Welcome to Wisconsin's Northwoods

Northern Wisconsin contains roughly 2 million acres of public land, including extensive forests managed by both the US Forest Service (USFS) and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Agencies, residents, and vacation-goers alike utilize or manage the land in myriad ways, including: forestry, outdoor recreation, habitat restoration, foraging and wood gathering, and wilderness preservation. "The Northwoods" is a title that encompasses all these qualities while conveying a uniquely remote and idyllic sense of place.

Relatively few people, though, recognize that many of the densely forested areas of the Northwoods that they cherish were once open landscapes, now overgrown after 100 years of fire suppression. Historically, fire – whether from lightning or indigenous burning practices – created diverse open habitats called Pine Barrens. Pine barrens are imperiled both globally and across Wisconsin and neighboring states. Fifty-two high-priority conservation animal species inhabit pine barrens, while a few dozen more frequent them for food or nesting purposes. Over a dozen rare plant species rely on this habitat and occasional fire disturbance. Wisconsin land managers recognize the importance of returning fire to the landscape in order to restore and connect fragments of this now rare habitat, and are collaborating to learn the best practices moving forward.

There are many diverse examples of pine barrens, but all are characteristically an open mosaic of grasses, low shrubs, small trees, and scattered large pines. They occur on sandy soils and regenerate through frequent episodes of fire.

The Restoration Process

Thanks to historical documentation of early explorers, settlers, and land surveyors, today's land managers have a window into where pine barrens existed in the past. In the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest's Lakewood District, personnel use these notes to help inform where to restore pine barren habitat. The forested space in the following photographs was described in one archival account as having only around four or five trees per acre (roughly the size of a football field).

Beside human accounts, trees themselves also help tell the story of fire. Researchers analyzing burn scars of charred stumps discovered that fire returned to barrens areas as frequently as once every six years prior to European settlement.

Safe re-introduction of fire

After a century of permissive regrowth, northern forests are too dense with fuel to immediately introduce fire safely. Managers therefore rely on Wisconsin's still robust timber industry to first log most of the broadleaf trees from target areas. Clearcutting parcels reduces fuels and allows prescribed fires to burn at a manageable, low intensity. The process also shortens the restoration timeline by many years. Clear of trees and their shade, the newly sunlit ground begins to host once dormant native grasses, shrubs, and flowering plants that will re-establish with fire as well.

Trees from this site are sent to mills, and often managers return to dispose of the "slash" or logging debris with machinery that chews up or "masticates" it. Mastication often appeals to nearby landowner aesthetic preferences, and further reduces fuels for low-intensity burns.

After mastication, fire is still necessary in order to prevent resilient oaks from reforesting the area. The woody stubs in this image are oaks re-sprouting from their roots, which quickly out-compete the scattered pines for sunshine.

Some animals that benefit from barrens restoration:

Red-headed woodpecker
Black-headed woodpecker
Whip-poor will
Brown thrasher
Black-billed cuckoo
Vesper sparrow
Grasshopper sparrow
Lark sparrow
Winter wren
Golden-winged warbler
Blue-winged warbler
Connecticut warbler
Prairie warbler
Common nighthawk
Easter towhee
Brewer's blackbird
Upland sandpiper
Wild turkey
American woodcock
Sharp-tailed grous
Spruce grouse
Franklin's ground squirrel
Prairie vole
Red foxe
Coyote
Fisher
Wolf
Black bear
White-tailed deer
American badger
Eastern red bat
Boreal chorus frog
Karner blue butterfly
Monarch butterfly
Blanding's turtle

Prescribed burns

When the landscape begins to dry out in the spring, experienced fire managers select ideal weather conditions to coordinate their burns. They may spend weeks waiting for the ideal mix of conditions (such as temperature, winds, and dryness), in order to prevent disorderly spread of flames and reduce the hazards of smoke for nearby populations. A small amount of vegetation is lit as a "test ignition" to indicate the burn behavior of the material and if the fire should proceed.

Well-planned fires account for wind and nearby communities so that smoke is non-obtrusive. In most cases the smoke drifts skyward and dissipates that same day or the next day.

Prescribed burns are done by trained firefighters who can manage the flames when conditions change. On this burn they cautiously put out flames creeping up a pine at the perimeter of the burn unit.

The 50 acres of this burn sits near areas that still have slash and also areas that remain as forest. The openness of these burn footprints - and the resulting barrens - also helps reduce the risk to communities of severe wildfires at the wildland-urban interface.

The Post-Fire Landscape

Dramatic changes occur after fires and are noticeable within only a few seasons. Blueberries are a signature crop of post-burn barrens, providing families and individuals with an exciting summer activity. Past naturalists also described huckleberry thickets denser than in any other kind of landscape in Wisconsin. Wildflowers bloom throughout the spring and in different waves all summer long, attracting rare butterflies like monarchs and the karner blue, plus myriad buzzing pollinators.

A hazy future

Ecologists along with natural resource managers of the USFS and Wisconsin DNR are still researching the complexities of fire and what intervals are needed for restoring viable pine barrens habitat.

Restoration priorities also include expanding the few and fragmented barrens that still exist. The necessity is highlighted by the territorial needs of certain animals like the sharp-tailed grouse, whose sparse populations require a few thousand acres of open habitat. The reclusive birds draw nature lovers from across the country for their eclectic and loud mating dances each spring. Nevertheless, Wisconsin DNR officials worry if the populations will survive in the coming decades.

For more information you may contact or browse resources from the USFS and Wisconsin DNR. We hope that you are able to learn more about the unique opportunity that Wisconsin has to restore this dwindling habitat.

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