Why the devastating Boundary Waters wildfires are critical for a healthy Minnesota forest
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The Forest Service this week declared that the wildfires that burned more than 100 square miles of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area this summer are finally fully contained, more than two months after they first ignited. What those intense and fast moving blazes left behind are full of seeming contradictions.
On one hand, the blazes were incredibly destructive. They scorched more than 71,000 acres of forest, killing centuries-old trees. They harmed businesses, disrupted lives, and filled the air with lung-damaging smoke. They left behind a blackened landscape in some areas.
But those fires also cleaned out the forest, and set the stage for renewal and rebirth. They helped create a diverse patchwork of different forest types and ages across the wilderness, which should prove more resilient against future fires.
That complex story is visible along the Echo Trail west of Ely at entry point number 14 into the Boundary Waters. In July, the Sioux Fire swept out of the wilderness here, through the parking lot and across the highway.
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Trees are burned black. Crews have cut many of the dead standing trees for safety. Even the outhouse burned.
"The vent pipes on those are plastic, and that is completely melted,” said Tim Engrav, a District Ranger on the Superior National Forest.
"It's a bit dramatic,” Engrav admits.
Giant boulders that were once hidden by the thick forest are now visible through the burned trees. But the boreal forest, he stressed, is resilient.
“It looks terrible now,” said Engrav. But, he quickly added, “it’s going to grow back.”
Indeed, that process of forest regeneration is already visible along the portage trail to the Little Indian Sioux River.
Ferns and other bright green plants stand a couple feet tall along the trail. Moss has grown in, which stabilizes the soil and holds moisture for other plants, helping them sprout and grow.
Soil scientist Jeff Kroll points to pink wildflowers that stand out vibrant against the black soil.
"This is pink corydalis,” he said, pointing to a wildflower that’s a colorful contrast to the surrounding charred remains of the forest. “We see a lot of wildflowers come back that are dependent on a fire coming through,” explained Kroll.
Carl Skustad, a wilderness manager for the Forest, puts his ear close to a burned tree, and asks, “Hear him?”
Every second or two a creaking sound is emitted from the tree. It’s a long-horned beetle.
“They come immediately after fire,” explained Skustad. “They follow the smoke. They can smell it. You can see its little bore holes all over here. It helps with the decomposition and return of minerals back to the forest floor."
It's a small example of how quickly life returns to the fire-ravaged forest. The insects that come in then attract birds. Soon moose will likely congregate here to feed on the young forest that sprouts up. New blueberry plants will attract more wildlife.
"This is a fire-adapted ecosystem, and it wants to burn from time to time,” explained Drew Stroberg, Deputy Forest Supervisor for the Superior National Forest.
These forests evolved with wildfire. They need it to stay healthy, to clear out undergrowth, and to regenerate.
But not all the forest will grow back like it was before. At the bottom of the trail, enormous pines still soar to the sky. But the needles and branches are gone. All that remains are tree trunks that the fires scorched black.
In places like this one, where the fires burned extremely hot, those iconic pine trees won’t come back, said Lane Johnson, a fire ecology researcher with the University of Minnesota's Cloquet Forestry Center.
"Here? No. We don't have a seed source, and you ultimately need to have survivorship on the edges of these patches to have white pine and red pine seed in,” said Johnson.
This summer's wildfires – especially the Thumb and the Bear Trap Fires, which burned along Lac LaCroix and other huge lakes along the Canadian border, burned through some of the largest blocks of old growth forest remaining in the Boundary Waters wilderness, in areas that were never logged.
"Long-lived red pine and white pine that date to the 1700s, late 1600s,” said Johnson, noting that some trees more than 300 years old were likely killed.
“So that's some of what was impacted by this year's events,” Johnson said, pausing. “Yeah, it's meaningful."
But there's still hope that a lot of those ancient trees survived. Aerial photos show many of the trees still standing, especially along lakeshores, where many of those tall trees grow, and also where campsites are located. Forest officials say the fires appeared to burn hottest and fastest up along ridgelines between lakes.
Experts say these fires help restore what used to be a regular occurrence in the boreal forests of northern Minnesota, when lightning strikes would periodically cause large wildfires to sweep across the wilderness landscape. Ojibwe people also intentionally lit ground fires in what is now the Boundary Waters to manage the forest.
Johnson said tree ring data shows that wildfires burned regularly in the Boundary Waters through the early 1900s, but then abruptly stopped, after indigenous people were removed from the area and the U.S. and state governments began extinguishing all fires that started.
“We could consider what we're seeing this year as a return to an old normal,” said Johnson.
Large fires in the wilderness over the past few decades have helped restore a patchwork, what fire officials call a mosaic pattern, of trees of different ages. Over time, that creates a healthier balance and a more diverse and fire-resilient forest.
“I think that that's kind of a hopeful part of the message here,” said Johnson. “It's not just a disaster, but there's this restoration process that's underway for the forest.”
Meanwhile forest officials have already begun working to repair damage from the fires inside the BWCA. Crews are out assessing the 100 or so campsites that officials estimate need some kind of restoration.
Forest rangers plan to do some of that work during the winter. In some cases, they plan to carry in new latrines with sled dog teams or on skis.
Some entry points will remain closed for the rest of the season. And the most severely burned parts of the wilderness will also stay closed. But most of the BWCA has since reopened. And Skustad expects most portages and campsites will reopen by next summer. He encourages people to come see the beauty that can follow fire.
“Some of your favorite places are still going to be green,” Skustad said. “The contrast between green and fire-affected is beautiful. The forest is resilient, and even the areas that are temporarily closed will be back open soon.”
