We continue to have a dry summer; great for outdoor activities but with moderate or higher fire danger. Currently, due to worsening fire danger conditions, the Superior National Forest has banned campfires across the Forest, EXCEPT in approved fire rings in the open fee campgrounds.
Camp stoves may still be used across the Forest. The Forest has seen several small fires this year, both from human and lightning ignitions. The lightning storm last Saturday started nine fires, so while the green forest might be harder to fire than the leafless spring forest, it still is very possible during our recent hot droughty conditions. It is all too often that while we are out maintaining campgrounds, we find smoldering campfires in fire rings. Wilderness rangers put out six unattended campfires in one day last week. We can do better than that. Your fire should be cold to the touch whenever you leave it… don’t assume it will just burn itself out.
Abandoning a burning campfire is against the law with a possible stiff penalty, but really, that shouldn’t be the reason to not do it. The reason should be that it is just wrong not to do everything you can to prevent wildfires, and dousing a campfire is not that hard to do.
Putting your fire out is just one part of maintaining a clean campsite. Clean up your trash and food waste, and dispose of it in the dumpster at a fee campground, or store it safely in your vehicle with your food in a rustic campground. We’ve had some bear incidents this summer at several locations, so it is vital that food and trash is kept where bears can’t get to it. At backcountry, dispersed, and Wilderness campsites, store these bear attractants in a bear resistant food container. Hanging your food pack in a tree is an option, but many sites do not have good trees for this. Make sure you are prepared to camp where there are no trees. Bears have demonstrated multiple times that the popular blue plastic pack barrels are not bear resistant – make sure what you are using actually is.
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