As a certified land trust, the Ice Age Trail Alliance utilizes fire, which benefits plant and wildlife communities and improves the hiker experience along the Trail. As a result, from March through mid-May, sections of the Ice Age Trail will be closed for prescribed burns, often for only a few hours.
Native plants like these, gracing your hikes along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, are not a stroke of luck, but point to the intentional efforts of Ice Age Trail Alliance staff and volunteers. Through its Habitat Improvement Program, the Alliance is actively increasing the presence of native plant species on Alliance-owned preserves. This diverse array of plants supports an entire food web, creating a robust and resilient ecosystem benefiting pollinator species like bumble bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds.
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.
