Dozens of business owners in Northern Minnesota are asking Governor Walz to help, after losing significant income during the closure of the BWCA during the wildfires.
Dave Seaton owns Hungry Jack Outfitters in Grand Marais, along the Gunflint Trail, where the skies are clear and the sun was shining Thursday.
Still many are wary about making the trip up there, even with the wilderness mostly open now.
"The businesses that are that rely on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area took a pretty big hit," he explains.
Seaton says they have signed onto a letter asking for help.
"And it's not just outfitters and resorts," he adds. "It's the lumberyards, and the grocery stores, and the gas stations, and all those things. They all are taking a hit too."
Seaton says it doesn't help with the media painting a grim picture of what it's like up there.
Walz did say earlier this week that the state's focus needs to now shift towards financial recovery.
"I would encourage the legislature to right now start working on a package of relief for the area," the governor announced. "They certainly can get that ready."
Although Walz says a special session is unlikely before the primary, he says formal relief will likely be addressed when the legislature opens in January.
The complete closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness lasted for just over two weeks, beginning on Tuesday, July 14 and ending with phased reopenings starting around Monday, July 30. A master closure order remains active through October 1, 2026, but the U.S. Forest Service has progressively lifted restrictions and reopened a large majority of entry points.
"I'm not going to try to armchair quarterback whether closing the boundary waters was the right decision or not," Seaton adds. "The Forest Service made the best decision they could at the time, and I'm going to support them on that. But there are consequences to that decision."
Seaton says as far as how big of a financial hit they took, it is too soon to know.
"It'll be hard to tell for sure because we still, quite honestly, have some people that are canceling," he says. "We're just having a hard time convincing people that we're not all burnt up and the air isn't all full of smoke. And neither of those things are true."
Elevated burning restrictions remain in place in northeastern Minnesota, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Fire danger across the state is mostly low to moderate as of Friday morning, but a patch of central Minnesota is still in the high category.
Just a small portion of central Minnesota is still in the "high" category for fire risk, but burning restrictions remain for most of northeastern Minnesota around the BWCA and Superior National Forest.
(Minnesota DNR)
