Duluth, Minn., August 30, 2023—The LaCroix Ranger District in Cook, MN will be conducting hazardous fuels reduction around Lake Vermilion as part of the 2019 Jeanette Project environmental analysis (EA). Forest staff will use various methods to remove the hazardous vegetation on approximately 533 acres to help reduce wildfire impacts to the area. Staff will begin laying out the fuel reduction area this summer with flagging. Fuels treatments will begin the summer of 2024.

The following map and table show the landscape that will be better protected by this project, including National Forest System land, state land, and private land.

Dead vegetation that accumulates on the landscape can increase fire speed and intensity if a wildfire occurred. The accumulated fuels are partly due to spruce budworm. Spruce budworm is a native moth whose caterpillars feed on the growing buds of spruce and balsam fir trees. A tree can live through an infestation when cold winter weather kills the insect, but warm winters lead to multi-year infestations which will kill the tree. This area has had a large outbreak of spruce budworm which has killed many of the balsam fir. Fuels reduction projects place fuels breaks on the landscape to help protect adjacent land from wildfires and allow wildland firefighters to contain the fires more efficiently. Brush and small trees, called “ladder fuels” would be reduced with this project. These fuels allow fire to move from the ground to treetops, which creates a crown fire and causes rapid fire growth. Fuels reduction projects lessen wildfire hazards, reduce threats to public safety, and decrease potential damages to properties.

“In addition to the ecological benefits this fuels reduction project will have, it also compliments projects being developed through the Community Wildfire Defense grant that was awarded to St. Louis County and funded through the Infrastructure Law to increase wildfire awareness, reduce fuels, and help communities be more wildfire resistant. By also treating Superior National Forest land around Lake Vermilion, risk across land ownerships in the area will be reduced”–Sunny Lucas, LaCroix District Ranger.

Management methods used to remove the vegetation will include cutting of understory trees by hand or mechanical methods. Cut vegetation will then be removed off site for biomass, or be chipped, crushed or chopped onsite (mastication), pile burned on site, or potential burned with prescribed fire. Fuels treatment may be used where the overstory is being retained as well as future maintenance treatments as needed. This treatment option could be applied to any of the proposed units. For more information on treatment types, see p. 12 of the Jeanette Project’s Decision Notice Appendix A: Description of Treatment Types and Monitoring Plan.

Dead vegetation that accumulates on the landscape can increase fire speed and intensity if a wildfire occurred. The accumulated fuels are partly due to spruce budworm. Spruce budworm is a native moth whose caterpillars feed on the growing buds of spruce and balsam fir trees. A tree can live through an infestation when cold winter weather kills the insect, but warm winters lead to multi-year infestations which will kill the tree. This area has had a large outbreak of spruce budworm which has killed many of the balsam fir. Fuels reduction projects place fuels breaks on the landscape to help protect adjacent land from wildfires and allow wildland firefighters to contain the fires more efficiently. Brush and small trees, called “ladder fuels” would be reduced with this project. These fuels allow fire to move from the ground to treetops, which creates a crown fire and causes rapid fire growth. Fuels reduction projects lessen wildfire hazards, reduce threats to public safety, and decrease potential damages to properties.

“In addition to the ecological benefits this fuels reduction project will have, it also compliments projects being developed through the Community Wildfire Defense grant that was awarded to St. Louis County and funded through the Infrastructure Law to increase wildfire awareness, reduce fuels, and help communities be more wildfire resistant. By also treating Superior National Forest land around Lake Vermilion, risk across land ownerships in the area will be reduced”–Sunny Lucas, LaCroix District Ranger.

Management methods used to remove the vegetation will include cutting of understory trees by hand or mechanical methods. Cut vegetation will then be removed off site for biomass, or be chipped, crushed or chopped onsite (mastication), pile burned on site, or potential burned with prescribed fire. Fuels treatment may be used where the overstory is being retained as well as future maintenance treatments as needed. This treatment option could be applied to any of the proposed units. For more information on treatment types, see p. 12 of the Jeanette Project’s Decision Notice Appendix A: Description of Treatment Types and Monitoring Plan.

Unit Location Acres Treatment

Mud Creek T 63N, R 14W, Sec 31 44 Mastication Contract

Coffee Bay 2 T 62N, R 16W, Sec 2

T 62N, R 16W, Sec 3 119 Cut & piled

Bystrom Bay T 62N, R 16W, Sec 28 7 Cut and pile burn with FS personnel

Matson Bay T 63N, R 15W, Sec 33 60 Cut & piled

North Pine Campsite T 63N, R 16W, Sec 26

T 63N, R 16W, Sec 27 3 Cut & piled

Pine Island T 63N, R 16W, Sec 35 17 Cut & piled

Rice Bay North T 63N, R 15W, Sec 35 Approximately:

35 cut & pile

15 mastication Cut and pile contract in portions, & also mastication contract along roadside and where mechanically feasible

Rice Bay South T 63N, R 15W, Sec 34 3 Cut & pile burn with FS personnel

Trout Portage East T 63N, R 15W, Sec 30

T 63N, R 16W, Sec 25 142 Cut & pile/mastication

Tools such prescribed fires help reduce the buildup of fuelwood, lowering the risk of intense wildfire. In addition, they improve and maintain forest health and wildlife habitat, and eliminate invasive species. Our local meadow and forest ecosystems are fire-dependent and rely on periodic fires to stay healthy. Fire scars on trees and carbon layers in the soil show that historically understory fires took place about every twenty years in this ecosystem.

For more information on the project, contact Kaysee Miller, LaCroix Ranger District Silviculturist at Kaysee.miller@usda.gov or 218-666-0040.

Jeanette Project Documents: https://usfs public.app.box.com/v/PinyonPublic/folder/158857309819

Find out more about the Superior National Forest at http://www.fs.usda.gov/superior and follow us on Twitter @SuperiorNF, on Facebook and Flickr (photo credit: Superior National Forest) #superiornf

The Superior National Forest is managed in Five (5) districts, with a Supervisor’s Office:

• Supervisor’s Office, Duluth: 218-626-4300

• Gunflint District Office, Grand Marais: 218-387-1750

• Kawishiwi District Office, Ely: 218-365-7600

• LaCroix District Office, Cook: 218-666-0020

• Tofte District Office, Tofte: 218-663-8060

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