Amendments to county burn ban put on hold

Washington County commissioners have decided to table amending the county’s burn ban ordinance until they get some feedback on the proposed changes.
 The current burn ban was approved by commissioners and is on the books right now, although the actual ban doesn’t start until June.
 Commissioners were advised that some language in the existing burn ban was in need of further clarification.
 Not all commissioners were agreeable to some of the proposed changes during a discussion on the burn ban last week.
 Commission chairman Kirk Chandler said he wanted more emphasis on private property rights in the ordinance. He wanted language inserted in the ordinance that would require the U.S. Forest Service and BLM to adhere to portions of the Organic Act of 1897.
 “Their responsibility is to manage the forest for timber resources,” Chandler said. “We’re fixing these ordinances to protect people’s property rights.”
 He said the grass and water on grazing allotments belonged to the rancher and their permission should be granted before the Forest Service is allowed to do controlled burns on grazing allotments.
 Commissioner Nate Marvin said he was not comfortable with some of the proposed language that would require the U.S. Forest Service to get permission from grazing allotment permittees on public land before they could do prescribed burns.
 “I don’t want to get the county into any lawsuits fighting the federal government,” Marvin said.
 He said the county does not have the money or resources to fight all wildfires and needs help from federal fire agencies.
 “I just think we need to move slow on this ordinance,” he said.
 Marvin said he sent the proposed amendments to the burn ban to Forest Service officials with the Payette National Forest for their response.
 He wanted to hold off on any decision on the burn ban until the county heard back.
 Assistant Weiser Area Rural Fire Chief John Stuart also said the amendments to the burn ban directed at the Forest Service could have legal ramifications.
 WARFD Chief Tim Atwood said the burn ban and references to the Organic Act and the private property issues that Chandler raised might be better handled in separate ordinances.
 Chandler said the amendments to the burn ban would not stop the Forest Service from fighting fires. Later, he said the reference to the Organic Act could be scratched from the ordinance.
 Commissioners will have to hold a public hearing before approving the revised burn ban.