BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) — Forest managers in northeastern Oregon are planning some prescribed burns this fall after a mild summer wildfire season.
The Baker City Herald reports that wildfires have burned just 80 acres on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest this year, the fewest since 1993, when 47 acres burned.
Bret Ruby, fire management officer for the Wallowa-Whitman, says prescribed fires are a tool for reducing the amount of combustible debris on the forest floor.
In other places, Ruby said forest managers use fire to get rid of limbs and twigs that accumulate naturally, and kill some smaller trees known as “ladder fuels” that might let wildfires kill larger, mature trees.
