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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Prescribed fire season now underway

Keith Vandervort
Posted 5/17/17

ELY – The U.S. Forest Service began the 2017 prescribed fire season last weekend. Two actions, near Bear Island Lake and Foss Lake, were successfully completed, according to Tim Engrav, USFS public …

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Prescribed fire season now underway

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ELY – The U.S. Forest Service began the 2017 prescribed fire season last weekend. Two actions, near Bear Island Lake and Foss Lake, were successfully completed, according to Tim Engrav, USFS public information officer.

Firefighters from the Superior National Forest, along with fire personnel from Montana, Oregon, and Idaho successfully burned the 38-acre Log Bay Prescribed Fire Unit located on Bear Island Lake south of Ely and northwest of Babbitt on Friday, May 13. “The weather conditions were good and helped produce a nice understory burn for fuels reduction and ecosystem management,” Engrav said. “The prescribed fire unit was well contained and will be patrolled for hotspots.”

The 38-acre Log Bay Unit is located on the south end of Bear Island Lake. This unit was treated in 2014 with hand cutting of balsam and other small understory conifers, according to the USFS. “Prescribed fire is used as a treatment tool here because it is very effective at reducing balsam fir,” Engrav said. “The concern in this area is thick balsam fir growth that could provide a ladder for wildfire to climb up to the tree tops and spread. Prescribed fire consumed balsam seeds in the soil as well as any small seedlings and trees not cut by the hand crews. The radiant heat girdles and kills larger balsam fir trees and will prevent them from producing any more seed.”

Engrav added, “Without fuel reduction, during dry conditions with prevailing westerly winds, a wildfire could quickly grow and spread from national forest lands and threaten people’s homes and businesses.”

Firefighters continue to patrol the unit as necessary. Two campsites within the unit remain closed.

Foss Lake burn

On Sunday, the Superior National Forest-West Zone successfully completed prescribed burning of 51 acres for fuels reduction on the Foss Lake Prescribed Fire Unit.

This unit is located north of Foss Lake and west of Burntside Lake and Ely on the LaCroix Ranger District.

Superior National Forest crews were assisted by crews and engines from Montana, Oregon, and Idaho. Firefighters returned on Monday to monitor and patrol the unit.

The Foss Lake prescribed fire unit is well contained and will be patrolled for hotspots. Crews continue to check the Old Baldy (30 acres), North Arm Unit 8 (41 acres), and Log Bay (38 acres) prescribed fire units each day and all have been quiet with very little to no smoke visible.

“The purpose of this 78-acre unit was for both fuels reduction and oak/blueberry habitat improvement, Engrav noted. “The area is a combination of open rock outcroppings and forested drainages where fuels treatment can both help reduce surface and ladder fuels and reduce vegetation that competes with oak trees and blueberry plants,” he said. “Reducing the hazardous fuels component in this unit is part of a larger fuels treatment effort in the Burntside Lake area. This unit will create another area in addition to recent Burntside Lake prescribed fire units where available fuels in the forest are reduced and therefore lower the intensity of future wildfires when they occur.”

Holding crews and ignition crews of firefighters using hand tools worked directly on the prescribed fire unit. “Due to the remote location of this unit, crews used ATVs and hiking to gain access for holding and ignition operations,” he said.

There were no closures needed during this prescribed fire. Some residents and visitors experienced smoke, on Burntside and Wolf lakes, and Crab, Buck, Cummings, and Slim lakes in the BWCAW, he said.