Fort McCoy personnel complete 2020’s first prescribed burns

The 2020 prescribed burn season at Fort McCoy has already started with more than 160 acres already completed, said Charles Mentzel, Fort McCoy forestry technician with the Directorate of Public Works (DPW) who coordinates the prescribed burn program with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department.

The burns are completed with a large team of personnel, Mentzel said.

This includes personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department; Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch; Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; and the Colorado State University Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, under contract with the post.

The first prescribed burn of 2020 took place along miles of railroad track on South Post on March 4, Mentzel said. The prescribed burn team was able to clear dry, dead grass from along the railway.

“Along tracks, we burned over 40 acres,” Mentzel said. “All fires this spring so far were fuel-reduction burns. This keeps the grass from catching on fire from range use or sparks from passing trains.”

On March 16-17, the prescribed burn team also completed a burn on areas near Range 100 on South Post.

“At the Range 100 area, we burned over 120 acres over both days,” Mentzel said.

Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

“Prescribed burns benefit the environment many ways and are one of the tools we can use on a large scale to improve our wild habitat,” he said.

Mentzel said prescribed burns help set back invasive species, and they burn up their seed banks. Burns also give native species an opportunity to compete against some of the non-native species, as many native species depend on fire to help stimulate them and set back non-native species.

The burns also set back small trees and shrubs and make them grow again from the stump,” Mentzel said. “This allows for more food for deer and other animals and removes unwanted (tree) species from the understory, such as white pines growing underneath an oak forest.”

Mentzel said another 1,500 to 2,500 acres worth of prescribed burns are planned for later in the spring, weather and circumstances permitting.

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services each year since 1984.