Smokey Bear might be saying “moderate” fire danger right now but the conditions are changing rapidly. There has been some significant rainfall lately yet the forest is becoming very dry. The lake levels have been dropping and we could use a good soaker rain—minus the lightning.
There was a small campsite fire on Loon Lake this week that started near the shore. The fire was controlled quickly and was caused by carelessness. It is dry enough right now that a lit cigarette could start the woods ablaze. The Ham Lake fire started at a campsite and look at the devastation it caused. Controlling a campfire is very important and it takes a lot of water to put them out properly.
This might seem very obvious, but a lot of people do not understand how much water it actually takes. I love a nice campfire as much as the next person, you just have to use some common sense and be careful. Anyone who has spent time in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area has seen a campsite fire re-ignite when nobody is there. Unfortunately it is all too common simply because people do not know. I cannot believe that anyone would purposely start a forest fire, but it still happens. The “duff type” soils we have up here take very little oxygen to continue to smolder for days after being extinguished by campers. All it takes is the right amount of wind and the smoldering ground becomes an unattended fire. I dump five-gallon buckets of water on a fire until it looks like it is completely cold, then give it another. It is also good to hang out for a while longer and see how quickly the wet ground dries out. If the rocks feel hot and the ground is showing dryness, it could still use some more water.
There has been an awful lot of smoke in the air the past few weeks from the fires that are currently burning in Northwest Ontario. I counted over 100 on their website and a few of them are not too far from the border. The web address is: www.mnr.gov. on. ca./ en/ Business/ AFFM, and it has detailed maps and current information about the fires. Most of the fires were started by lightning storms that we have been lucky enough to avoid so far. It is strange that Canada has so many forest fires burning right now and we do not.
Monday we had some south winds that helped push out the smoke and the sky became much clearer. The past week there has been a haze in the air and some of the more humid mornings would cause the smoke to sit low to the ground. I think it has actually helped the morning bite with the walleyes since it is an artificial overcast. They do not like the bright sun and the smoke has been blanketing the lake until about 9 or 10 o’clock in the morning. As soon as the smoke clears out, so do the biters.
This is not an attempt to scare anyone, but this would be a good time to fire up your sprinkler system and make sure everything is in good running order. Anytime is a good time to check your sprinklers, but if there is a problem it is much easier to fix now than it is during a fire. Have plenty of propane on hand and you should be ready for the worst if it were to happen. Sprinkler systems are very effective, if they work. They are complex and volatile systems that require a lot of attention so do not be afraid to run them often. Be safe and do a little rain dance for us up here.
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218- 388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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