Questions Linger in Aftermath of Pagami Creek Fire Q Uestions Linger in Aftermath of Pa G Ami Creek Fire

Questions Linger in Aftermath of Pagami Creek Fire Q uestions Linger in Aftermath of Pa g ami Creek Fire

By Elanne Palcich started. According to the Star Exactly how much accelerant was Tribune ("Nature, not fire used in the fire, for how long, and Both the public and the U.S. Forest management, caused BWCA’s run, what part did it play in the ultimate Service need to understand how a officials say" September 22, 2011), conflagration? Considering the Superior National Forest Supervisor number of canoeists in the BWCAW, lightning strike in a bog near Jim Sanders, lead decision-maker, the proximity of private land, Pagami Creek on August 18 turned said "early suppression efforts drought conditions, and general into a full-scale conflagration on included a ‘firing’ operation in which prevailing wind patterns, how is it September 12, burning helicopter crews dumped 1,900 that no one within the Forest Service approximately 1/10 of the gallons of ‘jelly gasoline’ on the fire questioned allowing the fire to Boundary Waters Canoe Area over Labor Day weekend to create a spread, in part by using napalm, Wilderness. buffer that would keep the fire from when the original fire could have traveling northward to a populated been easily doused with water? What decisions were made by the area [Fernberg Road]…Sanders acknowledged that the gasoline Why did the USFS rely on computer Forest Service during the 26 day drops, some from a machine that models rather than common sense? interval? injected the thickened fuel into ping According to district ranger Mark pong balls and dropped them from According to early reports by the Van Every, on August 18 "A low altitude, expanded the nucleus USFS, the Pagami Creek Fire started computer model showed less than a of the original fire." off as a 2 acre (believed) lightning 1 percent chance of the fire ever strike. The Forest Service watched growing beyond 2,000 acres, based In the same article, Mark Van Every, the fire until it reached 130 acres on on the weather forecast and the the Ely district ranger involved in the August 26. "Then the Forest Service fire’s behavior so far." (Duluth News fire management decisions, said decided to use several hundred Tribune, "Forest Service defends "he believes the fire’s sudden race gallons of a napalm-like material to BWCAW fire effort," September 22, east and south would have really get it going." When the fire 2011) happened even without the reached 1,750 acres, several Forest gasoline-aided burn." Service representatives noted "we The Ely Echo editorial stated, "We were putting quite a plume up in the don’t want to hear about computer air." (Ely Echo editorial, "A simple In a later article on September 22, models or what the weatherman lesson to be learned from Pagami: (Star Tribune, "Officials douse BWCA said. We want to know if this person Don’t play with fire," September 17, 'burnout' rumor"), Cook forest or these people live here. Because if 2011.) ranger Tim Sexton says, "Thirty-one they do, they must not go outside to barrels of the accelerant, each 55 observe conditions. …It’s dry in the The Forest Service later claimed that gallons, was either fired from a Ely area. It’s a mini-drought. Our last firefighters tried to keep the fire suspended torch or spit out of a significant rainfall came on August 6 under control from the day it helicopter via ping pong balls." and that was one-half an inch."

Pagami Creek Fire (USFS)

1 On September 12, a change in wind directions, with wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour, produced a firestorm that swept the fire 16 miles over a five hour period, expanding beyond wilderness boundaries, and burning so hot that in some areas it vaporized trees. No mention was made of wildlife kill.

While local people were aware of drought conditions in the Boundary Waters and the National Weather Service showed the area to be abnormally dry, why were Forest NOAA/ Save Our Sky Blue Waters Service personnel relying on computer models rather than readily observable local conditions? Institute for Study of the With reduced staff and outposts, Environment commentary, "…when why wasn’t USFS fire policy one of Why is the use of napalm a part of the Shadow Lake Fire started using extreme caution? the USFS fire policy? (August 27, 2011), the fire could Why were there reports of a According to Document AD have been put out by five chemical smell? 5097246, "Forest Fire as a Military firefighters in two days... But in order to ensure "safety," the fire Weapon," June 1970, the USFS When smoke from the Pagami Creek was expanded by napalming to participated in research using fire reached Chicago, there were 10,000 acres with 600 personnel napalm as an incendiary to destroy reports of a chemical smell coming "fighting" it for three weeks…" the vegetation of Vietnam. from the fire. Some described it as an electrical or plastic smell. (Daily At the same time that the Pagami Why is the Forest Service using Herald, "Smoke from Minnesota Creek Fire was burning in military tactics on our own forests wildfires blankets suburbs," Sept. 13, Minnesota, the USFS was involved and wildlife? What is the cost of 2011) in a similar scenario in Oregon. As these tactics to the American taxpayer and to the environment? reported on SOS Forests, Western The Forest Service response was To what extent does the use of that the smell came from rotting napalm (jellied gasoline) contribute wood as the fire reached part of the to wildlife kill? wind storm of 1999 blow-down area. Is fire acceleration appropriate when Yet on September 10, "Fire officials district offices in critical areas have quickly decided on a strategy of full- been closed? perimeter containment that included 34 initial aerial drops of USFS policy over the past decade has foam retardant seldom used in the closed many of the smaller district BWCA." (Star Tribune, “Forest ranger stations, instead constructing Service way off on BWCA fire new headquarters outside the projections," October 30, 2011) Superior National Forest. If the Kawishiwi and Isabella Ranger Why did the Forest Service neglect Stations had been retained, their to mention the use of napalm and staffs could have pointed out the fire retardants? By September 16, very low water levels present at the the Pagami Fire smoke plume time and prevailing wind patterns reached as far as Poland, Ukraine, set to blow the fire in their direction. and western Russia. Were toxins They could have questioned the drifting with the plume? How is the wisdom of letting the fire burn, as use of those chemicals affecting well as using a fire accelerator. aquatic and wildlife within the Pagami Creek Fire (USFS) BWCAW?

