The burn was small, and conditions were ideal to complete about 28 acres to burn, said Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger, who approved the go-ahead for the burn the morning of the event.
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 11:30 a.m. and went for about two to three hours. Messenger was on site with the entire burn team as well as Tim Wilder, chief of the NRB. Wilder said the burn opportunity was good to get done.
“We’re accomplishing several different things here with this burn today,” Wilder said Nov. 13. “The burn is going to help maintain this area as a prairie. … This area is an extension of the Badger Drop Zone for Soldiers to either drop equipment or when they are parachuting out. On the natural resources side, we have several rare butterflies at the installation, … and they’re all found in that Badger Drop Zone. We should be improving that habitat for them today.”
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 who was also present with the Nov. 13 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.
“One of the other big benefits of prescribed burns is invasive species management,” Wilder said. “We’ll target areas to help with invasive species management.”
Coinciding with this prescribed burn was a media relations event by the Fort McCoy Garrison to show how the prescribed burn process takes place. Several local media outlets covered the small prescribed burn to see how it is managed.
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.”
Members of the Fort McCoy prescribed burn team coordinated a prescribed burn Nov. 13 along a drop zone on South Post at Fort McCoy.
The burn was small, and conditions were ideal to complete about 28 acres to burn, said Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger, who approved the go-ahead for the burn the morning of the event.
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 11:30 a.m. and went for about two to three hours. Messenger was on site with the entire burn team as well as Tim Wilder, chief of the NRB. Wilder said the burn opportunity was good to get done.
“We’re accomplishing several different things here with this burn today,” Wilder said Nov. 13. “The burn is going to help maintain this area as a prairie. … This area is an extension of the Badger Drop Zone for Soldiers to either drop equipment or when they are parachuting out. On the natural resources side, we have several rare butterflies at the installation, … and they’re all found in that Badger Drop Zone. We should be improving that habitat for them today.”
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 who was also present with the Nov. 13 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.
“One of the other big benefits of prescribed burns is invasive species management,” Wilder said. “We’ll target areas to help with invasive species management.”
Coinciding with this prescribed burn was a media relations event by the Fort McCoy Garrison to show how the prescribed burn process takes place. Several local media outlets covered the small prescribed burn to see how it is managed.
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.”
By Scott Sturkol
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