Federal officials plan controlled burns on more than 9,000 acres in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest as the rains ease and the landscape dries.
The burns this spring are part of a broader effort in Washington to step up the pace of intentionally set fires that can reduce fuel loads and hopefully lower — in those treated areas — the risk of runaway summer blazes.
The work, which increasingly includes partnerships among landowners, benefits from strong support from lawmakers.
“There is a lot of leadership in our Legislature,” said Reese Lolley, the Nature Conservancy’s director of forest restoration and fire in Yakima. “I think they are recognizing how big the issue is, and that it’s not going to go away.”