By Steve Pence, Land Restoration Specialist for the Ice Age Trail Alliance
Steve Pence, Land Restoration Specialist, during a prescribed burn at the Table Bluff Segment of the Ice Age Trail. Photo by Jo Ellarson.
Prescribed Fire Season: March through Mid-May
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, meeting land management goals.
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.
Prescribed burns – intentionally lit fires under controlled conditions – help create healthy, native-species-filled plant and wildlife habitats. Photo by Joanne Ellarson.
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.
