The U.S. Forest Service successfully relaunched its reservations system Monday for prime time canoe travel and limited motorboat trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The online reservation system used by the Forest Service failed this season when it first went live on Jan. 30. The crash prompted an outpouring of complaints from resorts, outfitters, wilderness guides and others who rely on BWCA traffic for business. Some had predicted the failure because this year marks the first time that highly sought-after motorized permits are being released on a first-come, first-served basis on recreation.gov.
Danielle Ott, co-owner of Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins near Ely, said she and her husband encountered only a few glitches during the first three hours of permitting Monday.
"Everybody is having OK luck," she said. "But it's still early in the game."
Availability for canoe trips was ample, she said, but quotas for popular canoeing times were filling up. By noon on Monday, day-use and overnight permits for trips by motorboat were extremely scarce, she said.
"There was a level of fear and panic about those permits," Ott said.
Only a few BWCA lakes allow entry by small motorboats. Previously, those permits were distributed by lottery and applicants had a month to submit their preferences.
This year, Ott said, many members of the same groups were all trying to reserve an entry permit at the same time. She said groups who obtained duplicate permits for the same entry points and dates were starting to return them to the system. She said the return function was working.
