News Release

National Park Service to Conduct Pile Burning, Winter-Spring 2024

Date: February 13, 2024
Contact: Caitlin Nagorka, 715-501-0011

ST. CROIX FALLS, Wisconsin: The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway plans to burn numerous brush piles in the Riverway corridor from February 26 – March 31 depending on weather conditions. The National Park Service (NPS) is conducting these burns to improve forest and bedrock glade habitat along the St. Croix River.Piles are to be burned at:

• Osceola Glade; located in Polk County, two miles west of Dresser, Wisconsin. This site has approximately 26 brush piles. The area is being restored to bedrock glade habitat.

The NPS has developed detailed plans for pile burning and the fires are carried out by trained and certified personnel. The plans address temperature, relative humidity, wind, and other conditions under which a burn can take place, protection of adjacent properties, communications, needed manpower and equipment, safety, and other considerations.

The piles will be burned while surrounding vegetation is not flammable. If conditions are not favorable on the day when burning is planned or while piles are still hot, the burn will be rescheduled or piles may be extinguished.

The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway’s Fire Management Plan is available upon request by contacting the St. Croix River Visitor Center in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, at 715-483-2274 or emailing [e-mail].

For additional information, contact the St. Croix River Visitor Center in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, at 715-483-2274.

The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, a unit of the National Park System, was established by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968. It is one of a group of eight rivers in the country which first received this recognition. For 255 miles, the St. Croix and its tributary, the Namekagon, flow through some of the most scenic and least developed country in the Upper Midwest.Learn more at www.nps.gov/sacn.