Photo Essay: Fort McCoy’s 2018 prescribed burn season returns with November effort

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Firefighters with the Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department watch over a prescribed burn Nov. 1, 2018, on North Post at Fort McCoy, Wis. Personnel fire department; Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch; Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; and the Colorado State University Center of Environmental Management of Military Lands, under contract with the post, help coordinate each prescribed burn at the post. Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

11.07.2018

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                               

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Firefighters with the Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department watched over a prescribed burn Nov. 1, 2018, on North Post at Fort McCoy, Wis.

Personnel fire department; Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch; Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; and the Colorado State University Center of Environmental Management of Military Lands, under contract with the post, help coordinate each prescribed burn at the post.

Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential.

Charles Mentzel, Fort McCoy forestry technician who oversees the prescribed burn program, 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.”

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

Fort McCoy lives its motto, "Total Force Training Center."

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.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.

• Date Taken: 11.07.2018
• Date Posted: 11.07.2018 16:47
• Story ID: 299156
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US