There are few things that can put northern Minnesota on the national map like fire, a January cold snap, or a fight over the Boundary Waters. This summer, Aaron Kania’s campaign for House District 3A has managed to touch at least two of the three, and it’s happened almost by accident.
Kania, who retired last December as the Forest Service district ranger based in Ely, is working to unseat Roger Skraba, the Republican incumbent. That’s still the race. But somewhere between last year’s Brimson Complex and the Sioux Fire jumping the Echo Trail last month, Kania’s resumé stopped being a campaign talking point and became an exhibit in a much bigger national story.
That story, as many readers may already know, is about the fuel-reduction project the Forest Service had ready to go along the Echo Trail — a “shovel-ready” job, in Kania’s own words, meant to thin out and burn the dead and dying balsam fir and other forest fuels that have menaced developed areas that butt against the Bounday Waters. The Superior National Forest had received a $10 million grant and were ready to undertake the work last fall. Then DOGE put a halt to it as they endeavored to ensure that none of the fire threat reduction work was connected to diversity goals or climate change, both of which are serious no-no’s in an administration that strictly enforces its own twisted version of political correctness.
The Washington Post picked up the story, connecting DOGE’s review process with the delay in the fire prevention work along the Echo Trail, which appears to have been accurate. Once the Post ran with the story, the wire services and cable outlets followed, and then the outdoor and conservation press. There are few things the media loves more than a “government screw-up” story and this one had immediacy and, better yet, flames. In all that coverage, Kania was the face of the story and it’s clearly elevated what was an otherwise fairly routine House race to a high visibility contest that is being followed nationally. For Kania, it’s publicity that money can’t buy. It doesn’t hurt that he has come across as well-spoken and credible.
Skraba, for his part, hasn’t backed down from his own read on the situation — he’s stuck to his line that the Forest Service dropped the ball well before DOGE ever entered the picture.
That’s a bit of a tough sell, however, given that Kania and his fellow staff at the Kawishiwi and LaCroix district offices had assembled a detailed plan of action, did the requisite environmental work as part of the Hi-Lo EIS, and applied for and received the funds to make it happen last year. The work was a go until DOGE came along to inject partisan politics where it didn’t belong.
To be sure, the national coverage, as is usually the case, is a bit overly dramatic. DOGE’s actions didn’t start these fires— they were sparked by lightning and burned like they did because of the conditions on the ground. That said, the Sioux Fire could, potentially, have been stopped at the Echo Trail had the planned mitigation work been done last fall, and that’s not an insignificant thing.
And there are other costs. The fire response has prompted some aggressive clearing of large pine, balsam fir, and even aspen, along a portion of the Echo Trail, starting just north of Fenske Lake and moving north toward Big Lake. Had that fire mitigation been undertaken last fall, it would have been done under non-emergency conditions, with more consideration of the scenic qualities of the road and more in keeping with the plan envisioned in the project’s environmental review.
Fuel reduction thinning that took place a few years ago along the Echo Trail, left considerably more pine on the landscape than the current work being done.
Oddly, the most aggressive cutting, at least to date, is located miles away from any of the fires. It is tough to see how this work could be justified as immediate fire protection.
Forest Service officials say the work is an effort to provide enough pine canopy to provide shading, while leaving sufficient gaps to prevent a crown fire from spreading.
While most of the trees cut in the operation were red pine, operators also removed live aspen, which is not a species that readily supports fire. It’s kind of a head scratcher.
It also would have been a lot cheaper, since everything done under emergency conditions costs twice as much. It’s just one more example of how DOGE achieved the opposite of government efficiency.
Kania, who worked most of his career out West, is certainly familiar with the risks of wildfire and his was among the loudest voices on the Superior in recent years arguing for fire reduction efforts, and this year’s events certainly bolster his arguments. To date, Kania has been careful not to overplay his hand. He’s stuck to the facts, declining to rise to the bait offered by some cable news personalities who have interviewed him.
For now, District 3A finds itself in an unfamiliar position: with a legislative race that outlets far bigger than the Timberjay are paying attention to, for reasons that have everything to do with a burning forest and very little to do with the usual mechanics of a state house campaign.
That won’t last, of course. By fall, national reporters will have moved on to the next fire and the next controversy. Our area, however, will still need to address our growing fire risk regardless of who wins in November. And we’ll still need a Legislature that asks harder questions about how a shovel-ready fire reduction project sat idle while the woods around it dried out.