Agassa Lake
Agassa Lake Roadless Area marks the entrance to the Echo Trail corridor. Just one scenic route bisects the two units of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at this point north of Ely.
| Three roads would be bulldozed into it if the
US Forest Service approves a permit for the MN Department of Natural
Resources to log deep in the roadless area, adjacent to the BWCA. This state land to be logged will have to be accessed through a roadless area, and the roads that would be built might disqualify the area as roadless. In this map, orange indicates DNR plans to clearcut, green is planned thinning, and purple will be examined for possible logging. Red and yellow indicate US Forest Service logging. We know of four access points. Match numbers on map to notes and photos
below. |
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| 1. Proposed road here would serve DNR clear-cut, looping around stream valley through the semi-primitive part of the roadless area. Stand includes white pine inches in diameter. | We walked 2 transects from the center of the
project area to its edge. One North and one South East. The area was
comprised of ridges of white and red pine with spruce and tamarack bog.
Small rock faces were interspersed. Tree largest found DBH: White Pine 31 inches, Red Pine 19 inches, Tamarack 11 inches. Red Pine out numbered White almost 2 to 1. Other plant species: Birch, Black Ash, Alder, Labrador , Balsam, Jack Pine.
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| 2.
This hunting trail goes to the state land, but is too steep for logging
trucks. It is overgrown to the point where nothing larger than an ATV
could navigate it. There is evidence of trail clearing, and ATV use. There was a hunter’s camp at the end of
U5SC11618.
We observed pine martin tracks, a hairy woodpecker, a possible Wolf track (they were partially obscured by fallen snow). |
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| 3. DNR has requested re-establishing FR1909 for logging. After the spur that goes north to Agassa Lake, the road is unrecognizable, and should not be considered part of the system. | |
| 4. Revived road to service DNR logging. This state forest south of Big Lake has many square clear-cuts along the Boundary Waters, visible from satellite in our Google Earth tour. |
