Scrambling BWCA outfitters wonder about what's lost, what's to come as fires close wilderness

The sudden and, for some, unpredictably quick call to close the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last Saturday left the outdoors community thunderstruck, not least the outfitters whose livelihoods depend on getting people there. Now, it appears the season is lost to the threat of wildfires with more than a month of peak paddling time remaining.

While the U.S. Forest Service says it will continue to assess fire conditions and could reopen areas of the wilderness after its current closure through Sept. 3, the remaining weeks in the BWCA's quota season (through next month) appear torched, too.

The agency, which manages the wilderness, has removed the remaining reservable permits across all entry points for fear it'll have to cancel them anyway. Those with permits in the weeks ahead are left to wonder whether their trips will happen.

The loss extends to the balance sheet for outfitters.

By Tuesday, owner Steve Nelson and staff at Spirit of the Wilderness in Ely had more than 30 permits canceled, and had helped others caught in limbo by the order.

Some customers had been traveling to the area when the order came and wanted to salvage their late-summer adventures. Nelson redirected some to areas outside the wilderness, including Birch Lake south of Ely and some of its first-come, first-served campsites.

Adam Battani and his family were halfway into their travel from Austin, Texas, when they got word Saturday. He, wife Kristy and daughter Bryn motored on and spent several days at a fishing cabin and paddled a bit on White Iron Lake. They hoped to nab a campsite Thursday at Ojibwe Lake. All replaced plans to go into the BWCA through Snowbank Lake for five days.

They'd never been to Minnesota's North Woods. "We're just trying to experience it a little bit," Battani said.

Forest Service spokeswoman Joanna Gilkeson said the public can expect regular updates. The agency is attempting to build in lead time so paddlers with existing permits can adjust their plans. She also emphasized the many opportunities for overnight and day use in the 3 million acre Superior National Forest and other public lands outside the BWCA.

"It is not scary. It is not all burning," she said. "You are safe to recreate if it is open."

Jason Zabokrtsky at Ely Outfitting Co. said he and his staff had paddlers finalizing permits Saturday when news came the BWCA was closed. He said he has spent the week refunding customers, awaiting paddlers forced to return early and losing "tens of thousands" of dollars in canceled reservations.

Dave and Nancy Seaton at Hungry Jack Outfitters midway up the Gunflint Trail have guided and prepped visitors for more than 25 years and have seen their share of major fire complexes and their impact. They are calling people deep into their fall calendar because the closure could continue for weeks.

"Economically, it is a big hit for us," Seaton said.

Some outfitters helped Forest Service rangers evacuate the million-acre wilderness. Nelson and his Spirit of the Wilderness staff used two of their towboats Monday to retrieve six people and three canoes from Basswood Lake on the border.

Witnessing the stressed trees and walking over the dry duff, Nelson acknowledged the intensely dry conditions have changed the dynamic for Forest Service rangers and wilderness visitors.

"I am happy that [the Forest Service] did it now and not in the middle of June or July," Nelson said. "That would have been economically devastating."

Zabokrtsky said the wide shutdown, the first since 1976, was unexpected. Still, he said he and others in the outfitter community have ridden out more than a month of turbulence in the region. The Delta and Astray fires, both within 20 miles of Ely, in early July closed entry points, and wildfires in Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario forced BWCA closures in mid-July at two Mudro Lake entry points and travel corridors around Iron and Crooked lakes.

"This is the other shoe dropping," he said. "A bit of a curtain call."

Zabokrtsky said his clients have reacted in a mix of ways, but all have been understanding. Some who were in town, met abruptly by the change, headed for Voyageurs National Park. Some reached by phone had their deposits refunded, while others asked that their deposits be kept as credit for later trips, when they can again seek solitude and stillness inside the BWCA.

"Clients don't travel from Texas and California and the East Coast to go sit on some lake that has a bunch of cabins on it," Zabokrtsky said.

Outfitters in Ely and along the Gunflint Trail said wildfires and the BWCA closure interrupted and perhaps prematurely ended a successful, if challenging, canoe season, powered in part by newer visitors to the BWCA and an old guard newly inspired to return after the scourge of COVID-19.

Seaton, from Hungry Jack, expects the demand for outfitter services to continue and perhaps increase in a response to the closure.

"We'll just see," he added. "People have fallen in love with the Boundary Waters again and realize they have this great thing in their backyard."