If you are out and about the Superior National Forest in the next several weeks and smell smoke it very likely is a signal that fire crews are working to improve habitat for native wildlife and plants, to prepare sites for planting, or to reduce the threat of wildfire by reducing fuel build-up. This management action is referred to as prescribed fire and it is a very important tool that forest managers use across the country in a variety of landscapes.
In Cook County prescribed burns will start this week along the shore in grassy areas usually under 20 acres. The burns will be conducted to provide habitat for migratory birds, said Gunflint Ranger District fire management officer Patty Johnson. Burns, in appropriate areas, will take place from Durfee Creek to the Tofte area.
A second step burn will take place by Trestle Pine Lake. Johnson said this will encompass about 20 acres and is being done to create habitat for the Nabokov blue butterfly, which was listed as a special concern species in Minnesota in 1996. Nabokov prefers open woodland where the larval host plant, dwarf bilberry, is abundant. According to the Minnesota DNR, forest fires were probably important for creating and maintaining habitat for the species.
When the snow goes from the back country, usually in May, the Forest Service will begin prescribed burns for slash piles left over from logging sites and conduct fuel reductions for the understory of pine forests, said Johnson.
Prescribed fires are carefully planned far in advance with involvement from specialists in all of the resource programs on the forest and are designed to be implemented under specific conditions to meet specific management objectives. Several considerations go into planning a prescribed fire including vegetation types, presence of sensitive plants or animals, visitor use, moisture in the vegetation, winds, relative humidity, and predicted weather. In northern Minnesota, spring and fall are usually the seasons when specifications for a particular prescribed fire project may be met. The season for implementation of a particular prescribed fire may be based on considerations such as controlling certain invasive plants when their life history makes them vulnerable to fire or avoiding the nesting period of a sensitive bird species. Trained Forest Service personnel conduct prescribed fires.
In the days and hours leading up to the planned time to ignite a particular prescribed fire, forest managers closely track and verify that current, as well as predicted conditions, are within specified parameters. Prescribed fire projects may be postponed prior to ignition or following a “test” burn if conditions are determined to be outside of specified parameters.
Every prescribed fire plan includes a strategy to keep the public informed through phone calls, social media, web postings, emails, and news media. Targeted notifications typically begin one to two days ahead. During a prescribed fire, particularly a larger one, periodic updates may be provided to the public.
Forest managers plan to conduct several prescribed fire projects, ranging from one to 1,000 acres in size, across the Superior National Forest. Descriptions and maps of this season’s planned prescribed fires will soon be available at the District Ranger offices and posted on the Superior National Forest website. If you have questions about a specific prescribed fire project, you may contact the local Ranger District office. To learn more about prescribed fire and other aspects of fire management on the Forest, click on the quick link on our home page at: www.fs.usda.gov/superior. For updates regarding active fires here and across the country, visit the national INCIWEB site at inciweb.nwcg.gov/.
As far as the outlook for forest fires, Johnson said based off of climate models, which look at temperature and precipitation, it looks like it will be an average summer for Cook County. “Those climate models will get updated every month, but right now we aren’t seeing any high potential for forest fire. We will have fires, but it doesn’t look like we will have big ones,” said Johnson.
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