Photo Essay: Fort McCoy holds prescribed burn along rail corridor on installation; improves safety, Part 2

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Members of the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn March 13, 2025, on South 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 in cooperation 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 we can use on a large scale to improve our wild habitat, said Fort McCoy Forester Charles Mentzel with the Directorate of Public Works Natural Resources Branch. 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. (Photo by Scott Sturkol, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

03.23.2025

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                                  

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Members of the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team oversee a prescribed burn March 13, 2025, on South 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 in cooperation 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 we can use on a large scale to improve our wild habitat, said Fort McCoy Forester Charles Mentzel with the Directorate of Public Works Natural Resources Branch.

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.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”

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: 03.23.2025
• Date Posted: 03.23.2025 23:28
• Story ID: 493523
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US