2025 Canadian Wildfires

[Glenn MacGrady]

I read that this possibly has been the worst wildfire season in recorded Canadian history.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11324707...d-worst-on-record-fuelled-by-prairies-blazes/

The smoke is polluting the air in Canada and in many states in the U.S., including occasionally here in Connecticut.

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/03/g-s1-80826/canada-wildfires-cause-poor-air-quality-in-the-midwest-and-northeast-us

Chicago on July 31:



Some questions:

Is this fire problem really getting worse in Canada or is it mostly a function of improved technological detection and 24-hour news cycles?

Are there policies that can be changed to prevent or better fight these fires? The U.S., for example, has recently rescinded the 2001 Roadless Rule. "Rescinding this rule will remove prohibitions on road construction, reconstruction, and timber harvest on nearly 59 million acres of the National Forest System, allowing for fire prevention and responsible timber production." Perhaps Canada's fire problem is too big and not amenable to any beneficial changes in fire management policies.

Relevantly for our site, how much are these fires impacting canoeing in Canada and the U.S. border states? Does anyone know?

 

[memaquay]

Social media has been full of Americans complaining about Canadian smoke, and demanding that we do something about it. One of the most asinine comments I read was that all Canadians should be out raking debris off the forest floor to prevent fires. If one lives where I do, and if one has gone on wilderness canoe trips on Crown Land, then a better understanding of the vastness of the boreal forest might be achieved.

Canada's boreal forest is the largest in the world. The majority of it occupies areas with very sparse population. Fire cycles are part of the boreal forest life span, which in localized regions is not that long. So fires are a normal part of our life up here.

So, are there more fires than usual? The simple answer is yes, and it is due to global climate change.

As you can see from the graph, it's not just Canada, the problem is global. This has been a very bad summer for smoke up here, but I'm not sure it's the worst. It has actually bothered me this summer, and there have been days when I could feel it in my lungs and eyes. Any of the pictures posted showing smoke have been pretty mild compared to what we get.

Does this influence canoetripping? For sure, I have canoed in many areas where fires have wiped out portages. However, I can tell you that rehabilitating a port after a fire is far easier than after the area has been logged. The path is often still apparent after a fire, and if maintained, the new growth will come up beside it and not on it, as animals will continue to use the path. Forestry destroys the port completely, leaving no evidence of the port.

What are the solutions? Well, to be diplomatic, the world needs to do something to slow down the rate of climate change. Certain countries are bigger contributors to climate change than others. I would urge them to examine their own practices, and perhaps attempt to shape world policy regarding climate change in a positive fashion, before dropping the blame for smoke on others.

 

[Gamma1214]

The fires have certainly impacted canoe tripping and will, probably, continue to do so. I've been researching routes for the bucket list and @Marten tells me that WCPP and the surrounding area has been devastated (not to mention that his plans got cancelled this year). I suppose it might be cool to paddle through a recent burn on a trip but I really don't want 2-3 weeks of it.

Sadly, WCPP is probably off the list unless I'm still going strong in 20 years or so.

Now, I wonder if the fires impact the days on the water as much as the destination... Is it likely that places like the Adirondacks & river systems out West might see a higher number or visitors?

Personally, I've been looking at routes further to the North & to the East because, having spent a few weeks in Canada's boreal forest, I can certainly say that it's addictive. (PS: "rake up the debris"? Thankfully, I missed that post. Mighta gotten kicked off again)

 

[scoutergriz]

Yup, most people have no idea of the magnitude of the situation, having both worked and played in the boreal across Canada both the "forest raking" and arson angles are absolutely ludicrous- there are thousands of square miles where there is no access at all, even by seaplane or helicopter, some BC and Alberta valleys are too narrow even for helicopters- they literally rope people in to construct wooden "stages" above the valleys for helicopters to land on, then from Central Canada east to the Atlantic the density can be unbelievable, Even in Temagami, which is considered "near north, there are areas where the last time the roads were maintained was back during WWII- those roads generally now have pines and spruce 65-70' tall and 12-16" thick growing in the tracks, I challenge anyone to push through a black spruce lowland faster than a baby can crawl- I've had days on foot with a chainsaw where 11/2-2 km is considered a good day's work, and long sleeves and glasses are mandatory if you want to get out intact...

 

[GeoBoy]

Just got back from spending a few day up in the dak’s and the water levels are down and the mountains are just silhouettes from the haze from the Canadian wildfires.

 

[Black_Fly]

How’s the BWCA-Quetico area? I’ve got plans for September, if life cooperates.

 

[Alan Gage]

It's too bad to see areas we're familiar with, or would like to become familiar with, turn into charred stumps. But I just remind myself that the same thing has happened to that area before and that it will continue to exist and recover. It might not be in my lifetime but there are plenty of areas that are not burned I can still enjoy.


In 2016 I traveled from Wollaston Lake in northern Saskatchewan to the Nunavut border. I mostly followed the route PG Downes had followed in the mid-1930's. At that time he commented on the unusually large number of fires in that area and how much forest was being burned. But, 80 years later, I found an intact and healthy boreal forest.

