I just wrote and photographed an article on this topic for the just published issue of Lake Country Journal. Although wildfire can and is often tragic, the article reviews the benefits of fire to our ecosystem. Our forests need to burn to stay healthy. My story includes research and interviews with The Nature Conservancy of Minnesota, the Minnesota DNR, one of the world’s leading experts in forest health from the University of Minnesota, Professor Lee Frelich, and Outdoor Writer and Photographer, Michael Furtman who owns a cabin right in the middle to the Greenwood Forest Fire region.
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Here is a photograph I took near the end of the Gunflint Trail. The location is the overlook near Gunflint Lake and the image was taken during the summer of 2020, 13 years after the Ham Lake Fire … beautiful once more.
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This is what the region looked like from the same exact location just four years after the fire in 2011.
Forest Fire Rebirth at Gunflint Lake
Yup, but the human body wasn’t built to withstand the toxins that come from mega fires.