Past Events

In August and September 2011, the Pagami Creek Fire burned about 93,000 acres in the Boundary Waters Wilderness east of Ely. Most of that area burned in just a few days during a wind-driven run of surprising speed and extent. The fire offers numerous lessons related to disturbance ecology of northern Minnesota fire-dependent forests, wildlife response, fire behavior, incident management, and more. Many of these lessons were applied during the 2021 Greenwood fire, not far south of the Pagami Creek fire. Over two days we’ll hear from forest, wildlife, and hydrology researchers, incident managers, agency representatives, and community members.

The purpose of the Research and Practice Review is to present new applied research relevant to regional natural resource managers, with a focus on silviculture, forest management, and forest-associated wildlife. This focus includes research related to policy, economics, inventory, remote sensing, and other topics pertaining to forests and associated natural resources.

As foresters we try to emulate natural disturbance through silvicultural practices, but often nature has other ideas, confounding well-implemented prescriptions. Join us for this two-day exploration of connections between natural disturbance, wildlife habitat, and forest management.

Timber sales are our primary opportunity to manage forest structure and composition at any scale larger than a few acres. Public and private land managers design timber sales to achieve multiple objectives including wildlife habitat improvement, timber harvest, improved forest resilience, and addressing forest health threats. Offered jointly between SFEC and the Minnesota Logger Education Program, this workshop features a mix of indoor instruction and site visits.