As wildfires in the Boundary Waters go, the Alpine Lake fire is a wimp.
At under 1,400 acres, it pales next to the nearby 1995 Sag Corridor fire, which burned 12,000 acres, and even the 1976 Roy Lake fire, which covered some of the same ground as the Alpine fire.
This month's fire wouldn't even merit an asterisk next to the 1864 fire that burned 400,000 acres in the same area -- the event that established what much of the Boundary Waters forest has looked like ever since. And we won't even talk about the big blaze at the same spot in 1801.
Still, the Alpine Lake fire is part of a continuous series in what experts call a fire ecosystem. It's a fire-prone area that has species -- including jack pine, blueberries and birch -- that thrive after the forest burns.
It's not a coincidence that there have been three major fires in the same area in the past 29 years and dozens more over the past few centuries, said Lee Frelich, a University of Minnesota scientist who specializes in the relationship between fire and the BWCAW forest.
The soil in this part of the BWCAW is especially thin and can't hold much water, causing plants and trees to dry out faster than even forests nearby around Ely or the North Shore.
Moreover, the area -- a narrow swath from near Ely to Saganaga Lake -- is hilly, and high points attract more lightning strikes. The jack pines that make up much of the forest burn easily and add to any fires that get started.
The area sees about double the number of fires as other forest in the region.
"That's the most fire-prone area we've found," Frelich said. "Instead of seeing major fires every century or so, that area historically gets them every 50 years or even more often."
Frelich, who has taken up the research started by the late Miron Bud Heinselman, said scientists study tree rings and other measures to see when fires scorched the area. Forest relics leave a timeline of when fire struck -- a sort of CSI-Boundary Waters -- to see where and when fires have burned.
Fires are part of the natural cycle in the area. But, because of human development along the wilderness, fires have been held in check for the last75 years.
That could change as a series of fire breaks continues to grow around the BWCAW and as forest managers feel more comfortable with fire safety efforts.
LET SOME FIRES BURN?
In the late 1990s, Forest Service officials had just started allowing lightning fires to burn their own course inside the 1.1 million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Despite Smoky Bear's work, fire was starting to lose its bad rep.
But after the July 4, 1999, blowdown, with millions of new dead and drying trees ready to burn, nerves were on edge. Rules changed to attack all fires inside or close to the blowdown and put them out cold so none would threaten homes or businesses.
That's officially still the policy. But after five years of watching their own fires burn, and with new firefighting resources like water-bombing planes available, Forest Service officials say it may be time to let more fires burn -- even in the blowdown.
"It's something we're looking at," said Barb Soderberg, public service team leader for the Superior National Forest. "We know a lot more about how fire reacts in the blowdown now. And we've hardened a lot of the area around development, good fire break.
"We've got a lot more resources on hand to fight fires, too," Soderberg said. "Maybe it's time to look at letting some fires inside the wilderness blowdown burn on their own."
Of course, any fires that threaten people or property will still be extinguished as quickly as possible, Soderberg noted, just as the Alpine Lake fire was attacked. And if conditions are too dry, when fires might spread fast, even fires inside the wilderness likely will be snuffed.
Moreover, the Forest Service will continue with its plan to keep burning tracts of the blowdown on purpose -- key spots to develop more fire breaks to slow fires before they reach developed areas. Thousands of acres already have been burned on purpose, with thousands more acres to be burned this fall.
Still, the fact that the Forest Service is considering a policy change on lightning fires in the wilderness blowdown is another sign that wildfire's reputation is changing.
"We've been putting fires out up there for too long," Soderberg said. "That's why we got into the kind of fuel loads we've seen up there. Fires are supposed to happen up there more often than we've let them."
The feds also might revisit their agreement with Canadian fire officials that demands both sides quickly put out all fires that could cross the border. Allowing some of those fires to burn might be healthier for the forest on both sides of the imaginary line on the border, Soderberg said.
That's good news to Sean Wherley, spokesman for the Friends of the Boundary Waters group. The Friends have supported a more liberal policy to let fires in the BWCAW burn.
"Fire, if it's not threatening lives or property, is not a bad thing. It's how the forest regenerated for thousands of years," Wherley said. "Even what burned around Alpine Lake, it's going to bring a renewed forest. And it probably lowered the fire danger on the Gunflint Trail."
FASTEST GROWTH EVER
So far, the BWCAW forest appears to be recovering well from the massive 1999 blowdown windstorm and from intentional fires started to remove downed trees, Frelich said.
Areas that have burned are sprouting with young birch trees and red pines, Frelich noted. Areas where most big trees blew down are sprouting with balsam fir, black spruce, white cedar, maple and paper birch.
Those trees already had sprouted but had been held back by the towering old aspen and other trees that shaded the forest. When the big trees blew over, the little trees took off.
"What we're finding is that the forest succession was pushed ahead 50 years or more by one event," Frelich said. "These trees were there, but wouldn't have flourished for many more decades if the blowdown hadn't happened."
With some species, Frelich and other researchers, including Roy Rich, are observing the fastest growth they've ever seen. More than 700 different plots are being studied. For example, cedars that usually grow6 inches a year are growing 2 feet and more -- thanks to the extra water and sun now that the big trees are dead.
On Seagull Lake's Three Mile Island, purposely burned in 2002 to remove thousands of dead, drying blown-down trees, red pine are sprouting across the island even though only a few stands of big pines survived the fire.
"We're seeing red-pine reproduction a lot farther from the remaining pines than we expected. Apparently the seeds can move better than we thought," Frelich said.
Birch trees seem to be doing especially well where intentional fires have been lit, Frelich said.
PROBLEMS IN PLACES
Not all is well, however. In blowdown areas outside the BWCAW, especially where logging occurred to remove downed trees, several exotic species are flourishing, possibly at the expense of native species.
"Wherever you get logging equipment or ATVs, they spread the seeds of the exotics," Frelich said. "That can stop the normal succession."
So far, the Forest Service has done very little replanting or reseeding. In many areas, nature may do the work instead. But some say reseeding may be necessary if certain species are to flourish.
So far, Forest Service wilderness rules don't allow seeding in the BWCAW. But Frelich said that could forever alter what parts of the BWCAW look like.
In areas where most big trees blew down, there's little seed stock to sprout the next generation.
"There's a real problem with white pine in the western part of the blowdown, near Ely. We're not seeing any reproduction there," Frelich said. "All the big white pines blew down and there aren't any seed trees left. If they (the Forest Service) don't seed in there, white pine will be extirpated from that part of the Boundary Waters."Duluth News Tribune
