Fire crews with the Daniel Boone National Forest are planning a series of prescribed burns starting this week as wildfire season begins.
The controlled fires help restore wildlife habitat, burn brush or other hazards and generally improve the forest’s health.They’re also much less dangerous than regular wildfires.
“We usually don't close a whole lot of areas because we're trying to minimize the impacts to people,” public affairs officer Tim Eling said. “There can be a few times though when there may be a temporary closure on a road crossing or a trail crossing of that nature.”
Crews expect to burn anywhere between 15,000 and 27,000 acres through the end of April. Eling says they plan to start as early as next week, as long as the weather conditions are right. That means mild wind speeds and relatively higher humidity.
“There's a lot of work that goes into finding that right condition that is going to put fire on the landscape and do the good things we want to do, without being a more high intensity fire that you might potentially get with a wildland fire,” Eling said.
Visitors can check when and where prescribed burns are scheduled by checking either the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s online tracker, or Daniel Boone National Forest’s social media posts.
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