Spring = Burn Season in Southern Wisconsin
Along with crocuses and daffodils, spring also heralds “Burn Season”. Fire, a useful tool in land restoration efforts, promotes healthy ecosystems. Prescribed burns – intentionally lit fires under controlled conditions – help create healthy, native-species-filled plant and wildlife habitats.
Each year, in southern Wisconsin, between late March and mid-May, prescribed burns on Alliance-owned preserves and properties owned by the state, county, or private land-owners will close sections of the Ice Age National Scenic. These closures may last for hours, or sometimes for a day or two.
The Alliance will post day-of-event property-specific burn notices for Alliance-owned preserves. However, we cannot always track the prescribed burns happening on properties owned by the state, county, or private-landowners.
Trail Closures: What to Do
Do not enter the area if you encounter a “Prescribed Fire Ahead” or “Trail Closed” sign, or see a smoke column. Entering a burn area puts both you and the burn crew in danger. Although, the crews conducting the prescribed burns are trained to make the situation as safe as possible, fires create dynamic conditions requiring the full attention of everyone involved. An unplanned person in a burn unit is a hazard. Not only do you take away resources from the burn, you may unintentionally cause the fire to escape it prescribed boundaries. A runaway fire threatens the safety of people, wildlife, and property.
Prescribed Burns at Alliance-Owned Preserves
At some point between April 13 and May 15, prescribed burns will take place at these preserves:
- Gibraltar Rock Segment (Steenbock Preserve), Southern Columbia County
- Table Bluff Segment (SwampLovers’ Preserve), Dane County
- Cross Plains Segment (Holmes, Anderson, and Mammoth’s Back Preserves), Dane County
- Valley View Segment (Valley View Preserve), Dane County
- Verona Segment (Moraine Kettles Preserve), Dane County
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