The online reservation system for acquiring permits in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, dark since it crashed Jan. 30, now is set to reopen at 9 a.m. March 4, the U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday.
Testing of the reservation platform at recreation.gov will continue until then, Superior National Forest Supervisor Connie Cummins said in a news release.
The agency earlier had announced Feb. 27 as a tentative date for reopening reservations.
The online system quickly failed with technical problems on Jan. 30, the first day to acquire permits.
Outfitters complained loudly about changes to the system this year and warned that the crush of first-come, first-served online reservations would overwhelm capacity. The Forest Service said Thursday that it's confident the fixed system will meet demand.
