EPA effort puts ecosystem at risk

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Monday that a federal agency's efforts to limit prescribed burns that are used to preserve tallgrass prairies actually is putting the ecosystem in Oklahoma at risk. Working with a Kansas senator on a bill that covers Tulsa, Washington and Osage counties, the Oklahoma Republican accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of pitting two separate and unrelated issues against each other. "The EPA's efforts to limit prescribed burns in this region fail to take into account the fact that they play a key role in protecting our tallgrass prairies,'' Inhofe said. "This bill will provide a simple solution that balances our states' environmental and economic needs.'' Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who introduced the legislation, called the Flint Hills Preservation Act, would protect landowners' ability to use fire as a tool to preserve the tall-grass prairie ecosystem. Each year, ranchers, landowners and conservation groups use prescribed fires to mimic the seasonal fires that have shaped the tallgrass prairie for thousands of years. Prescribed burning is an essential management practice for protecting the ecosystem, and it helps ranchers keep pastures free from invasive species, its advocates say...more