11.   In the future, when forests are in a more natural condition, prescribed fires will be used to maintain open stands.

12.   Prescribed fire experts say the blazes can be an important tool to prevent catastrophic forest fires by clearing away the dead logs and underbrush that fuel the big fires.

13.   Stanton, the Park Service director, expects to resume using prescribed fires in the West.

14.   The final step, scheduled for next March, would be to resume both types of prescribed fires.

15.   The Park Service has halted all prescribed fires in the West because of the New Mexico fiasco.

16.   The Park Service and other agencies have increasingly relied on prescribed fires to clear out dead wood and underbrush that can fuel larger, catastrophic wildfires.

17.   The Park Service ban does not apply to Florida, but prescribed fires in the state have been suspended because of severe drought.

18.   While the current debate focuses on the West, prescribed fires also are set elsewhere, most notably Florida.