5/26/2026 – This week potentially marks the start of the Forest Services prescribed burns within the Kawishiwi Lakes Roadless Area (KLRA) and surrounding lands around Sawbill. The KLRA includes a total of 1,913 acres of land split into two “units”, with a bit just off of the Sawbill trail. Each unit having a designated reason and purpose to their burn. We take mention of this prescribed burn for a few reasons as it may sound intimidating or fearful. These burns are only executed with the most ideal conditions. We of course know the dangers of what wildfires can do if loss of control were to take place, however these prescribed burns are for mitigating that danger. For Unit 1, which is 330 acres, there will be a low to moderate intensity fire beneath the mature red and white pines in the area. Specifically here the goal is to enhance the growing conditions and to protect the canopy trees through reducing the fuel from the balsam fir or ladder fuel elements. Secondly, in Unit 2 it will be higher intensity fire to improve the habitat conditions for moose. By having this higher intensity flame go through this region it creates a more diverse age range of the trees thus providing new browse for the moose. Each of these burns is monitored closely with fire staff using precise ignition to start them through to the end when it is declared out. These burns will not cause any closures of recreation sites or roadways. If the smoke is deemed to cause visibility issues then warnings would be placed in those designated places. The jist is this – if you are to come out to Sawbill in the next week or so you may see a number of Forest Service vehicles or even the flames themselves off of the Sawbill trail, it is nothing to be of concerned with, rather something to spark intrigue on why it is happening! All good things for our wildlife friends and this is simply to make their habitats less likely to be a landscape for future wildfires.

-Annika