Thank you for your consideration of our comments. Roadless areas are roadless for a reason, they have very low timber value but have high value for watershed protection, recreation and wildlife. Much more wood can be harvested more responsibly from roaded areas in the National Forests at much less cost to the taxpayer, but some management discretion needs to remain with the Forest Service to occasionally control fire risk and manage wildlife habitat in the roadless areas. And This . As most of you are aware, a massive windstorm pummeled the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on July 4, 1999.
Wildfires are natural, and beneficial, to wilderness.
However, the area just to the east of the blowdown, outside the wilderness, is populated with homes and resorts. The USFS has therefore proposed a series of controlled burns to minimize the possibility of one gigantic, and uncontrollable, wildfire. In essence, the agency wants to burn the fuel before nature does. The plan is to burn about 80,000 acres over then next decade or so, in increments of 5-10,000 acres per year. Generally, the League supports this effort, but does have some concerns.