Conservation and land management issues are among my favorite things to cover. In my role as conservation field editor for the National Wild Turkey Federation's Turkey Country magazine, we have invested considerable space writing about the importance of using prescribed fire in our forested American landscapes. Fire, both naturally occurring and set by humans, was used for millennia to help manage forests and grasslands but as human expansion pushed into previously wild places, fire evolved into something to be suppressed.
The result is continued degradation of wildlife habitat and a buildup of fuel in the way of dead, diseased and insect-infested trees. These create the conditions for the catastrophic wildfires that have plagued the United States over the last decade or more. This article I wrote for USA Today's Hunt & Fish magazine (2020 annual) addresses this issue. It includes valuable perspective from the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and the CEO of NWTF. Informed support for prescribed fire is essential in preserving and enhancing our natural world in the years ahead and in protecting human communities and watersheds.
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