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by Tom Coombe
Visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will no longer be able to pick up their permits at Ely’s U.S. Forest Service headquarters.
In a surprise move just weeks in advance of the start of the summer tourism season, the agency indicated this week that the Kawishiwi Ranger Station will not be issuing BWCAW permits this year.
Visitors either need to modify their reservation and change their issue station to Forest Service locations that are open in Cook, Aurora, Tofte or Duluth, or go to a BWCAW Commercial Permit Issue Station - including various canoe outfitters in the Ely area.
Forest Service officials informed some outfitters of the move Wednesday night during a closed-door meeting, and the agency had not responded -as of deadline- to requests for comment and clarification.
The move figures to have dramatic ramifications in Ely, where roughly 3,000 permits were issued at the Kawishiwi Ranger Station in 2024.
The bulk of those permit-holders seem likely to head to commercial venues in Ely, stressing staff and creating the potential for bottlenecks and delays. Processing a permit can take as long as 30 minutes, sources indicated.
In the wake of the announcement, the change has generated an array of responses - from pushback to plans for adjustment.
“It has a huge effect on us,” said Dan Waters of Ely’s Canadian Waters, one of several commercial permit issue stations, also known as cooperators, in the area. “I talked to a couple (outfitters), and this is going to put a huge burden on us, having to write permits. There’s going to be a ton of people that will arrive at the Kawishiwi Ranger Station, not realizing the permit station isn’t there anymore.”
Waters said he also heard from a customer who was notified via e-mail.
“They haven’t notified the cooperators but they notify the public?” asked Waters. “It doesn’t encourage cooperators to cooperate. If they’re not going to cooperate, why should we?”
Down the street at Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitting, the change isn’t as significant, according to owner Virginia Nelson.
“As an outfitter, we’ve been doing this for decades,” said Nelson. “It’s something we do anyway. We always issue permits, and for us we have a real easy parking lot. We get a lot of people who stop if the Kawishiwi Station was closed. For us, it’s a non-issue.”
Nelson added that customers can speed up the process by entering their group numbers in advance.
“We hope people are a little bit patient with us and we’ll process everybody as quickly as possible,” said Nelson. “We will still give all the education about the permits and make sure people watch the video. It probably will put a little more pressure on us.”
Waters struck a different tone, adding “We’re not going to put on any extra help. We are going to go with the same hours the Forest Service had. This is so typical. If the Forest Service can’t pay their help, what they need to do is if they have to lay people off start at the top instead of the people doing the actual work.”
Permit holders must physically pick up their permit and they were instructed by email to modify their reservations as follows:
• Review locations and hours of operation under “Issue Stations” at www.recreation.gov/permits/233396/cooperators;
• To modify your issue station, log into your recreation.gov account and follow the instructions below;
• Or contact Recreation.gov at 1-877-444-6777 or email the Supervisor’s Office in Duluth at [email protected] for assistance. Recreation.gov 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days/week or Supervisor’s Office – Duluth 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Forest Services in Cook, Aurora, and Duluth will also issue permits on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and also at Tofte from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
