1.   Given federal budget constraints, though, large-scale prescribed burns are pretty unlikely.

2.   Even with prescribed burns, a fire so late in the summer is particularly difficult to fight, Patterson said.

3.   Here in Austin, the Wildflower Center is leading an effort to see if prescribed burns can make land healthier.

4.   In the meantime, we must educate the public about the need for prescribed burns.

5.   Instead of more grazing, Cartwright said, forest lands needed to be thinned through prescribed burns, ignited during moist periods so they can be controlled.

6.   Most prescribed burns go off without trouble.

7.   Prescribed burns are not without risk.

8.   Regular prescribed burns can thin undergrowth but boost large trees and native grasses.

9.   Prescribed burns also are being questioned by a public traditionally taught to prevent forest fires.

10.   Prescribed burns are used routinely in many areas to destroy brush and prevent larger, catastrophic fires that can occur when lightning strikes.