by Kevin Proescholdt, Wilderness Watch
Fans of the Boundary Waters and Wilderness in general should celebrate the recent decision by Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall on the Fernberg Corridor Project. His decision allows activities outside the Wilderness to proceed, but wisely excludes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) from the project’s earlier proposed activities.
The Fernberg Corridor Project lies east of Ely, Minnesota, along the Fernberg Road out to Lake One. The Project covers about 175,000 acres, including about 84,000 acres within the BWCAW.
The original project proposal called for intentionally burning off these 84,000 acres of the BWCAW, including lands as far as six or seven miles inside the Wilderness, with the assistance of chainsaws, aircraft, mechanical drip torches, and other motorized tools that are prohibited by the 1964 Wilderness Act.
At issue is not just the motorized/mechanized tools and transportation that would be involved with the Forest Service igniting fires in the BWCAW. Manager-ignited fires represent a form of manipulation of the Wilderness, imposing human values and preferences on the wilderness landscape rather than allowing Nature to choose. Letting nature call the shots is the fundamental tenet that sets Wilderness apart from other lands. It tests our ability to show humility and restraint. And manager-ignited fire can have very different effects on the Wilderness than lightning-ignited fires, in terms of timing, location, which forest stands burn, severity, and other ecological impacts from the burns. Because of these concerns, Wilderness Watch supporters submitted over 2,000 comments opposing this part of the project, and Wilderness Watch filed a formal Objection to the proposed wilderness burning.
The late Forest Service ecologist, Dr. Miron “Bud” Heinselman, who studied the BWCAW’s forests and reconstructed its fire history back to the year 1595, showed that the forests of the BWCAW are a fire-dependent ecosystem, and that fire has helped shape the BWCAW’s forests for millennia. Fire needs to continue to play its natural ecological and evolutionary role in the BWCAW. So why did we object to the proposed burning in the BWCAW?
The Wilderness Act and the 1978 BWCAW Act provide statutory protections for shielding designated Wildernesses from human meddling. These statutes trump even seemingly important ecological purposes like manager-ignited “prescribed” fire in the BWCAW. The Wilderness Act defines Wilderness in part as “untrammeled” or unmanipulated. It preserves the opportunity to witness, experience, and study ecosystems where Nature reigns, and where we humans don’t impose our preferences and desires on the place. The Wilderness Act further states in section 4(b) that the one central purpose of the law is to preserve wilderness character, in other words, an area’s wildness.
The federal courts have upheld this “untrammeled” mandate of the Wilderness Act. Last fall, for example, Federal Judge Donald Molloy of Montana ruled against a stream poisoning project in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness immediately north of Yellowstone National Park. Though this project was also intended to provide an ecological benefit for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout, it nonetheless contravened the untrammeled mandate of the Wilderness Act.
If human-ignited fire runs counter to the intent of the Wilderness Act, then, how can fire be allowed to play its natural ecological role in the BWCAW? The best wilderness option would allow natural lightning-caused fire to resume its role in the Wilderness, rather than suppressing nearly all those blazes. And Supervisor Hall recognized this path forward in his recent decision on the Fernberg Corridor Project. “This decision increases the opportunity for lightning caused fires to play a natural role within the BWCAW by reducing heavy fuel loading in WUI [wildland urban interface] areas outside the wilderness boundary.”
With the decision to forego the planned burning activities within the BWCAW, the Forest Service decision noted, “Wilderness character would be preserved. The decision complies with Section 4b of the Wilderness Act.”
So the Forest Service made the proper decision to exclude the Boundary Waters Wilderness from the Fernberg Corridor Project. This decision will indeed help preserve the wildness of the BWCAW, while offering a path forward for allowing lightning-ignited fire to resume its natural role in renewing the forests of the BWCAW.
Kevin Proescholdt is the Conservation Director for Wilderness Watch. He has worked in wilderness policy, legislation, and history for more than a half-century, including working to pass the 1978 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act through Congress and co-authoring the history of that struggle, Troubled Waters: The Fight for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Top photo: Moose in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness by briandjan607
51 Comments
I don’t understand why helicopters are being used to douse lightning ignited (small) fires in the BWCA in early June. The presence of helicopters in a wilderness is disturbing to all living creatures.
Bravo à la récente décision du superviseur de la forêt nationale de Superior, Tom Hall, concernant le projet du corridor Fernberg. Sa décision autorise les activités en dehors de la zone sauvage de se poursuivre, mais exclut judicieusement la zone sauvage de la zone de canoë de Boundary Waters (BWCAW) des activités proposées précédemment par le projet.
Such good news! Keep up the pressure to maintain Nature in every possible.
yaahh!!!
