Keeping Hardwood Range Ready
Joshua Boisvert, R9/Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest/Blackwell Job Corps
May 28, 2026
Smoke moved across Hardwood Range as firefighters worked along roads, control lines and open grass fields during a prescribed burn operation in Wisconsin.
Crews in yellow fire shirts carried tools, packs and drip torches while partner agencies coordinated firing operations across the range. The work was part of an annual effort to reduce hazardous fuels at the air-to-ground bombing range, where military training can create fire risk when ordnance strikes target areas.
Wildland firefighters walk along a paved road while supporting prescribed fire operations at Hardwood Range. The operation brought together various personnel and participants to conduct range maintenance and fuels work.
The prescribed burn brought together the Forest Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Hardwood Range personnel, UAS operators, Army aviation support and Forest Service Job Corps for a shared mission to reduce fuels, support military readiness, national security, and provide hands-on prescribed fire training in a live operational environment.
For Blackwell and Trapper Creek Job Corps, the operation offered a chance to work beside experienced fire personnel while supporting a large, interagency burn. Crews were working toward burning approximately 7,200 acres, including about 600 acres along the range boundaries before moving into additional firing operations with UAS aerial ignition. David McConathy, advanced fire trade instructor at Trapper Creek Job Corps in Darby, Montana, said the operation brought together several agencies and partners with different roles in the burn.
Smoke rises from a prescribed fire at Hardwood Range as crews work inside the installation boundary. The burn was part of a coordinated operation to manage fuels and support continued use of the training area.
“We have the U.S. Forest Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy, and Hardwood Bombing Range itself,” said McConathy. “The Southern UAS module is here. The U.S. Army is here with the Black Hawk helicopter. A lot of people with different backgrounds and resources.”
While the operation served as a training opportunity, the burn also supported a direct operational need for Hardwood Range.
Crews gather near a fire engine during prescribed operations at Hardwood Range. Personnel helped support the coordinated burn.
“When ordnance hits the targets, they throw sparks,” said Lt. Col. David “Weedz” Elsing, range operating authority, Hardwood Range. “Even though the ordnance does not necessarily explode on this range, there is an extreme fire hazard when metal hits metal.”
Reducing those fuels helps range personnel limit fire spread and avoid interruptions to military training.
Wildland fire personnel attend a morning operations briefing before prescribed fire work at Hardwood Range on April 29, 2026.
“The Forest Service has the resources and the training for us to burn at this scale and do it as safely as possible,” said Elsing. “This wildland fire piece, that training and expertise, expands well outside the Forest Service and other federal agencies.”
For Elsing, the annual burn connects mission readiness with long-term stewardship of the range.
“This burning operation every year continues to grow, and it’s an incredibly vital part of securing the range here and allowing us to provide continuous mission support, but also conserve the land that we’re trusted to utilize,” said Elsing.
For Job Corps students, that mission created a field training opportunity built around live prescribed fire operations.
A wildland firefighter monitors the edge of a prescribed fire along a gravel road at Hardwood Range as flames move through dry grass. Crews conducted the burn to manage vegetation and support range operations.
“I just saw it as a great opportunity to get students out in a high success, low stakes kind of environment to learn,” McConathy said. “A learn to burn area, if you will.”
Beyond the technical work, McConathy said the assignment helped students practice the habits expected on fire crews.
“I hope they learn some good leadership skills, learn how to adapt and overcome, how to improvise, how to make sound decisions and eventually become good leaders,” said McConathy.
Matt St. Pierre, district ranger for the Washburn Ranger District on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, said the range offered firefighters a chance to work across different fuel types and operational situations.
A wildland firefighter walks through smoke during prescribed fire operations at Hardwood Range. Crews used fire to reduce vegetation and maintain training areas during the coordinated burn.
“There’s training objectives here,” said St. Pierre. “We’ve got a lot of different agencies all working to develop firefighters that they have in different situations.”
St. Pierre said the operation also helped build relationships among agencies that often work toward similar fire and land management goals.
“One objective that I have, and others have, is to just improve the coordination and communication among agencies,” said St. Pierre. “Learn from each other but also learn who else is doing this kind of work.”
That exchange of experience included the Job Corps students assigned to the burn.
“It’s a beneficial experience for both students and for us,” said St. Pierre. “Things we take for granted that we’ve learned over our career, they don’t have that experience. So just sharing our information with them, and they’re certainly receptive to hear from those that have been doing this for a while.”
A prescribed fire burns along a wooded edge at Hardwood Range as smoke moves across the burn area. Crews monitored the fireline as the burn removed dry vegetation and reduced fuels within the training area.
Charlie Gerheim, a forestry conservation and firefighting student at Trapper Creek Job Corps, said the assignment was his first and gave him a chance to use skills from his trade.
“This is my first fire assignment,” said Gerheim. “In the trade, we did learn a little bit about fire and some of the behavior. We do a lot of physical training in our trade, and that has really helped prepare me to come out here and do this and be ready for the job.”
Gerheim said the assignment showed him how natural resource work combines physical effort, technical knowledge and purpose.
“It is a really rewarding job knowing that you’re out there doing something with your hands,” said Gerheim. “Using science and putting your skills to the test in a way that is both professional and fun at the same time.”
Cori Semler, assistant hand crew superintendent, Blackwell Job Corps, said the value of the assignment came from having students work with multiple centers, agencies and leadership styles.
“Students get to learn from multiple staff members,” said Semler. “Everyone teaches or explains operational tactics differently. For staff members, being able to teach the students shows how well they have learned and understand the operations of the assignment.”
Semler said those lessons are not limited to tools, tactics or firing operations.
“When we are out in the field, whether it is on a wildfire or on a prescribed burn, the students are learning how to work with others in high-stress situations, different leadership styles, and how to communicate with others,” said Semler. “You have to be able to adapt to not only the fire itself, but the people you may have never met before.”
For McConathy, the long-term measure of the assignment will come after students leave the range.
“I don’t base my success on how many assignments I go on or how many dollars I made or how many acres I burn,” said McConathy. “I base my success on what these students accomplish once they leave my program.”