The relatively intact northern-mixed forest and southern boreal forest ecosystems of the Border Lakes Region (BLR) cover millions of hectares in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario, and the region is considered to be a landscape of international ecological significance. Although the BLR is mostly publicly owned, there is a complex pattern of ownership and management consisting of federal, state, provincial, local government, tribal, and private lands that can complicate forest and fire management. Forest composition and landscape structure within the region were historically shaped by a natural disturbance regime characterized by both stand-replacing and relatively frequent low-severity fires, as well as other disturbance agents, including windthrow and insect outbreaks. Today, much of the region's forest composition and structure are considered highly altered following more than a century of timber harvest and past fire suppression. Forest and fire management that varies among land owners, as well as climate change and other anthropogenic influences, are expected to further impact disturbance regimes and forest communities in the BLR. In this presentation, I will highlight recent modeling and field-based research to address two key management issues facing the BLR in the near future, including: 1) How might historical natural disturbance regimes be used to guide forest restoration and fire management? 2) How might alternative management options affect future forest landscape conditions, including forest composition, structure, and disturbance effects over time? Addressing these questions not only provides opportunities for assessing and anticipating the changing landscapes of the BLR, but also informs similar forest and fire management issues in other regions. This webinar was presented by Douglas J. Shinneman on January 17, 2013.