A county-administered grant program designed to reduced fire danger was back for discussion at Monday’s Town of Morse board meeting.
Teresa Floberg of Ely Fireshed offered to give supervisors a tour of properties that have used the various programs.
“We have chatted with a few of them, they’d be happy to kind of show what the work is that has been done, and how it’s been done, and how much of their own investment has been put in versus through a program,” said Floberg.
Board chair Terry Soderberg said the main problem he sees is people not knowing what is available to them.
“Theresa, I just, I don’t think there’s a lot of people out in the area realize this is available to us. Do you do any advertising in the paper or the shopper, and then to tell the people who to contact and what to do?” asked Sodberberg. “Because that’s my biggest concern. You know, there’s some real techy people out there that understand how to do this, but there’s a lot of old people out there that don’t understand how to do this.”
Floberg said the main point of contact has been to people who attend outreach events.
“It often starts with a landowner, a landowner will outreach to the Firewise program, and then coordinate with their adjacent neighbors and their road. And then the Firewise program can help facilitate a program for them, whether it’s the chipping, a Firewise demonstration, et cetera,” said Floberg.
She said for some grant programs letters are sent to property owners in a targeted area.
“It’s just a matter of people replying to those letters, and those letters would come from the sheriff’s department, with the county, because that’s where the grant is administered through,” said Floberg. “That’s why we want to keep showing up here and engaging with the township to find better ways and collaborate and get more people involved in these programs.”
While certain programs provide a higher grant amount for low income people, for everyone else the landowner has to pay for part of the work or do it themselves.
“The work is expensive, and that’s a real challenge, and often a barrier for people,” said Floberg.
Soderberg asked about a six acre fuel reduction project by the Morse-Fall Lake fire hall on Hwy. 88.
Floberg said that project had a cost of $3,500 an acre although they have seen projects at $5,000 an acre, such as one to the west of the hospital that will be done next year.
Floberg said Morse should consider a community wildfire protection plan and look at individual areas where certain properties are targeted for removal of balsam and other fuels.
“It’s a working group of typically community leaders, supervisors, the volunteer fire department, that sits down and paints a very clear picture of what their wildfire risk is,” said Floberg.
Supervisor Bob Berrini said where he lives over half of the houses are now summer residents.
“We used to have 19 kids who took the bus to school on my road, now we have two,” said Berrini. “I’d say 80 percent of the houses are people that only come up in the summer.”
Floberg said there is help available to do an assessment and areas including Brimson had one in place prior to the wildfire that rolled through last summer.
“Houses that had done everything they could still burned, but a lot of the areas that have done a lot of that Firewise work had better chances and some of them did survive,” said Floberg. “It’s never guaranteed. One of the things is that part of being Firewise is knowing that with the fire activity, your house may be left to fend for itself. If the wildland firefighters can’t get to it to do structure protection, if the conditions are so dynamic and volatile, that it’s trying to set your house up for as best possible chance to survive if no one is there to protect it.”
In other business the board:
• Approved selling a permanent easement to the state for the Taconite Trail that crosses through four 40 acre parcels Morse purchased with grant monies. Morse will received $17,500 for the easement.
• Heard the amount collected from property taxes was down one percent in 2025. Morse levies around $366,000 a year.
• Took a first look at the 2027 budget which will be discussed at the March annual meeting.
• Heard Berrini say he plans to run for another three-year term in March. Filings open Dec. 30.
• Received an update from Clerk Nick Wognum and the grant application being submitted again for road improvements in Romberg Acres. Soderberg noted both State Rep. Roger Skraba (R-Ely) and State Sen. Grant Hauschild (DFL-Hermantown) have already submitted a letter of support to MNDOT for the funds.
• Reviewed a variance request for work already done by Paul Forsman on Johnson Lake including a deck too close to the lakes, and underneath the deck is enclosed as part of the permanent structure.
