Prescribed fire at Kootenai NWR

Prescribed fire is a vital conservation tool. By reducing burnable vegetation on national wildlife refuges, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fire management professionals lower the risk and severity of wildfires and protect habitat for wildlife. To fire managers, burnable vegetation, such as grass, overgrown brush, trees or logging slash, is known as fuel. The two primary methods of fuels reduction are prescribed fire and mechanical thinning — removing brush or creating fire breaks.