Alan

 

[ppine]

Canada has the same problems we have in the US on public lands. Too much fire suppression and not enough logging. People are willing to discuss changes in how we manage forests until the smoke clears and then they forget all about it.

 

[Marten]

BWCA and Quetico are wet and no fire issues. Smoke from fires to the NW though. Southeastern Manitoba has gotten nice rain the last several days and fires are knocked down. Aiken's Lake Lodge on the Gammon River is back open for business as of 8-11. I have been monitoring e61 fire as it burned north through Nopiming, South Atikaki and Atikaki parks in SE Manitoba. Rain arrived just as the south sections of my favorite 3 mile long lake started to burn last week. It may survive if it gets a little more rain along the way. Nopoming is burned up and South Atikaki about half burned. The Obukowin Portages are intact but the canoe route north using down stream on the Wanipigow from Wallace Lake and up the Broadleaf to Aiken's Lake is all burned. Tea Pail Portage from Gammon River to Stonehouse Lake on the Bloodvein burned too. Brad Lake burned and not sure about the Hangar Lake portages used to get to the Beren's River. There is no portage maintenance in Atikaki so it will be a rough go. Northern Tier Boy Scouts used to travel up there and had portages but they pulled out a few years ago. Woodland Caribou suffered so much fire in recent years that you want to research what areas are green if that is important to you. Wcpp does have an excellent portage crew keeping things open there. I had mapped lot of portages in Atikaki in the last ten years but now most will be questionable. Further north the Interactive Canada Fire Map shows fires up near Reindeer Lake are still burning hot so the smoke with be around. So many fires up there of a million acres or more this year.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

If it makes y'all feel any better, this has been the first summer in years that we've had very little smoke in Idaho.

It has actually bothered me this summer, and there have been days when I could feel it in my lungs and eyes. Any of the pictures posted showing smoke have been pretty mild compared to what we get.

That's been my experience summer through fall for a bunch of years running, and the majority of the last twenty years or so. Finally, after last summer, I swore I would retreat to the coast if it happened again this year. But it's been extraordinarily clear most of this year, except in very localized areas.

What's different? From what I'm seeing, very few dry thunderstorms.

It's been a boon to my outdoor activity here.

As to the question of effecting trips in Canada.....what I can relate is how it has effected me here in the past....and future. I've been chased out of wilderness by wildfires twice in the last twenty years. Several of my previous haunts have been so devastated by fire that I no longer go there. At least a couple have degraded (due to the intensity of the fire) into more desert like ecosystems, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Some of the burns that happened forty years ago are into a healthy recovery.

One aspect of all this is having a huge impact on river trips in the Idaho wilderness. When these fires burn everything up in the river canyons, the next spring follows with blowouts clogging the rivers with sediment and debris. (Edit: the next several springs) It's been a source of many hazards over the years, and changes every year. Caused a few deaths, even. This year has been especially bad for logjams. One of my favorite river trips is no longer reasonably do-able, due to deadfall from a recent massive fire clogging the river channel.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

the Interactive Canada Fire Map

Here's the map for those of us who aren't familiar with it:

Canadian Wildland Fire Information System | Interactive map

cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca

The map seems to show the vast majority of fires are from western Ontario to the Pacific Ocean and far up into the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

Why would the eastern half of Canada and southern border strip be relatively spared? And is it just forests that are burning, or are also grassland prairies and treeless tundra ablaze? (Many of us are not expert in the geobotany, phytogeology and other ecological geobiology of Canada.) Are the answers related to the lack of, rather than the presence of, human populations in the most wildfire-prone areas of Canada?

Finally, is there an estimate of how many of these wildfires are caused by intentional or careless human ignitions (such as campfires or arson) vs. unavoidable mother nature ignitions (such as lightning)?

 

[memaquay]

Here is the boreal forest map


And here is the latest fire map


You can see that almost all fires are in the boreal forest. Why are some areas hit harder than others? Weather patterns mostly. In Ontario, the MNR claims that 50 percent of forest fires are due to lightening, and the other 50 due to human causes. I think that is an inaccurate assessment, my belief is that most forest fires are weather generated. In many of the areas that burn, there is no human activity. The racist bumpkin headed nincompoops in the local area will claim that the local Indigenous are setting the fires, so they can get evacuated, etc, but that is just the ravings of unhappy one toothed cousin kissers.

In dry years, we have lots of fires. In wet years we have very few. In my immediate vicinity, there are very few fires burning. We have had a steady diet of large rainfalls all summer. Rivers are uncharacteristically high for the season. Bugs are bad.

In Nova Scotia, the government has just declared any activity in the bush to be forbidden. $25,000 fine for those caught, even if they are just hiking. It is very dry and hot out there right now.

In summary - climate is the biggest indicator of forest fire frequency, despite causes. Dry summers will see lots of fires, wet summers not many. According to general climate surveys, our climate is generally getting dryer and hotter, hence more fires. Of course, locally there will be trends that don't match the overall, and people will latch on to that to justify their belief that nothing ever changes in life, and that the only way to live is like it's the 1950's.

