It Takes a Village for Small Minnesota Towns to Adapt to Wildfires

Rapidly expanding wildfires along Minnesota’s Boundary Waters are cementing a new reality for rural communities in the region. Towns are adapting to elevated risks but would also welcome an infusion of planning resources.

A collection of fires prompted a closure of the popular wilderness area this week. Local leaders said it is a reflection of longer seasons in Minnesota where large blazes sweep across the landscape.

Teresa Floberg, project director for the environmental management consulting firm Dovetail Partners, which contracts with St. Louis County on mitigation work, said to protect communities, widespread coordination is taking shape.

“We’ve had these catastrophic fires before but there haven’t been that many that have been so geographically vast,” Floberg observed.

Property owners, municipalities and other entities are having more conversations about how to keep residents and structures safe. Floberg acknowledged it can be expensive to create more sites to drop off dry vegetation or widen roads for safer evacuations. There are government grants but Floberg argued policymakers should consider mitigation work as a more common need than in the past.

Floberg emphasized what may have seemed like a consistent threat elsewhere in the country is now a problem staring Minnesota in the face.

“If you look at a wildfire risk map, Minnesota looks like Western communities,” Floberg pointed out, adding she hopes decisionmakers not only look to those regions on how to improve wildfire prevention but also how to recover from them.

Meanwhile, Floberg stressed homeowners are motivated to do their part by making their dwellings more resilient to blazes but they need more incentives. Floberg suggested it could be an insurance-driven solution or another financial tool.