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Case Studies: Prescribed Fire and Interfering Vegetation

Prescribed Fire for Forest Management Series

Case Studies: Prescribed Fire and Interfering Vegetation

Sept. 4, 2024

Join Jack McGowan-Stinski and Jim Elleson to explore ways that prescribed burning can help forest managers deal with interfering vegetation.

Jim Elleson’s presentation will address managing oak woodlands with prescribed fire, with examples drawn from his experience with multiple sites in Wisconsin.

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PRESENTERS

Jack McGowan-Stinski

Program Manager, Lake States Fire Science Consortium, Ohio State University

Jack is the Program Manager for the Lake States Fire Science Consortium, funded by the Joint Fire Science Program, and administered through the Ohio State University.  His main duties include managing the activities of LSFSC, and liaising with researchers, land and fire managers, and policymakers across the Lake States Region. Jack received a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and a M.S. in Conservation Biology from Central Michigan University.  Jack’s professional experiences include – Fire Manager and Land Steward for The Nature Conservancy, a Consultant/Contractor and Burn Boss, multiple seasonal positions with USFS and State DNRs. Jack is one of the founders of the Michigan Prescribed Fire Council, actively participates on steering committees/boards for the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils, the NE MW Regional Prescribed Fire Council, and MI and MN Councils, and supported the start-up of other State RX Councils in IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, PA, and WI. When not sharing fire and natural resource management stories, Jack will disappear for as long as possible into the wilds of MN and WI to explore, hunt, fish, kayak, snowshoe, and immerse in a wide variety of arts and crafts projects.

Jim Elleson

Founder, Quercus Land Stewardship Services

Jim started Quercus Land Stewardship Services in 2003 with the goal of helping landowners improve the ecological health of their land.  Over the next two decades he helped hundreds of landowners including federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit conservation organizations and land trusts, commercial businesses and private individuals.  He and his crews provided land management services for tens of thousands of acres, including prescribed burning, invasive species control, timber stand improvement, and other activities to promote native plant communities.   Jim led over 500 prescribed burns totaling nearly 13,000 acres for clients from 2004 to 2023.  He stepped down from running the business in 2020, and his “retirement” projects include leading the development of a Wisconsin prescribed fire burn boss certification program for the Wisconsin Prescribed Fire Council, mentoring the next generation of prescribed fire leaders, and managing his own little corner of Wisconsin’s Driftless area.

MODERATOR

Michele Witecha

Prescribed Fire Specialist, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Michele began her prescribed fire journey as a volunteer burn crew member with The Nature Conservancy in 2002. Her career background is primarily in wildlife/endangered species management and fire ecology in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. She worked with both public and private prescribed burn programs in the southeast and the Midwest before joining the Wisconsin DNR fire program in 2013. As the specialist for the DNR prescribed fire program for the last 7 years Michele has had the privilege of working with field staff and outside partners (such as Jack and Jim!) to continually improve and increase prescribed fire on both public and private lands.

Additional Resources

Continuing Education

This webinar has been pre-approved for the following:

If you are watching the recorded session and need continuing education credit, you must be registered for the series AND verify you watched the recorded session​. 

Certificates of completion are available by emailing wfc@uwsp.edu. Certificates will be emailed to you within 7-10 business days.

Verify you watched the recorded session

Resources

Managing Oak Woodlands with Prescribed Fire by Jim Elleson

Prescribed Fire & Interfering Vegetation by Jack McGowan-Stinski

Fire damage effects on red oak timber product value Marschall et. al, Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 320, 15 May 2014, pp. 182-189.

Fire in Eastern Oak Forests – A Primer – Stambaugh et. al, NRS-INF-39-22, June 2022.

WI DNR Prescribed Burn Dashboard

Evaluation

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