FITCHBURG - The Department of Natural Resources will be conducting burns on public lands this spring in southcentral Wisconsin. All planned burns are weather dependent. Crews may or may not complete all planned burns in a season.
Controlled or prescribed burning is an ecological and economical method of limiting exotic and unwanted brush invasions, as well as:
• Stimulates prairie grass growth and improves habitat for upland game and waterfowl.
• Creates pockets of open water for waterfowl amidst cattails proliferating in low areas.
• Improves habitat for upland nesting birds, such as pheasants, and spurs native vegetative growth favored by songbirds.
• Helps preserve woodlands, grasslands and native plant species that were sustained by natural fires prior to intensive European settlement.
DNR biologists will start their spring burning schedule as weather permits. The spring burning season usually begins in April and extends into mid-May but local weather conditions can lead to an earlier start or a later finish to burning efforts. Burns not completed this spring may be done next fall or winter. State wildlife areas, public hunting grounds, state fisheries areas, state parks, state natural areas, glacial habitat restoration area, lower Wisconsin state riverway and Extensive Wildlife Habitat Program lands scheduled for burns in south-central Wisconsin. Areas include:
• Green County: New Glarus Woods SP, Browntown Oak Forest SNA, York Prairie SNA, Albany WA, Liberty Creek WA and Brooklyn WA.
• Lafayette County: Yellowstone Lake SP, Yellowstone WA, Belmont Prairie SNA, Hardscrabble Prairie SNA and Ipswich Prairie SNA.
Controlled or prescribed burning is an ecological and economical method of limiting exotic and unwanted brush invasions, as well as:
• Stimulates prairie grass growth and improves habitat for upland game and waterfowl.
• Creates pockets of open water for waterfowl amidst cattails proliferating in low areas.
• Improves habitat for upland nesting birds, such as pheasants, and spurs native vegetative growth favored by songbirds.
• Helps preserve woodlands, grasslands and native plant species that were sustained by natural fires prior to intensive European settlement.
DNR biologists will start their spring burning schedule as weather permits. The spring burning season usually begins in April and extends into mid-May but local weather conditions can lead to an earlier start or a later finish to burning efforts. Burns not completed this spring may be done next fall or winter. State wildlife areas, public hunting grounds, state fisheries areas, state parks, state natural areas, glacial habitat restoration area, lower Wisconsin state riverway and Extensive Wildlife Habitat Program lands scheduled for burns in south-central Wisconsin. Areas include:
• Green County: New Glarus Woods SP, Browntown Oak Forest SNA, York Prairie SNA, Albany WA, Liberty Creek WA and Brooklyn WA.
• Lafayette County: Yellowstone Lake SP, Yellowstone WA, Belmont Prairie SNA, Hardscrabble Prairie SNA and Ipswich Prairie SNA.