The U.S. Forest Service will be conditionally resuming its prescribed fire program after the conclusion of a 90-day national review.
“Recognizing that wildfire, drought and other extreme conditions are affecting parts of the country, prescribed fires will not occur on National Forest System lands until all recommendations have been implemented at each location and only when local conditions have been certified as appropriate for a prescribed fire on the day of the proposed burn,” USDA Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said in a statement.
Prescribed burns were temporarily paused on May 20 after some fires became out of control.
“The decision also reflected the growing recognition that extreme conditions of overgrown forests, climate change, a growing number of homes in the wildland-urban interface and more than a century of rigorous fire suppression are influencing fire behavior in ways we had never seen before,” Moore added.