 

[Marten]

Lack of rain has been the issue these last years. Out west the last few years and this year in the middle. Fires are bigger now because in past decades too many fires were put out and fuel built up unnaturally . These forest do not age well and a 100 year old forest really burns hot and with no adjoining recently burned plots it is hard to stop when.the wind blows. Each of our countries have been guilty of stopping too many fires that should have been allowed to.burn small patchworks. Then.when.lightning strikes in a drought year the beast unleashed can't be stopped

Google Manitoba fires and view charts showing each fire and cause. Many human caused fires are tiny blazes and easily extinguished but skew the numbers if you do not study the chart.

 

[D J Hayes]

Am curious as to the percent of boreal forest fires that may be burning in the understory or underground on organic matter such as peat? The smoke effects are certainly widespread this year.

 

[yknpdlr]

I don't know about which year might be a record, but it was quite intense during the 2009 Yukon 1000 mile canoe race. Smoke on the river began while we were still in the Yukon. Although this photo of a pyrocumulous cloud in which a nearby fire was forming its own thunderhead was taken just over the border in Alaska, it was quite impressive. A bit further on, we could count seven of these things around our distant horizon. At one point in the middle of the night, we witnessed a lightning strike actually start a new fire on a mountainside near us. the smoke got so thick near the end that it became difficult to see the river ahead and it stung our eyes. After finishing, spending a day in Fairbanks we were under a smog health alert for people with asthma.

 

[Marten]

Reading a journal from an expedition in the mid 1700's the author noted that the smoke from forest fires was so thick that they rarely saw the sun as they traveled from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods near Kenora. I have noted as I count tree rings on trees in northern MN that most started growing about then. From huge White Pines blown down in the 1999 BWCA storm to old beaver flooded White Cedar near my cabin at the center top of MN. One Tamarac out in a wet bog showed no fire hints and was over 330 years old.

 

[Tryin']

I have been reading more history as I age and I have been struck by the prevalence of seemingly cataclysmic fire in those writings.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

"For the first time in recent memory, Nova Scotia has closed hiking trails, backcountry routes, and all forest access across the province and one Canadian Air Force veteran just found out exactly how serious the government is about enforcing it.

"Jeff Evely, a retired Master Warrant Officer with 20 years of service, shared a now viral video showing himself deliberately stepping into the woods in Coxheath, Nova Scotia, despite a province wide “Stay Out of the Woods” order. Moments later, conservation officers handed him a ticket for $28,872 CAD, the maximum fine under the new rules."

Canadian Man Fined $28,872 for Walking in Woods During Wildfire Ban

For the first time in recent memory, Nova Scotia has closed hiking trails, backcountry routes, and all forest access across the province and one Canadian Air Force veteran just found out exactly how

thatoregonlife.com

Evely deliberately violated the order so that, as the recipient of a fine, he would have pecuniary standing to bring a constitutional test case in court to challenge to the Nova Scotia "Stay Out of the Woods" order.

I have read that New Brunswick and Newfoundland are considering or have implemented similar bans on human entry into the woods. Risky business. The provinces are criminalizing mere human presence in the woods rather than criminalizing specific actions, such as starting fires, smoking or lighting matches while in the woods.

This would be a creative way to stop all city crime: criminalize the mere presence of humans in cities.

 

[Tryin']

"For the first time in recent memory, Nova Scotia has closed hiking trails, backcountry routes, and all forest access across the province and one Canadian Air Force veteran just found out exactly how serious the government is about enforcing it.

[Snip]

Risky business, indeed. I hope he wins enough to buy his own water bomber.

Civil disobedience is the way in these examples of .gov overreach. And if the pioneers make a ton of money for their bravery, so much the better.

Tyranny always hopes to make an example out of the first few dissidents, depending on popular fear to hold the rest in check. It is only through perseverance of the few that oppression can be rolled back for the benefit of the citizenry at large.

 

[memaquay]

I'm not sure why Nova Scotia went down that path. One would have thought that governments learned something from the the entire covid experience. Lockdowns during covid created an entire subset of "heros in their own minds" who have now become a very vocal wing of one of our political parties. These folks amplify every slight as an example of communist tyranny, and have managed to convince about 25% of the Canadian public that we are living in a communist h@ll hole. Very unCanadian behaviour.

Drinking and driving used to be a huge problem in Canada. Very punitive fines and license suspensions were instituted and the rates decreased. It didn't solve the problem, but it certainly took a huge bite out of it, and drinking and driving is usually the kiss of death socially for anyone who does it now.

Seems to me the $25000 fine should be put on people who have outdoor fires during a fire ban, not the poor sap who wants to go for a hike. Nova Scotia is merely providing more ammunition for the "Freedumb" crowd.

I was leading a group of kids during a fire ban one year. We were very very careful, the bush was tinder dry. We had gas stoves for cooking, and we always soaked down the area before and after as well. We passed an area with road access where some people were camped, and they had a huge bonfire going. I politely reminded them that there was a fire ban on, and they laughed and told me they didn't pay attention to those things. A $25000 fine would have been very appropriate in that situation.