11.   Prescribed burns, deliberately set by forestry officials, got a bad reputation after a New Mexico fire went out of control and incinerated parts of Los Alamos.

12.   State foresters believe prescribed burns and harvesting timber or cutting brush can prevent catastrophic fires and return some woodlands to a more natural state.

13.   That plan includes money to hire additional firefighters and to implement preventive measures such as prescribed burns or cutting to thin forests and reduce fuel buildup.

14.   The loss of these trees undermines the point of a prescribed burn to restore balance in the ecosystem.

15.   The problem, Babbitt said, is that Congress has failed to allocate enough money to conduct these prescribed burns.

16.   The scientists, who reported on their work in the journal Conservation Biology, studied forests in southern Ohio where prescribed burns have taken place for several years.

17.   This information helped them determine timing for prescribed burns.

18.   A dispatcher expressed concern because the Forest Service had suspended prescribed burns as a result of high winds and dry weather, the report said.

19.   A dispatcher expressed concern because the Forest Service had suspended prescribed burns as a result of high winds and dry weather.

20.   An independent review board report released in late May found that National Park Service personnel failed to follow their own guidelines for prescribed burns.