The slight haze-colored blue sky coupled with the faint smell of smoke along a portion of Route 9 south from Eagleswood to Little Egg Harbor during the early afternoon hours of March 4 could mean only one thing: active forest fire prevention, or prescribed burn season.

Also known as a controlled burn, active forest fire prevention reduces dense undergrowth and other forest debris that has the potential to fuel wildfires in the spring, according to Shawn LaTourette, acting commissioner of the…