Prescribed Burning

Idaho Matters takes a look at the hazards of prescribed burns, as well as their importance.

The U.S. Forest Service recently announced a 10-year plan that includes a dramatic increase in treating forests through thinning and prescribed burns. That plan includes treating 20 million acres of Forest Service land, and 30 million acres of other federal, state, tribal, and private lands.

Federal agencies spend a lot of time and money fighting increasingly extreme wildfires, but have limited resources for prescribed burns. Public-private partnerships can help. This year, the nonprofit Nature Conservancy partnered with the Forest Service and others to help burn and thin more than 150 acres of public lands in Idaho. Other, similar programs are cropping up all around the West.

Wildfire season is winding down across much of the Mountain West as cold weather moves in. But it's the perfect time to set controlled, or prescribed, fires to burn unwanted dead trees and underbrush that fuel larger wildfires.

Wildfire season is winding down across much of the Mountain West as cold weather moves in. But it’s the perfect time to set controlled, or prescribed, fires to burn unwanted dead trees and underbrush that fuel larger wildfires.

The Sawtooth National Forest is proposing its first forest-wide environmental assessment for increased prescribed burning to help forest resiliency.

Prescribed fires have been used for centuries to help control the landscape. But the practice fell out of favor in the early 20th century. While attitudes…

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A recent study says the American West should be doing more prescribed burns to keep forests healthy and to help lessen the impacts of wildfires across...

Wildfire season is around the corner in the Mountain West. Prescribed burns are just one way to reduce wildfire risk. That's because, in the right...