"We're looking at available land for burned-out ranchers," Lori Jones, specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Monday. "It starts at the county level, then it is determined at a national level whether clearance will be given."

The reserve program is best known for reseeding projects designed to stop soil erosion or protect critical watersheds. But a secondary goal is to free up land for grazing or harvesting grasses to feed livestock after a disaster, said Bruce Richeson, Utah director for the U.S. Farm Service Agency.

The land is held under the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program, in which the government pays landowners to stop planting crops or grazing livestock on portions of their property.

Last week, the state's largest recorded fire burned more than 363,000 acres in Millard and Beaver counties. Only Millard County has a grass bank - and 500 of those 14,952 acres burned, said Cornell Atkinson, the county director of the U.S. Farm Service Agency.

Hard-hit Beaver County has no reserve lands, nor do Emery, Carbon or Duchesne counties, where wildfires have blackened tens of thousands of rangeland acres.

Other counties where blazes have broken out - Washington and Uintah - do have lands held in reserve.

"Reserve lands are certainly a piece of the puzzle to identify any and all available resources to help mitigate damage to farmers and ranchers," said Kyle Stevens, deputy director of the Utah Department of Agriculture. "But we don't know the conditions of those lands because of the drought."

Still, grass banks may be a short-term solution for ranchers needing forage for their livestock, said Agriculture Commissioner Leonard Blackham. After last week's Milford Flat fire, cattlemen met with state officials to discuss the fate of thousands of cattle in the Millard and Beaver areas.

Thirteen counties in Utah have reserve lands. The federal government paid nearly $7 million to landowners enrolled in the reserve program in 2005, and more than $112 million during the past decade, according to the Environmental Working Group, a farm watchdog group.

Many of those lands were reseeded in grasses, and more recently, the acreage was reseeded twice because of the drought.

Currently, the Farm Service Agency is assessing damages in several counties for both wildfires and drought. By next week, the information will be forwarded to Blackham, who will make a recommendation to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on whether the state will ask the federal government to declare disaster areas.

"There is no question that the data will support a disaster declaration," Blackham said.

Farmers and ranchers in disaster areas also may qualify for low-cost loans or disaster payments.