July 6, 2006—The unspoiled wilderness of Minnesota's Superior National Forest has been enjoyed by nature-lovers for nearly a century. But when a massive windstorm in 1999 left behind acres of tinder-dry timber, experts decided that the only way to save the forest was to burn part of it.

Watch as forestry experts engineer a controlled burn in 2003, tempting wind, flames, and fate in an effort to protect one of the U.S.'s great northern forests.