Photo By Scott Sturkol | Members of the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn Feb. 29,...... read more read more
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Members of the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team coordinated a prescribed burn Feb. 29 — the first of 2024 — along the railroad tracks on South Post at Fort McCoy.
The post prescribed burn team includes personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department; Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch (NRB); 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 entire burn began at approximately 10 a.m. and was completed in the afternoon.
Prescribed burns improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential. Prescribed burns benefit the environment in many ways and are one of the tools we can use on a large scale to improve our wild habitat, said Fort McCoy Forester Charles Mentzel in a past news article who is part of the prescribed burn team and was present with the Feb. 29 event.
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 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also gave the following information describing the benefits of prescribed burns for wild areas.
“Some specific advantages of prescribed burns include stimulating prairie grass growth and improve habitat for upland game and waterfowl; creating pockets of open water for waterfowl amidst cattails proliferating in low areas; stimulating the growth of wildflowers, which attract insects — a vital food sources for young game and non-game grassland birds; and improving cover type for grassland nesting birds such as pheasants.”
Prescribed burns also “spur native vegetative growth for songbirds; and creates open pockets of bare ground, increasing diversity and richness of ground foraging, seed-eating small mammals and birds.
As the prescribed burn season continues into the spring, Fort McCoy leadership stated the post will continue performing prescribed burn operations where local conditions provide a safe and effective burn. Fort McCoy will also continue to carefully assess the most appropriate days to conduct prescribed burns.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2024 15:07 |
| Story ID: | 465626 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 293 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort McCoy prescribed burn team holds their first prescribed burn of 2024, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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