To my untrained and eye, and only seeing a few photos, the fires don’t look to have “destroyed” large areas in their entirety. It looks like patches of “burned to a crisp,” patches of burned but may survive, and patches of green.

To me, this looks promising. Fire is going to happen. Better to have numerous smaller and colder fires, than massive devastation less frequently. The area is going to have a patchwork of tree species and forest ages….hopefully something to offer for all the native wildlife.

How’s that for optimism!?

Link

First pic is Saturday bay of crooked lake and it looks like campsite 1879 is still a little green. Site 1880 is just off screen and from what we can see of the island it's unburnt. I'm optimistic for the rest of the areas!

That link is behind a paywall, but based on the photos I've seen, I agree. In any large fire there will be areas that get totally destroyed, but overall none of these seem as destructive as, say, the Pagami Creek fire.

Here are the photos for those who get a pay wall (I didn't for some reason)

Scorched and burned trees from the Bear Trap Fire fill the landscape in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Sunday near Ely, Minn.


Smoke billows up from the Bear Trap Fire, which started during what has been officially called the “July Lightning Incident.”


Smoke drifts from still-smoldering sections of the Camp Fire, which threatened areas northeast of Ely and prompted evacuations.




The Bear Trap Fire continues to produce smoke. Burning further north of Ely, it is the largest of the Boundary Waters fires at nearly 30,000 acres.


The Bear Trap Fire is currently 40% contained and is being managed with the help of more than 400 responders.


Myriad factors, including the type of trees in the path of a wildfire, can determine what burns and what doesn’t.


Even after the large flames subside, fires can smolder in the forest floor. Here, smoke signals a small fire.

Thanks mnsportsfanjr!