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Burning a Protected Marshland to Stimulate Plant Growth

Every winter since the 1930's, federal wildlife managers have burned sections of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

This sounds questionable, from an environmental perspective, but an independent study found that burning the marsh grasses actually accelerates their growth in the spring.

Tom Pelton, a national award-winning environmental journalist, has hosted "The Environment in Focus" since 2007. He also works as director of communications for the Environmental Integrity Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health. From 1997 until 2008, he was a journalist for The Baltimore Sun, where he was twice named one of the best environmental reporters in America by the Society of Environmental Journalists.