First Came the DOGE Cuts, Then Came the Wildfires | Outdoor Life

We have updated our Privacy Policy. Please review to learn more. By continuing to use our services, you agree to these updates.

×

First Came the DOGE Cuts, Then Came the Wildfires

A former wildland firefighter and retired U.S. Forest Service district ranger in the heart of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness explains how federal reductions sidetracked prescribed burns in the Superior National Forest

By Alex Robinson

Published

Jul 29, 2026 2:00 PM EDT

Add Outdoor Life (opens in a new tab)

More information<br>Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.

Photo by George Peters / Getty Images

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter

Get the hottest outdoor news from Outdoor Life.

Email address

Sign Up

Thank you!

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Northern Minnesota has been ravaged by wildfire this summer. For weeks, these fires have burned through areas of the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, even forcing the Forest Service to close and evacuate the popular canoeing and camping area. While wildfires in this part of the Northwoods are not uncommon, this year’s fires were more extreme than usual. They led to prolonged and hazardous air quality issues that drifted south and impacted much of the country.

What’s frustrating for a lot of folks inside the Forest Service is that just before this wildfire season, their agency faced some brutal cuts by DOGE under the Trump administration. In many cases, the very folks who were needed to battle these wildfires were let go or forced to resign. On top of that, grant money for important forest management projects was delayed.

So on this episode of the Outdoor Life Podcast, I’m talking with Aaron Kania. He’s a former wildland firefighter and a retired U.S. Forest Service district ranger for this area of Minnesota. And he and his Forest Service colleagues had been working for years on a plan to implement prescribed burns that would reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health in this part of Superior National Forest. But then DOGE came calling.

Listen to this episode of the Outdoor Life Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Full Interview Transcript

Outdoor Life: All right, Aaron, thanks for joining the Outdoor Life Podcast, man. Where are you?

Aaron Kania: I’m actually out on Lake Vermilion. We live in a rural area and I have better cell reception out on the lake than I do at the house. So a little easier to connect with you here.

Outdoor Life: Nice. Yeah. Okay. So for folks who can’t see what I’m seeing, Aaron is in the back of a canoe. He’s got his life jacket on and he’s just easily paddling across Lake Vermilion.

Aaron Kania: It’s a beautiful day out here.

Outdoor Life: Yeah, it looks calm out there.

Aaron Kania: It is. It’s a little smoky. Honestly, it was foggy this morning and it’s smoky now. But conditions are good. I mean, these are honestly the best conditions for the firefighters. We have a lot of fires outside of the Ely area and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness right now. So these conditions are the moderate conditions that we need for firefighters to be effective. It’s actually the reason I’m able to canoe today is because the firefighters are making so much progress up there, and I feel a little more comfortable with how things are going.

Outdoor Life: Yeah. Well, that’s a great segue, because it’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. We’ve, and everybody else has, kind of covered these big fires and the subsequent temporary closure of the Boundary Waters. But I think to just get a much better understanding of what’s going on up there and potentially why, you were like the perfect person to talk to. So to kick this thing off, would you just talk about your background, kind of starting as the National Forest Service district manager? Talk about the area that you managed and what your responsibilities were.

Aaron Kania: Yeah, absolutely. I feel I was the luckiest guy ever. An absolute dream job. I was the Kawishiwi district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service. And the Kawishiwi District is based out of Ely, Minnesota, which is a beautiful, quaint little town. Very much focused on the tourist. It’s known as the canoe capital of the world. And the Kawishiwi District is really the heart of the Superior National Forest. It’s the middle of the Boundary Waters. And the Boundary Waters is the most visited wilderness. And the Kawishiwi District is the busiest district, and we have the busiest entry points.

Now retired, Kania served as the Kawishiwi district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service. Photo courtesy Aaron Kania

So I just love wilderness. I love the outdoors, hunting, fishing. And this is really my dream job to finish up my career. So I was there...