Oldranger,

When I was in graduate school in 1974, there was a movement at the U of WA to convince the USFS Reg 6 in Seattle to consider the use of prescribed burning as a management tool. It was many years later that the Feds were even willing to have a discussion about it.

What is old is new again. Now the Federal Govt is in love with prescribed burning, and they use it at inappropriate times. The National Park Service is by far the worst offender. They insist on lighting fires in September, like the recent bad one in Yosemite. They insist on lighting fires when the weather changes for the worst and the USFS calls them and says they had better cancel their plans. (Los Alamos fire).
In 1988 during the driest year in a century, the Park Service elects in Yellowstone to adopt the let in burn philosophy.

The Forest Service and the BLM on a lesser scale have a decent track record in the use of prescribed fire. The Park Service is like a bunch of kids with matches, and needs adult supervision.