Just over ten years ago, the Pagami Creek Fire burned about 93,000 acres in the Boundary Waters Wilderness east of Ely. Most of that area burned in just a few days during a wind-driven run of surprising speed and extent. The fire offers numerous lessons related to disturbance ecology of northern Minnesota fire-dependent forests, wildlife response, fire behavior, incident management, and more. Many of these lessons were applied during the 2021 Greenwood fire, not far south of the Pagami Creek fire. Over two days we’ll hear from forest, wildlife, and hydrology researchers, incident managers, agency representatives, and community members.
Confirmed speakers include Lee Frelich, UMN-Forest Resources; Randy Kolka and Brian Sturtevant, USFS-Northern Research Station; Jessica Hellmann, UMN Institute on the Environment and Midwest CASC; and local reps of various land management agencies.
The event will be of interest to land managers as well as community members. It includes both indoor presentations and a tour of the Greenwood fire area (on April 21). The tour will focus on how the fire was influenced by both forest and incident management practices.