U.S. Forest Service is announcing some changes for folks hoping to visit the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness which has been closed due to numerous wildfires.
Starting Monday, visitors will be allowed to use parts of the Boundary Waters for day trips only as fires continue to burn. Earlier this week, the Forest Service had released a statement saying the BWCA could remain closed through October 1, but they would monitor the situation for possible reopening.
This is far from a full reopening of the BWCA, of course, but it's at least some good news for outfitters like Claire Shirley, who owns Sawbill Outfitters and Canoes. But she says she doesn't know yet if it will make up for the losses they've incurred so far.
"It's significant, you know, we're a seasonal business," Shirley says. "We're a small mom-and-pop operation.
She says they do feel grateful for the limited reopening and that there is some hope on the horizon.
"We're definitely looking at ways to support our colleagues in Ely, and up at the end of the Gunflint Trail too, who are in tougher positions, closer to active fires," Shirley adds. "They're going to have a tougher road, and so we need to be thinking about ways to support them as well."
There's been relatively low activity on the wilderness area's eastern side which allowed for the slight reopening. U.S. Forest Service officials will monitor conditions across closed zones to determine whether further access can safely resume.
Meanwhile, firefighters in the Boundary Waters continue to contain multiple ongoing blazes as warmer conditions stir up more smoke.
Ground crews from the Superior National Forest and local emergency response teams have ramped up structure protection around key areas like the Bear Trap and Camp fires according to a Thursday update.
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay confirmed that despite the uptick in heat, the blazes still remain mostly contained without much expansion.
"Firefighters continue to button up that campfire that has started right at the border of St. Louis and Lake County last week and expanded to the east," Ramsey explained. "They've been working hard on that southern and kind of eastern flank to make sure that that fire is buttoned up."
Interagency leadership plan to review fresh aerial data Friday before deciding if any community preparedness levels can be adjusted.
Ramsay says crews worked particularly hard to contain the Bear Trap and Sioux fires.
"We had a day where fires could have really taken off, but they didn't," Ramsey says. "There was heat, noticeable heat in the parts of the Sioux, parts of the Bear Trap, but the expansion was not really there."
Some of the fires were contained further leading to some day use openings next week
Some of the fires were contained further leading to some day use openings next week