2 To what extent is the Forest Service the soil was burned down to the fulfilling its mandate to protect the bedrock, nothing can begin to grow BWCAW and public lands? until plant matter is transported in by wind or water. Wildlife experts Lake One is the second most popular are giving conflicting information entry point in the BWCAW. The about the length of time it will take Pagami Creek Fire burned through to re-establish moose habitat. With approximately 92,000 acres of some the current sharp decline of the of the most used and most moose population in northeast cherished canoe routes of the Minnesota, why is no account being wilderness. given of estimated moose kill in the fire? The cost of fighting the Pagami Creek fire reached $22 million Also substantially damaged in the dollars before restoration activities. Pagami fire was the entire length of Since the Wilderness Act of 1976, the historical 30 mile Pow Wow only non-motorized low-impact Hiking Trail, located within the Pagami Creek Fire (USFS) camping has been allowed within BWCAW. The Forest Service has the Lake One area. But control of currently closed entry to the Pow invasive species. What plant species the Pagami Creek fire required the Wow Trail, and questions remain as will be considered invasive after the use of chemicals, helicopters, to whether the trail will be fire? planes, the blasting of fire control reopened. Hiking trails are an lines within the BWCAW, and alternative way for visitors to The Forest Service is granting all bulldozing of lines outside the experience and identify with the mineral exploration requests as boundaries. More than 700 hotshot wilderness. Why is the Forest Service Categorical Exclusion (CE), firefighters put their lives at risk to considering reducing public access eliminating further environmental save the remaining wilderness, as to public lands? review. As a result, Superior well as private property in the National Forest is being opened to Isabella area. In its scoping document "BWCAW roadways, drilling operations, Non-native Invasive Plant contaminants seeping into the Considering the effects of climate Management Project", the Forest watershed, and 24 hour a day noise, change, the ecosystem will be totally Service has plans to use herbicides impacting wildlife, migratory bird altered. Some ecologists are within the wilderness starting in breeding, and habitat. predicting that the spruce bogs and 2012, even though herbicides impact red pines will be unable to re- aquatic species. This new policy It’s ironic that once the Pagami establish themselves. In areas were would replace manual removal of Creek fire began to spread, the Forest Service opted to save the Fernberg Road while the fire swept to the southeast, bordering the very area where mineral exploration is taking place. In fact, many of the Isabella residents whose property was threatened as the fire spread are the same people who are opposing exploratory mineral leasing on private lands. As reported in the Star Tribune, "Forest Service way off on BWCA fire projections," October 30, 2011, "The fire plan was to continue suppression of any unwanted fire, but not contain the fire’s southern edge." Did Forest Service decisions turn the Kawishiwi and Isabella area into a sacrifice zone ahead of proposed mining Pagami Creek Fire (USFS) along the periphery of the BWCAW?

3 “…we found mile after mile of blackened skeletons of the middle- aged jack pine, birch, aspen, and balsam fir that had once dominated the second-growth forests in this stretch of the Boundary Waters. This forest…is now a dark, almost surreal, place to see.” –Timberjay, “Pagami Creek Fire A stark aftermath,” by Marshall Helmberger, November 4, 2011)

opportunity to speak for the wilderness beyond the confines of bureaucracy?

Conclusion

The only real benefit of the Pagami Creek Fire is the attention it brings to USFS policy that is failing to protect our forests. In one month’s time, between August 18 and September 12, 2011, a handful of USFS employees made decisions based upon written policy, computer models, and misinterpretation of weather reports that wiped out Pagami Creek Fire (USFS) what generations of canoeists have held in awe. Lack of practical knowledge, along with military type How can the Forest Service offer the decisions leading to the strategies and faulty modeling, restitution for the damage caused? conflagration have an opportunity to undid in 16 hours what establish a buffer zone alongside the conservationists since the time of The Pagami Creek Fire has affected wilderness fire line, banning all Theodore Roosevelt have spent their the environment and wildlife, commercial logging, mineral lifetimes protecting. taxpayers, and the economic future exploration, and moose hunting of local tourism businesses. As during the course of years that it The Pagami Creek Fire is being left to stated in the Ely Echo editorial, "If takes for habitat in the BWCAW to burn itself out over the winter but the fire had been set by a camper, recover. its effects on the landscape will even accidentally, that person would linger for generations to come. be hunted down, fined and held up When Superior National Forest for public ridicule." Supervisor Jim Sanders retires at the end of this December, what legacy By Elanne Palcich The Pagami Creek fire requires will he be leaving behind? Will Back to www.sosbluewaters.org restitution. Those responsible for retirement provide him the

In 1996, Bud Heinselman, retired Forest Service employee and author of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem, wrote (pp. 262-3), "What unique aspects of the Boundary Waters ecosystem will our descendants know and appreciate 25, 50, or 100 years from now? If we meet our responsibilities by preventing catastrophic global change and caring for the Boundary Waters reserves as we should, our legacy to future generations will be of inestimable value…The Boundary Waters reserves together will be valued more and more as a last remnant of the old north woods. …Think of the gene-pool, biodiversity, scientific, and educational values of the reserves. These kinds of values will be important whether or not we succeed in curbing global warming, trans-boundary air pollution, or the spread of introduced organisms."