The Emerald Lake Prescribed Burn was critical in terms of reducing the risk to public safety from large-scale forest fires in future years. The main aim of the prescribed burn was to burn off heavy amounts of blowdown timber posing a serious fire hazard because it was dead and drying and densely piled on hilltops and slopes within the park.
The blowdown was the result of a severe windstorm that blew timber down along the Canada/U.S. border between Minnesota and Ontario on July 4, 1999. The Emerald Lake PB, located at the southeastern tip of Quetico Park was part of the larger blowdown and represented a major area within the wilderness park that required remedial action.
Waiting for ideal weather conditions in the fall, with warm, dry conditions but cool evenings meant fire staff could ignite an intense fire that removed the blowdown timber, but cooled off by evening and prevented the further spread outside the predetermined boundary. The Prescribed Burn covered approximately 2,000 hectares.
In addition to the removal of the hazardous blowdown timber, an ecologically beneficial understory burn occurred on south facing slopes in standing red and white pine. The vegetation under the trees burned, but there was minimal tree mortality on those sites. As a result, healthy forest growth of red and white pine seedlings is expected.
From both a fire operations and a park public safety perspective, the results of the Emerald Lake Prescribed Burn exceeded expectations.
