CASS LAKE 鈥� The USDA Forest Service, with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe as a cooperating agency, is proposing to restore fire-dependent ecosystems and associated wildlife habitat and cultural resources and uses throughout a portion of the Chippewa National Forest.
This area is within the proclamation boundary of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation and within Beltrami, Cass and Itasca Counties, a release said.
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Within this area, approximately 150,000 acres of National Forest System lands, classified as fire-dependent ecosystems, are the priority for treatment.
The proposed activities would occur throughout the project area and the specific locations of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments would be determined closer to implementation.
Restoration activities may include prescribed burning, fire control lines construction, mechanical or hand treatments, planting, seeding and canopy removal through harvest.
Conditions that have developed in these communities over a century of fire absence may not be restored by the short-term restoration of fire as an ecosystem process alone.
Complementary treatments of burning, thinning and/or seeding are needed to increase understory light levels and re-establish diverse native fire-dependent plant communities.
Additional benefits of maintaining or reestablishing fire-dependent land types include reducing the risk to communities from hazardous fuels, and benefits for ongoing vegetation management that will increase the health and resilience of forested areas, the release said.
The proposed project would authorize multiple restoration treatments across national forest system lands within the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Individual treatment units would typically range from 10-500 acres in size.
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The aim of this project is to increase the acres restored each year over the next 15 years. The actual amount of restoration treatments would depend on budget, resources, capacity and availability of appropriate burn windows, the release said.
Send comments on the Fire-dependent Ecosystem Restoration Project by Feb. 22 to: karen.lessard@usda.gov; or mail to: Blackduck Ranger District, ATTN: Karen Lessard, 417 Forestry Drive, Blackduck, MN 56630.
