Usually officials at Wayne National Forest are trying to prevent forest fires, but in November, they have been causing them.

“We have prescribe burnings scheduled for the whole month of November,” said Tim Slone, district ranger for the Ironton district of WNF. “The burnings occur in various areas of the Buckhorn section of the forest.”

The purpose of these burnings is to provide a diversity of plant life as well as the proper habitats for native wildlife. Slone also says the burnings allow oak and hickory trees to grow more freely, which used to be the primary trees found in the area during the early settlement period.

“The goal is to get more of a mix of oak and hickory,” he said. “Return the park to what it looked like when it was first settled. The burnings will also allow for a more variety in vegetation, and that’s good for the animals that live in the forest.”

Oak and hickory trees are more fire resistant than other species, and can survive the burnings while other tree types die out. This reduces the competition facing the oak and hickory trees allowing them to reclaim their previous hold on the forest.

“The oak and hickory can handle fire pretty well,” Slone said. “They were being overrun by other species of trees and were becoming kind of scarce in the forest. So this will allow them a chance to grow their population.”

Weather plays a major factor on when officials can administer the controlled fires. Slone says safety is the main concern for WNF.

“There are a lot of factors, like temperature, dampness and even wind directions and speed,” he said. “We take a lot of precautions to do this as safely as possible”

The Buckhorn section of the forest is roughly 1,500 acres but only 500 to 600 hundred acres are selected for the prescribed burnings.