Wisconsin residents have a new way to stay up-to-date on the state Department of Natural Resources’ prescribed burning program.
An online dashboard available on the agency’s website provides past and present information on the program, which consists of controlled fires to improve wildlife habitat; reduce invasive plant species; stimulate wildflowers and grasses; and control brush.
The department launched the dashboard, which can be found at dnrmaps.wi.gov/prescribedburndashboard, in 2021, according to DNR prescribed fire specialist Michele Witecha.
“It’s a relatively new program, so we only have data since 2019,” she said. “Folks can visit the prescribed burn dashboard in order to view where historic burns have taken place and see the real-time status of current, active burns. It shows not only what is currently happening in their areas, it also shows burns planned up to four days in advance. It’s a good way to provide some heads-up on where we may be actively burning over the weekend.”
The DNR schedules prescribed burns each spring and fall. This year’s round of fires began in March in southern Wisconsin.
“We have to utilize every burn window we have,” Witecha said. “Spring is a much larger window without negatively impacting nesting wildlife and most hunting seasons. We tend to get better brush kill in the late summer and fall. We want to do a hotter burn in areas invaded by brush, but if it’s just for maintaining a prairie, spring is great.”
Fire crews eventually work their way north, Witecha said.
“With the northern portion of the state in hibernation, we actually have staff from the north down here helping with the southern workload and at the end of the season, the southern staff move up north to support the workload there,” she said. “It’s a very collaborative effort.”
A prescribed burn affects a habitat differently than a wildfire, Witecha said.
“The wildfire has the potential to burn not only the ground, but also the mid-story and the entire tree canopy,” she said. “The way prescribed burns help maintain healthy forests is burning the under- and mid-story in order to keep the forest open and encourage regeneration of young trees, reduce wildfire risk, promote native vegetation and reduce invasive species. It’s more of a cleanup for the maintenance and health of the forest as opposed to a total top-to-bottom destruction.”
Prescribed burns units vary in size from less than an acre to up to almost 3,000 acres, and the DNR burns from 25,000 to 30,000 acres a year, Witecha said.
Prescribed burns have a minimal impact on wildlife, Witecha said.
“Wildlife that exist in these areas are much more used to fire and adaptive to it than we are,” she said. “They’re able to sense it sooner than we do and have multiple ways of evading fire, whether it’s on foot, on wing or burrowing. Each species has its own adaptation to how it avoids the danger and that’s one of the reasons we conduct burns when we do, so they’re not in the thick of their peak activity.”
What would happen without these prescribed burns?
“Our most fire-dependent places are our prairies, our oak savannas, our pine barrens,” Witecha said. “Without that reset of periodic fire, those types of places would be closed up with vegetation and cease to exist. These are already incredibly rare ecosystems in the state. This would essentially mean that wildlife that live in those areas would be unsupported.”
The DNR’s prescribed burning program covers only state-owned properties.
“Anytime we bring this up, the public immediately asks, ‘Are there people that I can hire to conduct a burn?’ or ‘How can I conduct a burn on my property?’” Witecha said. “For more information on safely planning or conducting your own burn or finding a burn contractor, you can visit the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council and that’s at prescribedfire.org. They wouldn’t set you up, but they’ll provide you with a list of all the contractor information so you can choose who you want to reach out to.”
A permit may be required for a prescribed burn, she said.
“It depends on where you are in the state,” she said. “We manage the parts of the state that are a little more wildfire-prone where we do require a special permit to conduct a prescribed burn. Those are free and very easy to get, and we’re happy to do that for you at a local ranger station.”
Witecha said anyone considering a burn on their property should check to see if a DNR or municipal permit is required based on their location.
“It’s always good to call the local fire department or sheriff’s office before and after you do the burn to prevent false calls,” she said.
Prescribed burns are nothing new for the department, according to Witecha.
“We are simply mimicking the science and practice of fire as it was done in Wisconsin for thousands of years,” she said. “This is not something we invented, this is something we’re rediscovering to bring back our natural communities. Conducting a burn is an investment that will always pay off in huge dividends.”
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