Prescribed Burning

It's a promising tool, this idea of prescribed burning to defuel forests and help restore ecosystem health. But it's risky business, too, and smoke clouds public acceptance. I THOUGHT FIRE SEASON HAD ENDED. BUT THE SCENT OF PINE SMOKE IN MY NOSTRILS LATE LAST OCTOBER TOLD ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Deep in Oregon's ponderosa paradise on Winema National Forest, my wife Maurine and I had just finished flagging a new interpretive trail as Forest volunteers. As …

…burn under specific conditions of humidity, temperature, wind speed, and fuel moisture, and within a planned geographic area. Each fire has its own "prescription," which theoretically guarantees control. Prescribed natural fire: Fire, usually set by lightning, that's allowed to burn "within prescription" in a given area, then watched closely. It poses little threat to life or properly. Such fires are often located in the outbacks of national parks and, more recently, on national forest Wildernesses.