Prescribed burns under way on North Shore

Northlanders have likely noticed a haze hanging over the region, thanks to fires in Northwest Ontario and here on the North Shore.
The U.S. Forest Service conducted several prescribed burns in the Superior National Forest this week, in the Isabella and Finland area, west of Cook County and near the Sawbill Trail in Cook County.

There are more prescribed burns planned for this weekend. The Tofte Ranger District is planning to begin prescribed fire operations on Saturday, June 1, at the Baker Lake burn site, approximately 25 miles northeast of Tofte. The site is directly adjacent to the Baker Lake USFS campground.

The Baker Lake burn unit will total 40 acres.

The Tofte Ranger District is also planning to begin prescribed burning operations Sunday, June 2 at what is called the Satellite site.
This area is located approximately five miles northeast of the town of Isabella .It is 437 acres.

The purpose of these burns are to consume residual post-harvest slash and layers of organic duff to prepare for tree planting.
 
USFS Fire Management Officer Patricia Johnson also shared some information about the Canadian wildfires. Johnson said a fire meteorologist with the Minnesota Fire Center in Grand Rapids predicts that with the northwest flow this weekend, Cook County will continue to see smoke from fires in Alberta through the weekend.

Steve Robertsen of the Forest Service, in the weekly U.S. Forest Service report to WTIP, stressed that all of these prescribed burns will take place “as conditions allow.”

Robertsen tells WTIP, “We’d love to be able to give people lots of advance notice and precise dates on prescribed fires, but it is more important to burn on days when the weather is just right – and nature just isn’t that predictable.”

More information about prescribed fire operations can be found here.