TtEC developed a comprehensive fuel treatment plan for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The Boundary Waters is a 1.09 million acre wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in Minnesota on the Canadian border. It is renowned as a destination for both canoeing and fishing on its many lakes and is the most visited wilderness in the United States. On July 4, 1999, the area was devastated by a violent storm with winds of more than 90 miles an hour, causing extensive damage to over 500,000 acres. TtEC and the Forest Service developed strategies to treat areas throughout the wilderness using controlled burns to minimize the potential for catastrophic fire and risk to the public and property. This project was unique because of the extent of fuel treatment within wilderness areas and the extensive use of state-of-the-art fuel and fire behavior modeling that was required to adequately analyze the alternatives.

TtEC utilized a variety of models to evaluate treatment options, including the fire effects trade-off model (FETM) which evaluates vegetation, wildlife habitat, air quality, and other resources projected 100 years into the future. The rare event risk assessment process (RERAP) was used to evaluate the risk of fire escaping the wilderness boundary. We used air quality modeling to evaluate emissions and concentrations resulting from the alternatives. Flame map was used to evaluate the spatial distribution of flame length after treatment. TtEC developed 2,600 public scoping packages describing the proposed action and held public meetings to solicit comments in five at-risk communities. Because of the high fire risk to areas adjacent to the wilderness, it was necessary to complete the final environmental impact statement (EIS) in short timeframe so fuel treatment could begin.

TtEC identified a preferred option involving a patchwork of treatments strategically positioned across the blowdown in a pattern to achieve a high degree of risk reduction. This alternative would result in a slower rate of fire spread and would provide areas where ground suppression forces can implement strategic and tactical actions. This option would result in 45,000 to 78,000 acres of treatment over a 7- to 10-year period. TtEC identified mitigation measures to minimize burn effects on air quality, soil, aquatic resources, wetlands, riparian areas, vegetation, and wildlife. The project was successfully completed on time with only minor appeals being received.

Project Highlights

• Project successfully implemented on time despite compressed timeframe
• Prepared comprehensive fuel treatment plan for up to 81,000 acres of wild land-urban interface
• Effectively used state-of-the-art modeling representation of fuel treatment options