Photo By Scott Sturkol | Post personnel oversee a prescribed burn March 22, 2018, at an area on South Post at...... read more read more
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Several prescribed burns have already taken place at Fort McCoy in 2018, including recent large-scale burns at areas on both North Post and South Post, said Charles Mentzel, Fort McCoy forestry technician who oversees the prescribed burn program.
Personnel with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services 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.
Mentzel said being able to start the prescribed burn season in February was helpful.
“The early season was terrific,” Mentzel said. “We try to get started as soon as the snow, weather, and fuel conditions allow us to get going. With all the precipitation last year, the grasses grew well all summer. This spring, there is a lot of fuel to burn. Recent snowfall has stalled our efforts, but we expect to burn again when the conditions allow us.”
In fall 2017, post personnel were able to complete prescribed burns into early December as conditions were favorable. That late season work helped get ranges and training areas ready for Operation Cold Steel and other training that started in early 2018.
“We wanted to be ready with Operation Cold Steel taking place again for the spring, so we wanted to get as many range acres burned prior to the spring,” Mentzel said. “If we hadn’t completed those burns last year, many wildfires could have occurred this spring, and training has to be delayed if there is a fire.
“We attempted to burn in late October when the conditions allowed us; however, we had not had a killing frost yet and the grasses still held too much water, so the burns were incomplete,” Mentzel said.
“We thought we had missed our opportunity, but then we got lucky during Thanksgiving week when conditions dried out almost better than in the spring. We burned for four straight days the last week of November and on Dec. 1 and completed many ranges, including the whole northern impact area, thus allowing Cold Steel to train without delay this spring.”
Prescribed burns also improve wildlife habitat, control invasive plant species, restore and maintain native plant communities, and reduce wildfire potential, Mentzel said.
“By burning the ranges, where wildfires may typically start at Fort McCoy, we remove the fuel so that they cannot start,” Mentzel said. “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.”
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.”
Prescribed burns will likely continue into late spring as conditions allow, then will pick up again in the fall, Mentzel said.
| Date Taken: | 04.10.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2018 16:41 |
| Story ID: | 272542 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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