I totally support the enlightened decision of Forest Supervisor Tom Hall. It is so encouraging when those in charge of administrating our public lands make wise decisions.
Thanks for making sure the Wilderness Act means what it says.
Thank you for this good news!! Keep up the good work.
Thank you Tim Hall, supervisor for the Superior National Forest, for protecting the Fernburg Protective Corridor because of its wilderness status! The Boundary Waters will benefit greatly. Nature wins!
Congratulations for letting wilderness be wilderness!
Wonderful news
Thank you so much for the great work you do!!
: )
Well thank God!! We must protect the boundary waters!!
Preserve the Wlderness Act. Excellent summary of the requirements regarding burning policies within the BWCA.
So glad to hear! Got to know that area in 1969 when I was in Outward Bound. Great job to you all!
Forests are not a crop and nature knows best
HOORAY !!!! … Someone with brains and ecological consciousness is at work … I Thank You !
Anne Jackson
This was very helpful in explaining the nature of “wilderness” and what is and is not allowable by humans. It is so much easier to see the joy of those who love the Boundary waters & its area wildernesses. Thank you.
Nice to get some good environmental news. Keep up the good work!
Marvelous!! Thank you so much for sharing this positive turn, in an otherwise bleak time for Wilderness. Made my day.
Also deepest thanks for all you do at WW!
Gosh, I feel I’d would love to work for, or at very least volunteer for, your organization.
Cheers!!
Thank you Forest Service for finally allowing nature to take its course!
Good news! Hooray! Ye-ha! Thanks
Very thankful for this decision!! Sanity and common sense finally prevail!
Great work, Kevin and Wilderness Watch! This will hopefully be helpful in getting other Forest Service managers to rethink prescribing manager-ignited burning in Wilderness.
You may have to strike me from your list (I hope you don’t, because I believe in a lot of what you do) but I will never agree to watching lightning caused fires to burn down the ancient redwoods, for one, and I grieve when I see any forest burn. Since the expert opinions have been proven wrong time and time again, I may be proven right in the end,
Thank you for your wise solution
Thank you to Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall on the Fernberg Corridor Project!
Thank you to Tom Hall for his common sense approach to the wilderness. And to Kevin and Wilderness Watch for always watching with your omnipresent attention to protecting the Wilderness Act and the lands animals and flora we all need and love.
THE RIGHT THING TO DO! Protect our wildlife and habitat from human interfering! Our public lands are NOT FOR SALE! Conservation works! Protect Public Land!
protect the boundy waters
WONDERFUL news!!!!
Motorized tools have no business in wilderness areas.
Having experienced this amazingly beautiful place firsthand for a month on my Outward Bound trip, I feel so relieved to hear that this protection is in place!! Congratulations to all those who have worked so hard to achieve this goal!!
Glad to hear that.
A bright spot in the seemingly dark and disturbing “managing” of our natural resources. Thank you for the sanity and wisdom.
That’s one good decision made against the Massive Destruction Planned by the T-rump so-called ‘Commander-in-Chief’!
So glad to hear that they listened to the people. Yay!!!!!
Thank you so much.
This sounds very wise!! Thank you!
Thank God! What a mess you’ve diverted! Thank you for your vigilance!!
Gerri January
Wonderful news!
Thank you for your diligent work!
Blessings to you!😊
Sounds like a step in the right direction but what about the effects of mining even outside the borders?
This is a “win” for environmental protection. Hope and pray there will be more to stop the senseless destruction for profit (and I dare say retaliation) that is being perpetrated now and/or planned for so much of our irreplaceable natural land and waters.
I wrote in to help and it for once worked. Yes. I have canoed in the Boundary Waters and it is a special place.
So, considering the current attitudes in DC – will this decision be allowed to stand?
With all the other meddling & profit-driven “decisions” being made – we all should be concerned about this.
I’d love it if it was one and done – but what we’re living thru right now does make me ask.
I am pleased that nature will be allowed to operate as it has for thousands of years. We do not need to micromanage a system that has no flaws. Thank you for doing your due diligence in seeing the worth of the way nature takes care of what is needed to continue a well honed eco system.
Fantastic news and kudos to all the months of labor to create a strong case!!
Thrilled….Have never been there but have known about it forever and it is a true treasure…..
mjs
This is great news that this Wilderness will not be harmed by human intervention!!! Thanks for the update!!!
Such wonderful news!!! Thanks for all of your hard work in protecting this area.
BTW, please correct the typo in Boundary Waters Wildernes(missing an “s”)
Many thanks to Forest supervisor Tom Hall on this decision. The BWCA has so many challenges to violate its wilderness status that it is uplifting when a Forest Supervisor abide by the Wilderness Act.
Protect the environment.
Thank you for all the great details. It’s nice to hear good news for a change. Truly good to hear.