Photo Story: April 2026 prescribed burn operations at Fort McCoy

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Members of the U.S. Forest Service and the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn April 7, 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

04.16.2026

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                               

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Members of the U.S. Forest Service and the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn April 7, 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.

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: 04.16.2026
• Date Posted: 04.16.2026 18:22
• Story ID: 562930
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US