# What The ......?



## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

I was driving west of Grantsville when I noticed a big yellow helicopter flying with something hanging off a cable. I pulled over, whipped out the spotting scope(always nearby), and saw it was hauling a straw bale. I watched it drop it on the burn areas from last summer, return and quickly big up another, again and again. I decided to check it out, as I was clueless as to why they would be dropping 1 ton straw bales on forest service. I found the loading locating and saw all the vehicles present said Columbia Basin Helicopters, so I did a quick Google search and found this: http://www.columbiabasinhelicopters.com/erosion.html
Pretty cool stuff. Am I the only one on here that didn't know about this procedure? Does anyone know who is funding this? Glad to see some pro-active stuff occurring out there.


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## chet (Sep 7, 2007)

that would suck if a bale happened to land on a certain kitty cat :twisted:


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## Longfeather (Nov 27, 2007)

I've seen this on different fires throughout the last few years. I believe it is paid for through the fire fighting budget. Meaning it is part of the expense of fighting and cleaning up the fire, at least on Forest Service ground. On the fire near my house a few years back they worked for weeks throughout the fall hauling straw and placing it strategicly to help reduce run-off and the resulting seed loss caused by it.

It's cool to watch, that is for sure....


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## coyoteslayer (Sep 10, 2007)

The only did the same thing on Dry Mountain near Santaquin when it burned off. They said it was to help with erosion in certain places. In the summer time you could see deer laying in the straw near the top. Its suppose to help hold the moisture better when it rains so the seeds grow better.


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

chet said:


> that would suck if a bale happened to land on a certain kitty cat :twisted:


Yeah, that would suck real bad. :twisted:


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## RynoUT (Feb 16, 2008)

Everybody pretty much has the idea...The straw helps hold in the moisture so that it does not just run down the hill, helping to control erosion and give the water a chance to soak in and feed the seeds generally planted before the straw bombing. The seeding is generally done by air as well, usually dropped by small single engine planes like a crop duster. As far as who is paying, the money generally comes out of a federal fire rehab fund. I have helped do this before, and it really is pretty cool!!


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