The question is often asked during fire season, when thousands of acres are going up in smoke: weren't we talking about restoring regular fires to the ecosystem?
The answer is yes.
Or yes, BUT... the scientific answer is one thing, the political is another.
The Bureau of Land Managementand other agencies do perform prescribed burns.
But the recently-formed Southern Oregon Prescribed Fire Network is alarmed by a downward trend in funding for such burns.
Firefighter Rich Fairbanks and network chair Jim Wells visit to explain.