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A fire in Moffat County that shut down Highway 40 and prompted evacuations last Thursday is now 50 to 70 percent contained, at last report. The fire grew to approximately 7,800 acres based on mapping of the fire from helicopters. Cooler temperatures and moisture are reported to have helped slow the fire over the weekend. Highway 40 reopened on Friday. The fire started around noon on Thursday and grew from 500 acres to 2,180 acres within 30-minutes that afternoon prompting the Highway closure and mandatory evacuations of residents and hunters. As of Thursday night, 25 to 30 residences were threatened as well as oil and gas structures, a communications tower, and a Federal Aviation Administration tower. Strong winds were to blame for the rapid spread of the blaze that grew to 5,200 acres by Friday. 

A Salt Lake man was arrested and booked into Uintah County Jail on Monday for kidnapping following an incident that began in Salt Lake City and ended in Tridell. According to the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office, Central Dispatch began receiving calls early in the afternoon on Labor Day from a female that sounded in distress but the woman would hang up before information could be gathered. 

Improvements are constantly underway to areas in the Ashley National Forest including making trails more user friendly. An improvement project currently underway is to the pass on the Center Park Trail, Trail 59. The project is going well and is expected to be complete by this weekend. The Montana Conservation Corps or MCC, has worked in partnership with Ashley National Forest Wilderness Crew on the project. MCC is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s that focuses on young adult development through conservation projects. The projects range from trail construction and maintenance to fencing, habitat restoration, historic building renovation and campground improvements.

The new catch-and-release record on Flaming Gorge set earlier this summer has been revoked by the Division of Wildlife Resources. Sidney Cellon of Soda Springs, Idaho set the record on July 3rd. His catch was a monstrous 48-inch lake trout weighing 57 pounds.

Up to 100 wild horses will be targeted in a gathering effort announced by the Bureau of Land Management last week. The horses are those that have strayed from the Herd Management Area onto private lands in northwestern Colorado.