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The North Woods are something that makes Minnesota stand out on both an economic scale and in terms of recreational resources.
The far north provides lumber, paper, iron ore, fishing, boating, canoe routes, and many excellent resorts, The recent fires near Ely show that it's not something to be taken for granted.
Forest fires occurred near the start of the region's summer tourism season. Smoke and haze covered a wide area. It kept away many tourists, turning what would have been busy weeks into a much quieter and less profitable time period.
It made headlines in statewide media. We heard about everything from rescue situations to the sinking of canoes in lakes to prevent them from being lost in the fires.
Now that the flames have died down, we're not hearing much. I'd like to read more about the aftermath, more about what local officials and business owners think about their loss of revenue. I'd like to know what they predict for their overall 2026 season.
I read that state leaders are unlikely to call a special session of the Legislature to address the fires. I don't know for sure whether one is needed, but I do know that with or without a special session there's a need for disaster relief in the fire damaged areas.
I base that on how my personal travel plans were affected by the fires. I had planned to take a six-day bus tour that was bound for Duluth, Grand Portage, Ely, and Grand Rapids.
I've never been all the way up the North Shore to Grand Portage. The closest I've come to Ely was in 2007 when I attended a wedding in International Falls. I've been to Duluth several times, but was still looking forward to going back.
Part of the reason I decided not to go is that six days is a long time to ride a bus, but the fires are what clinched it. I didn't want to breathe smoke. It would have taken away much of the pleasure of going up north.
Still I feel somewhat guilty about opting out because it takes more than $1,000 away from northern Minnesota hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.
When you figure that at least hundreds, maybe thousands of other potential visitors made the decision I did, the losses add up. It was probably almost like an off season. The tourism places only have a short time between mid-August and winter. It's not much time to make up for the tourism that didn't emerge.
There's a need for low interest loans. If people can't afford another loan, it would be a good thing if they could receive disaster grants.
If the Marshall area is ever damaged by a tornado, as Tracy was in 1968 and like Chandler and Clarkfield were in 1992, my hope would be that state and federal officials would help us. I'd want to see homes, farms and business property rebuilt as soon as possible.
It seems like the risk is greater now than in the past. We've had more fires, more floods, more tornadoes, more coastal storms, and more heat waves.
There's a need to be proactive instead of simply reactive. Skeptics agree that we're having more weather issues, but they theorize that it's not the result of man made climate change.
Instead they say that we're entering an era when there will be more instability, when natural climate patterns will mostly be worse. They could potentially be right. Even if the changes are natural, however, they're still a problem.
Warmer conditions increase the demand for energy. Hot weather, dry weather and major rain events are likely to have a negative impact on food production, even if we take into account the development of new, high producing crop varieties.
Maybe we shouldn't be on a mission to increase the supply of coal, natural gas and oil. Maybe we should instead reduce our demands.
Having less of an impact on natural resources and well rounded resource management plans could reduce the impact of climate change. It certainly won't hurt the cause.
It will need to be addressed on a global scale, maybe by stepping up international efforts to control emissions, prevent fires, and prevent floods.
It's wrong to blame Canada for North American wildfires, or to blame developing countries like China and India for global warming. Nations need to work together.
We can do things ourselves. We can recycle, practice waste reduction, grow gardens, support farmer's markets, stencil storm drains and have city clean up events. Those contributions might in small ways help to sustain our quality of life.
-- Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and contributor to the Marshall Independent