Has anybody been thru Hudson or better have pictures of the trees situation in 2020 relative to the loss to the Pagami Creek fire of 2011?

I suspect it's still not an area that would be conducive to hammock camping for quite some time? How about shade in areas like Hudson that were hit very badly by the Pagami fire?

Some of the campsites were saved by water drops but the trees are minimal so not really conducive for hammock hanging. The new trees are growing fast and should be able to hold a hammock in about 20 to 30 more years. The jackpines were about 8 feet tall last summer and very thickly growing.

Went through in 2018. It's still has a long way to go for recovery.

Has there been any published Studies on the Pagami fire?

sylvesterii - awesome photo!

I have not read any published studies of the after-effects of that fire. I am DYI fire ecologist so to speak. I have walked through many burned areas and observed the regrowth. Part of my interest was born from a favorite campsite of mine being nearly wiped out by a forest fire in 2007 and then being torched to the earth in the Pagami creek fire in 2011.

During this period, I returned to my site after the first fire and observed the regrowth, then returned yearly or more to my site after the Pagami creek fire.

What I know is that the first fire, the Turtle Lake fire just NE of Bald Eagle Lake burned cool and slow, like a mosaic. The Pagami Creek fire burned hot and fast, burning everything including the soil down to the bedrock. Just a few weeks after the fire I walked the scorched earth and found wolf tracks and observed red squirrels eating jack pine cones. I surmised that the squirrels hid deep down in the rocks when the fire swept through. I looked for signs of dead animals, skeletons, anything and found nothing. I did find out how messy campsites are when you take away all the vegetation. There were pots, pans and bottles behind the campsite left there decades earlier.

I have learned how essential fire is to the forest. The regrowth of both fires has been phenomenal and it is essential to a healthy forest by allowing regrowth of the forest and removing fuels that lead to bigger fires. This cannot be said so much for the Pagami Creek fire since it burned so hot and into the crowns of every tree including stands of 300+ year old white pines. Couple this with poor management (The FS intentionally assisted the fire to burn even though it was very dry for the sake of making a prescribed burn)of the initial fire by the FS and a long history of fire suppression in the BWCA and you had the perfect disaster.

For the regrowth, All species of trees have returned. Jackpine are numerous and widespread. Birch trees are plentiful and some are more than 10’ high. Popple, white cedar, and white pine are all over. The ground cover plants fill the woods with greenery. I am most surprised by how rapidly the soil begins to take hold again. Just a few years of leaves and moss are giving the barren land something for life to hold on too.

I have walked through 30 and 40 year old burns and if I didn’t tell you there was a fire, you might not even notice. I encourage anyone that can to visit a known fire area and walk through the woods observing how nature behaves.

Fire good. Fire suppression bad. People started fire, the worst yet ever.

Tom

Last May. View from Portage to Insula.

Thanks, AhmooCreek!

Hudson was hit hard, but the river north to Fire was not burned and has sites good for hanging. Fire Lake has a good site. I hang and have been through the area twice since the fire finding most of the campsites were saved. Finding trees back in the woods is out, but there are trees. I particularly like the first campsite as you pass from Lake Two into Lake Three.