Paddlers and others planning to venture into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will find the 2023 U.S. Forest Service permit playbook generally unchanged from a year ago.
Forest Service managers will keep the quota of wilderness permits the same as 2022, when it cut the number available by about 13% — from 285 per day to 248. At the time, the agency said it was responding to COVID-driven overcrowding and related damage to campsites and other areas. More than 100,000 visitors took overnight trips in 2021.
The sale of 2023 permits goes live at 9 a.m. Wednesday for the paddling season, which runs May 1 to Sept. 30 and is when the BWCA receives 94% of its visitors.
Most permit reductions last year, and carrying over to this year, are on the east side of the wilderness area.
Clare Shirley and her family run Sawbill Canoe Outfitters in Tofte, Minn., which regularly serves entry points such as Kawishiwi, Baker and Sawbill that saw daily reductions. She said their business last season took a hit. The quota at the Sawbill Lake entry point dropped from 14 permits per day to 11. Shirley said she wants to see data-driven reasoning behind agency decisions to alter the quota system.
The agency said last year it monitored traffic in specific areas before making the reduction. A Forest Service spokesperson said the agency still is analyzing 2022 data. "There is no further information that we have finalized that would lead us to make additional changes," said Joy VanDrie of the decision to keep the status quo.
Jason Zabokrtsky of Ely Outfitting Co. said he shares Shirley's frustration.
"[The Forest Service hasn't] been clear about how they are addressing quota allotments," he said. "They haven't shared with us any process or time frame."
