A record 10,245 paddlers canceled their permits to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last year, leaving U.S. Forest Service managers concerned that people are snapping up more permits than they’ll use.
Paddlers cancel record number of Boundary Waters permits in 2023
The trend implies that visitors are reserving more BWCAW permits than they can use, Forest Service managers said.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 22, 2024 at 10:22PM
The jump in cancellations came a year after the Forest Service reduced available permits 13% in 2022, cutting them from about 285 per day to 248.
Cancellations of permits for the May-September quota season more than doubled in the past five years, the agency said in a release announcing an annual update to its permit and visitor report. While the number of no-shows declined in 2023, last year’s record cancellation number adds fuel to broad frustration among wilderness-related businesses, visitors and observers that people are hoarding permits.
Some people blame the first-come, first-served structure for acquiring permits, encouraging multiple reservations if people are unsure of their future schedules. Next year’s quota season permits will open online Jan. 29. No changes are planned to the quota system, said Joy Liptak VanDrie, a Forest Service spokesperson.
“People have been booking more permits than they need,” said Ginny Nelson, general manager at the Spirit of the Wilderness outfitting business in Ely. She referred to the same scenario playing out at state and national parks.
The outfitter, who has operated for 25 seasons, said people are booking multiple permits more than ever. But one hopeful sign is the 11% decrease in no-shows in 2023, she added.
Also, more people are canceling sooner now, Liptak VanDrie said, “within days [of making the reservation] instead of weeks or months.”
“A canceled permit at the last minute has a low probability to be used by others,” she added. “Our cancellation fees may be low enough that visitors may not care that they pay the fee, or hold out until the very last minute before they incur the fee.”
Total visits were down 3% at 146,238. Nelson thinks permit stockpiling might have contributed and that some people opted to not take trips. She said some customers will buy up multiple permits at an entry point to keep traffic in the area low, too.
“The amount of people [going into the wilderness] is already regulated,” Nelson said. “That people think they need to take it upon themselves to regulate it more is disappointing.”
Some other findings in the report about 2023 visitors:
• 13%: The increase in visitors who traveled into the wilderness outside of quota season (October-April) in 2023 than in 2022. An early ice-out and warm autumn might have contributed, Nelson said.
• Four: The average group size during the quota season.
• 92%: The percentage of visits during the quota season.
The increases are smaller than what the Houston-based company originally wanted and would result in an extra $3.97 on the average monthly bill.
