U.S. Forest Service-Fort McCoy partnership leads to effective beginning to 2026 prescribed burn season on post

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Members of the U.S. Forest Service and the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn March 25, 2026, at a range area on North Post at Fort McCoy, Wis. 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; Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security; and the Colorado State University Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, under contract with the post. Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential. Prescribed burns benefit the environment many ways and are one of the tools that can be used on a large scale to improve wild habitat. Natural resources management officials say 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. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

03.26.2026

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                              

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Fort McCoy held its first prescribed burn for 2026 on March 24, and the team who got the effort started was bigger than past years.

For 2026, Fort McCoy has partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to manage the installation’s prescribed burn program.

“The U.S. Forest Service brought 18 personnel (six federal fulltime staff and 12 Blackwell Job Corps trainees/students),” said Directorate of Public Works (DPW) Environmental Division Chief Brent Friedl. “We (contractors, DPW Natural Resources Branch, Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department) provided (between) 11-13 people. So, on the first day there were 31 personnel participating in the burn.”

The first prescribed burn on March 24 was completed at Range 6 and Range 29 on North Post at the installation. The second day of burning, on March 25, the team went to Range 29. On March 26, the team went to Range 31A, also in the installation’s North Post.

Overall, the post prescribed burn team includes personnel with the Fort McCoy DES Fire Department; 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.

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 fire management personnel in past news articles.

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, 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.

Fort McCoy’s motto beginning in 2026 is “Training the Total Force and Shaping the Future since 1909.”

The installation’s mission: “Fort McCoy strengthens Total Force Readiness by serving as a training center, Mobilization Force Generation Installation, and Strategic Support Area enabling warfighter lethality to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars.”

And Fort McCoy’s vision is, “To be the premier training center supporting the most capable, combat-ready, and lethal armed forces.”

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 nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the My Army Post 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: 03.26.2026
• Date Posted: 03.26.2026 18:23
• Story ID: 561413
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US