoming’s Office of State Lands and Investments, and Todd Yeager, manager of the BLM’s Buffalo Field Office. Both Crowder and Yeager highlight the need for a lease-by-lease review to determine when lessees may resume grazing.
Currently, a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team is assessing the House Draw burn scar, with a report expected in the coming weeks. Early analysis suggests that most of the fire in Johnson County burned at low to moderate intensity, meaning that vegetation may regrow sooner in some areas. However, BLM’s Yeager noted that soil health plays a crucial role in recovery. High heat can cause soils to repel water, hindering vegetation growth. Well-timed light rains, which encourage soil infiltration, are ideal to support natural recovery.
Invasive grass species, which often outcompete native plants after fires, pose another challenge. To combat this, Yeager has requested $1.1 million in federal funding for weed control across the BLM-managed burned areas, estimating a total restoration cost of $13 million over the next five years. The Wyoming State Board of Land Commissioners has also allocated $605,000 for erosion prevention and invasive weed control on affected state lands. Crowder explained that these funds will be part of a collaborative rehabilitation plan across state, federal, and local agencies.
The fire season in northeastern Wyoming has been one of the most severe in years, with dry lightning and high winds exacerbating fire spread across vast rangelands. Yeager, who has experience managing wildfires in eastern Montana, noted that Wyoming’s cooperative approach to both suppression and recovery has been instrumental. He praised the interagency coordination and support from local communities.
“It’s not an ‘us versus them’—I enjoy this,” Yeager stated.
