Restoring the natural regime means burning roughly 4,200 Canoe Area acres yearly

Evidence

An average of about 4200 acres per year might be burned in the remaining 420,000 acres of virgin forest of the Canoe Area. This would put the virgin areas on an overall “fire rotation” of 100 yr. Some stands would survive many of these fires, and many areas would be fired at longer or shorter intervals, as they were in nature. In poor fire seasons there might be little or no burning, while in good ones the quota for several years could be burned. — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 466

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: No large BWCA burns since 1936 already eliminated early postfire communities. — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 413; Man-controlled burning can still yield a natural ecosystem — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 477; The entire BWCA ecosystem was fire-dependent — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 1 (+6 more)

Related

• The Canoe Area burned and regenerated on about a 100-year rotation. (similarity 0.92)
• Historic burns of 100,000 acres can no longer be allowed in the Canoe Area (similarity 0.90)
• Fire is an intrinsic ecosystem component, not an unnatural disturbance, in the Canoe Area. (similarity 0.89)
• Man-controlled burning can still yield a natural ecosystem (similarity 0.86)
• No large BWCA burns since 1936 already eliminated early postfire communities. (similarity 0.86)
• Natural fire rotation quantifies fire’s role and grounds fire-management targets. (similarity 0.86)
• Letting all lightning fires run is unsafe in flat Canoe Area terrain (similarity 0.85)
• Natural fire rotation in the BWCA was about 100 years (similarity 0.85)
• The BWCA still has a roughly 60-year window before fire exclusion makes restoration impossible. (similarity 0.84)
• The entire BWCA ecosystem was fire-dependent (similarity 0.83)
• Surface fires returned every 36 years on average in surviving pine stands. (similarity 0.82)
• Virtually every BWCA virgin forest stand burned since 1595. (similarity 0.80)
• BWCA management excluded fire despite its dominant ecological role (similarity 0.80)
• Virtually every BWCA forest stand regenerated after fire since 1595 (similarity 0.79)
• Five fire years created nearly three-quarters of today’s forest stands. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Letting all lightning fires run is unsafe in flat Canoe Area terrain #responds-to (0.85) — Miron L. Heinselman, Fire in the Virgin Forests of the…, 455