Restoring Savanna Communities in Wisconsin with Rx Fire at Ecologically Meaningful Scales

Join Jeb Barzen and Brendan Woodall as they discuss the implications of using prescribed fire to restore savanna landscapes.

Jeb Barzen will focus on addressing the potential for restoring savanna communities in Wisconsin at ecologically meaningful scales through use of prescribed fire and through expanding social tools such as carbon credits or environmental labels. Most vegetative communities in Wisconsin, including a variety of savanna communities, are fire-dependent and the Wisconsin landscape is approximately 85% privately owned. A 10-fold increase in the implementation of prescribed fire is needed and our current capacity to implement those fires is limited by the number of trained people to burn safely and the incentives necessary to allow private landowners to deploy Rx fire sustainably over decades and across broad landscapes to achieve ecologically significant impacts.  ​  ​​ ​​

Brendan Woodall will dive into the details on what he does as a Private Lands Biologist through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and discuss how fire is used as a restoration and management tool in savanna communities on private land. There are many barriers and limitations to actually being able to get fire on the ground safely, such as socially, financially, and logistically.

About the Wisconsin Forestry Center's Prescribed Fire for Forest Management Webinar Series: Foresters and land managers have many management tools at their disposal. A tool that's often overlooked is prescribed fire. Prescribed fire for forest management is important for ​ecosystem health, forest regeneration, wildlife habitat, forest health, and disease control. Join the Wisconsin Forestry Center for insightful discussions with national experts as we discuss forest management using prescribed fire. Learn some of the practical knowledge of where, when, why, and how to apply fire in forest ecosystems.