Minnesota Bloggers Cover Gunflint Trail Fire

It’s a good thing… that we didn’t let any of those nasty loggers in to take out that deadfall a few years back after the big windstorm over the 4th of July. We would never have been able to see the pretty pictures if we had just gotten rid of all that dead wood fueling this fire.

Not quite, BGW Much of the blowdown area is inaccessible and remote. The costs of accessing the timber would outweigh the profits gained. Also, the blowdown was an area exceeding 500,000 acres. Minnesota loggers log about 150,000 acres each year. It would take 3 years to clear it out and that’s if everyone in the industry was working there at one time an abandoning their current stands. In short, harvesting would be a logistical nightmare.

That doesn’t even take into account that loggers only log the harvestable wood. The branches, leaves, unusable logs, understory brush will still be there to fuel the fire which is largely a result of drought.

Boundary Waters Blog Here is another good blog!  Nice work!

http://www.boundarywatersblog.com/

Hmmmm Is that why the industry OFFERED to do it?

Did They?? Vice President of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association in 2006 in response to, well basically comments like yours: “Loggers in our state responded immediately and continued to respond by cleaning up blowdown for the next several years.  If people from outside of our group wanted us to do more they should have asked.”

The Friends of the Boundary Waters says: The Minnesota Timber Producers Association said in 1999 that they had no interest in logging the BWCAW.

Why did they not OFFER to do it? It would cost too much. 

Please cite sources for your allegations. The only thing the timber industry has to say is that they should be able to log to prevent fires in healthy stands by thinning. They haven’t struggled to harvest timber from the blowdown: there was plenty of government and private properties that were willing to sell the felled timber.

The main reason for the fires is an extended drought.

It’s unknown if our cabins still stand… Mother nature will always prevail and the most important thing is that the people are safe.

I do have some concerns about what was done after the blowdown. Logging aside…When fire restrictions are in effect for the Gunflint where are the signs? Do the people coming from out of the area have a clue as to what they can and cannot do? The only sign I see when I go up is the one when entering Cook County on Highway 61 and on the trail where the Smokey the Bear sign tells of the fire danger.

After repeated attempts to be heard and have more signs posted… we have a fire that could possibly have been prevented (?).

Now that a fire is here, is more being done to save the resorts and outfitters than is being done to save the cabins? What should be the priority of the hardworking men and women who are risking their lives?

It's a good thing… that we didn't let any of those nasty loggers in to take out that deadfall a few years back after the big windstorm over the 4th of July. We would never have been able to see the pretty pictures if we had just gotten rid of all that dead wood fueling this fire.

Not quite, BGW Much of the blowdown area is inaccessible and remote. The costs of accessing the timber would outweigh the profits gained. Also, the blowdown was an area exceeding 500,000 acres. Minnesota loggers log about 150,000 acres each year. It would take 3 years to clear it out and that's if everyone in the industry was working there at one time an abandoning their current stands. In short, harvesting would be a logistical nightmare.

That doesn't even take into account that loggers only log the harvestable wood. The branches, leaves, unusable logs, understory brush will still be there to fuel the fire which is largely a result of drought.

Boundary Waters Blog Here is another good blog!  Nice work!

http://www.boundarywatersblog.com/

Hmmmm Is that why the industry OFFERED to do it?

Did They?? Vice President of the Minnesota Timber Producers Association in 2006 in response to, well basically comments like yours: “Loggers in our state responded immediately and continued to respond by cleaning up blowdown for the next several years.  If people from outside of our group wanted us to do more they should have asked.”

The Friends of the Boundary Waters says: The Minnesota Timber Producers Association said in 1999 that they had no interest in logging the BWCAW.

Why did they not OFFER to do it? It would cost too much. 

Please cite sources for your allegations. The only thing the timber industry has to say is that they should be able to log to prevent fires in healthy stands by thinning. They haven't struggled to harvest timber from the blowdown: there was plenty of government and private properties that were willing to sell the felled timber.

The main reason for the fires is an extended drought.

It's unknown if our cabins still stand… Mother nature will always prevail and the most important thing is that the people are safe.

I do have some concerns about what was done after the blowdown. Logging aside…When fire restrictions are in effect for the Gunflint where are the signs? Do the people coming from out of the area have a clue as to what they can and cannot do? The only sign I see when I go up is the one when entering Cook County on Highway 61 and on the trail where the Smokey the Bear sign tells of the fire danger.

After repeated attempts to be heard and have more signs posted… we have a fire that could possibly have been prevented (?).

Now that a fire is here, is more being done to save the resorts and outfitters than is being done to save the cabins? What should be the priority of the hardworking men and women who are risking their lives?