The Big Bear Fire burns along the Salmon River in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho. Photo by M Baxley
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Managing Fire in the Nation’s Most Visited Wilderness Areas
By Joe Friedrichs
Other than a small fire that burned in late May, known as the Horse River Fire, it’s been a quiet year for wildfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Two fires south of the BWCA Wilderness in Minnesota made national headlines around the start of the paddling season. Other than that, it’s been a quiet year for wildfires in the BWCA and Quetico.
It’s been a different story for other wilderness areas across the country.
Take the Big Bear Fire in Idaho, for example. The Big Bear Fire started from a lightning strike July 9 (2025) near the Salmon River in the wilds of Idaho. As of August 8, the fire continues to burn within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and was nearly 15,000 acres.
Paddle and Portage’s M Baxley paddled through the burn area in late July and shares this video report with river guide Janie Egan.
The video brings back the question we’ve reported on extensively at Paddle and Portage: How does the U.S. Forest Service manage wildfires in wilderness areas across the country?
The Forest Service, speaking in both the first and third person in a single statement, says, “When we see a wildfire, our first response is to put it out. For decades, the Forest Service has done just that when it came to wildland fires.”
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