document: A recommended halt to the government 's `` let it burn '' forest fire policy probably would be over by the start of the Western fire season next spring , according to the co-chairman of a panel that suggested the moratorium . The panel , in recommendations Thursday to the secretaries of agriculture and interior , said there were environmental benefits to allowing fires in national parks and wilderness areas to burn . Experts say fire renews forests , giving new species a chance to grow , encouraging wildlife and recycling nutrients . But it also said that `` in some cases the social and economic effects '' of allowing a forest fire to burn `` may be unacceptable . '' The panel suggested a temporary halt to the `` let it burn '' policy , saying the Forest Service and the National Park Service needed more time to refine their fire management plans . `` My guess is that the moratorium would be finished by the beginning of the Western fire season , which is the middle of May , '' Charles Philpot , co-chairman of the review panel , told a news conference . The panel was assembled last September after the worst fire season ever in drought-primed Yellowstone National Park . Some 249 fires seared 706,278 acres within the park boundaries and 40 percent as much again in nearby national forests . Residents in the fire vicinity complained bitterly that the park , tourism and the very air they breathed were being ruined by the failure to control the fires . The review team was asked to look at policies throughout the national parks and wilderness areas , not just Yellowstone . However , it did not consider policies in other areas such as ordinary national forests , where the Forest Service tries to protect commercial timbering operations . The panel 's report will remain open for public comment for 60 days before any recommendations are adopted . The report said no fires in national parks and wilderness areas should be allowed to burn until government fire management plans are improved and strengthened . It said actual fire management plans often have not spelled out when natural fires would be allowed to burn and when they would be put out . The agencies involved should make sure that fire management plans conform to departmental policies , that employees understand the policies , that everybody is using a common vocabulary and that agencies have agreed beforehand what to do if fires threaten to move across administrative boundaries , the report said . `` No ... natural fires are to be allowed until fire management plans meet these standards , '' the report said . Plans should consider the effects of prolonged drought , fuel moisture content and the possibility that multiple fires will tie up fire-fighting resources , the report said . Another recommendation called for the responsible agency official to `` certify in writing daily that adequate resources are available to ensure '' that every natural fire will be kept within boundaries set by government authorities .
extractive_keyphrases: forest fire policy western fire season national forests fire management plans natural fires recommended halt panel