By Jen Zettel-Vandenhouten on Apr 29, 2025

Wildfire walk-and-talk set for May 31

Project Optimist and Hartley Nature Center will host the free event.

wildfires

Vern Northrup lights the test fire on a prescribed burn at the University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center. (Courtesy of Lane Johnson, University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry Center.)

This story was updated on May 6, 2025, to add Clark Christenson to the list of panelists.

DULUTH, Minn. – Learn about the role of fire in northeastern Minnesota.

Project Optimist and Hartley Nature Center will host “Working with fire: Explore the role of fire in our ecosystems” from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, at Hartley Nature Center, 3001 Woodland Ave., Duluth.

A panel discussion will kick-off the free event. Hear from Vern Northrup, a Fond du Lac Band elder and Fire Keeper; Valerie Ross Zhaawendaagozikwe, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Superior who studies how Indigenous people used fire on Minnesota and Wisconsin points; and Clark Christenson, forester with the City of Duluth.

A young woman with dark hair and dark glasses poses for a photo. She wears a pink shirt and long earrings as long as her hair. — Valerie Ross Zhaawendaagozikwe (Courtesy of Valerie Ross Zhaawendaagozikwe)

Then, at 11:15 a.m., walk to a portion of Hartley Park where staff from the City of Duluth held a prescribed burn in recent years. See how fire impacted the landscape.

The event is free. No need to register.

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Read Project Optimist's series on wildfire in Minnesota here.

Email me at jen@projectoptimist.news with questions.

Thanks to Hartley Nature Center for partnering with us on this event!

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