Jason F. Roesner, wildlife biologist of the Arlington Ecological Service's East Texas Sub-office, has assisted the U.S. Forest Service in a record breaking year for prescribed burning of the National Forests and Grasslands (NFGT) in Texas.  Approximately 170,000 acres are anticipated to be prescribed burned in the Angelina, Davy Crockett, Sabine, and Sam Houston National Forests and Caddo/LBJ Grasslands this fiscal year.  As of April 16, 2008, there have been 147,000 acres of prescribed burning on the NFGT.  Other activities to help reduce fuel loading are grazing and timber management.  Many visitors to the NFGT only see the actual burn and are unaware of the time and effort it takes for both on-the-ground preparation and fulfilling all the necessary legal requirements.   The following activities are conducted to allow a prescribed burn to run smoothly: protecting red-cockaded woodpecker trees, public notifications, logistics, road blocks and burn plans just to name a few.  Some of the legal requirements to be complied with include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 as amended.   Jason has been responsible for reviewing and providing input to the Forest Service on their Biological Evaluations under the ESA and NEPA scoping process.  To date, Jason has also assisted on-the-ground with 16 prescribed burns totaling over 23,000 acres on the NFGT.