Photos: A year after BWCA fire, a forest is reborn

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A jack pine seedling sprouts Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, in the fertile soil nearly one year after the Pagami Creek fire burned through an area near Isabella Lake. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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Kris Reichenbach, left, public affairs officer with the Superior National Forest, and Bruce Anderson, forest monitoring coordinator with the Superior National Forest, talk about regrowth of the forest on a printout of where the Pagami Creek fire burned last year. This photo was taken on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, near Isabella Lake. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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Left: A young white birch grows around the trunk of a dead white pine that was killed when the Pagami Creek fire burned through the area almost one year ago. Right: Forest Service workers are keeping an eye out for invasive species in in the wake of the fire. Here, Orange hawkweed, an invasive species, is seen throughout an area near Isabella Lake that was burned by the Pagami Creek fire. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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Bicknell's geraniums are among the first plants to populate the ground after forest fires move through an area. Here, Bicknell's geraniums grow near a charred tree trunk on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012, almost one year after the Pagami Creek Fire burned through an area near Isabella Lake. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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What was once black and charred ground has now transformed into a lush green forest floor nearly a year after the Pagami Creek fire moved through an area near Isabella Lake. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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The green vegetation of the forest floor provides a stark contrast to the blackened stumps of trees burned by the Pagami Creek fire in an area near Isabella Lake. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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Bruce Anderson, forest monitoring coordinator with the Superior National Forest, examines a burned tree that fell over after the Pagami Creek fire swept through the area nearly a year ago. Anderson was examining the soil layers from before and after the fire. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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After the Pagami Creek fire burned through this area of the Superior National Forest near Isabella Lake last year, the forest floor was completely black. This photo is from September 2011. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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A year later, the fertile soil left behind by the fire has yielded a wide variety of plants and transformed the forest floor from black to green. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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Isabella, Minn. — After the Pagami Creek fire burned through this area of the Superior National Forest near Isabella Lake last year, the forest floor was completely black. This photo is from September 2011. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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A year later, the fertile soil left behind by the fire has yielded a wide variety of plants and transformed the forest floor from black to green. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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After the Pagami Creek fire burned through this area of the Superior National Forest near Isabella Lake last year, the forest floor was completely black. This photo is from September 2011. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo

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One year later, the vegetation has returned and signs of the fire are slowly dissipating. (Derek Montgomery for MPR) link to this photo