Boundary Waters burning

It's such a tragedy. The BWCA holds so many memories for so many Minnesotans and others, too, just the way it was.

Diana, a few years ago I saw Yellowstone for the first time. The sections that had been burned in '88 still looked eerie, but I guess the area rebounded just fine. Hope it is the same for the BWCAW.

oh, no. i cna't blv it. lots of my friends have places up there. thanks for the info!

Please let us know if your friends and their property are okay, jessie.

Hi Julie. My latest blog "Journey to Publication" www.beryl.blogsource.com has a bit about the smoke sweeping over the area (the wind is in the other direction now so our throats are not quite so sore. I have provided a link there for a blog by Voyager Canoe Outfitters which is heart smack next to the area.

Thanks Beryl. Sad to hear it is moving towards the trigger point for evacuations...

(Here's a clicky link to Beryl's blog post about it)

I guess I'm really responding to Diana's first comment about tragedy and mourning for the way the BWCA was:

There's not too much about this in the paper unless one goes to the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center website, (Cavity Wildfire Incident) but the bulk of the fire is in the area where blown down trees have been drying into fuel since that last horrific windstorm. This fire was a matter of time.

As long as it doesn't pose a risk, they're probably going to let it do what really has needed to be done since then. This really IS nature unfolding without human intervention.

The fire agencies have been doing prescribed burns over time to lessen the risk to people & structures, and one can see the effect by looking at the perimeter map. In the areas where fires were allowed to burn already, the Cavity Lake fire is progressing far more slowly compared to areas where the timber still lay untouched.

When the next fire comes, and again that is just a matter of time, this burnt zone will take its turn ... it will become the buffer that slows the spread of that next fire and protects whatever is on the other side.

For a great description of why letting it burn might be the best idea, check out the first chapter or two of Sebastian Junger's book "Fire."

The areas around the Gunflint trail have had a prescribed burn, thanks be, to lessen the risk to populated areas. I do worry for the disruption to the lives of more out-of-the-way folks there ... Beryl, can you tell whether there is an already-burned area between the outfitters and this fire zone?

I'm sure it's not the last fire that will occur up there, but I still think it's kind of sad.

Diana, what is it that makes the fire sad right now?

Agreed, burn sites are nowhere near as pretty as our memories, for a good long while. It struck me when I was at Mount St. Helens in the late 80s, with the stark devastation of the volcano's blowdowns, that there is a different kind of beauty in that landscape. I had to let go of my picture-postcard expectations of the Pacific NW landscape in order to appreciate that it was just as beautiful and just as temporary as what came before.

It's change. Yet this change is all within that circle-of-life phenomenon that still endures for this eco system. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water. Growth, maturity, peaking, destruction, recharacterization, new growth. I'm grateful it endures, and that we haven't messed that up altogether with our human efforts to make what's left of our wilderness bend to our preferences. So typical of everything we love, nature challenges us to do so unconditionally. It's tough, but nowhere near as hard as when nature kills off humans in the process.

The firefighters are there to make sure this change doesn't become an actual tragedy with loss of human life ... notice that their direction is to fight the fire only when it leaves the park boundaries (i.e. approaches human habitation.) Within the park, the rangers are making sure everyone stays out of the way and gets home safely.

I'm grateful that they're there, and I hope they can all go home soon and safely too. I also hope their posting in the BWCA doesn't compromise the efforts for the other burning wildfires around the U.S, some of which have destroyed houses already. The loss of a family's home & tradition must be devastating. I'm holding a fervent thought that no one up north has to face that, because it would be so much more than sad.

Did anyone catch Midmorning today?

Living near fire zones:

The fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area worry some who live on the Gunflint Trail. Midmorning looks at how fires are fought, how forests are managed and whether people should reconsider living near areas prone to burning.

Although I missed this update from MPR News last Friday, I just heard that the 30% of hte fire has been contained.

Anyone in the area with an update?

Ouch! I love BWCA... so hard to imagine it suffering like this. I hope that folks out there are OK and that the wildfire is contained soon. :(

My first solo camping trip was a canoe trip into the Boundary Waters. It was a trip that helped shape who I am today. Personally it is sad that this beauty of nature is burning.

Yet it is part of the natural cycle of life. Healthy Forests require a burn as a part of their upkeep. The fires out west over the past few years have taught us that.

I hope all are safe.

I'll post updates as I get them, Jonathon, but if anyone sees 'em first don't hesistate to share them here!

Patrick Turner, the BWCA is quite an amazing choice for a first solo trip! How did it resonate with you? Can you share some details about that trip?

Here's today's update from the Incident Management Team in charge of the Cavity Lake fire.

Excerpts:
Percent Contained: 35%
Cost: $3,087,420
Personnel: 460

WHAT'S NEW: Containment reached 35% yesterday. Fire line explosives may be used in the southwest flank today. The explosives provide a cleaner break and allow for more natural looking suppression efforts. One Type-2 crew will be leaving the incident today. The fire continues to have little additional growth.

Thanks Kate!