Fire Retardant

The U.S. Forest Service has released a plan for using retardant in battling wildfires that limits its use in areas occupied by threatened or endangered plants, fish and animals.

The 370-page draft environmental impact statement released Friday follows a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Missoula, Mont., ordering the forest service to take a tougher look at the possibility that routinely dropping toxic fire retardant on wildfires from airplanes kills endangered fish and plants.

The Independent Record reports that the new plan also proposes limiting the use of retardant around waterways unless human life is at risk.

Previous guidelines allowed retardant to be dropped when the potential damage to natural resources outweighed potential loss of aquatic life.

Story from The Associated Press