SUPERIOR NATIONAL FOREST— The U.S. Forest Service announced the temporary closure of the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness this week, as forest officials try to focus on an outbreak of wildfires currently raging across the 1.1-million-acre wilderness.
USFS officials broke the news to outfitters, large camps, and other wilderness cooperators late Sunday night, citing the extreme weather conditions and the numerous fires currently burning in and around the western end of the BWCAW. Well over a dozen fires have been reported in an east-to-west trajectory, virtually all of which appear to stem from a July 6 thunderstorm that brought intense lightning but little rain to the border country.
While the fires were mostly isolated to the west end of the wilderness at the time of the announced closure, those conditions soon changed when the Camp Fire, located northeast of Ely and had appeared under control, broke containment lines Monday afternoon. That fire grew rapidly to more than 2,800 acres, suddenly presenting a major threat to homes, cabins, and resorts along the Fernberg Road and to central regions of the BWCAW.
With forest staff largely focused on the fires and on the logistical issues surrounding a call for significantly more manpower to fight the blazes, there was concern that the USFS lacked the capacity to address another major event, such as a critical rescue unrelated to the fires.
Ginny Nelson, of Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitters, said she agreed with the Forest Service’s focus on safety. “After Pagami Creek, I think they are using extreme caution,” she said, referencing the massive 2011 blaze that prompted a harrowing evacuation that nearly cost some wilderness rangers their lives. “It takes a long time to get people out of the wilderness,” noted Nelson. “Meanwhile, everybody is busy trying to get the fires under control. This [the closure] allows them to focus on what is important.”
Nelson said she appreciated the heads-up well ahead of the public announcement of the closure, which allowed her business to contact clients and try to re-book for later dates.
As of press time on Wednesday, the closure had been extended from Friday, to Saturday, July 18. Future decisions will be made on a rolling four-day basis going forward, according to USFS spokesperson Joy VanDrie.
The USFS is issuing full refunds for all of the campers who had overnight permits to enter the BWCAW during the period of the closure.
Meanwhile, the numerous fires continued to grow. As of Wednesday morning, the Thumb Fire, burning just south of Lac La Croix, had grown to over 14,500 acres. It had reportedly prompted the mandatory evacuation of the Lac La Croix First Nation, located on the north shore of Lac La Croix.
Just to the east, the Dark/Bear Trap Fire had reached 13,500 acres. Both the Thumb and Dark/Bear Trap fires have since crossed the border into Canada.
The Sioux Fire, which has since merged with the Wolf Pack Fire, had reached over 6,900 acres.
A new blaze, named the Little Knife Fire, was now being tracked as well. That fire, which has burned about 25,000 acres in Quetico Provincial Park, had scorched about 6,000 additional acres on the U.S. side. It had burned as far south as Ogishkemuncie Lake as of press time. That was one of several fires currently burning within Quetico.
In total, more than 44,000 acres had burned in northern St. Louis, Lake, and Cook counties during the most recent outbreak, and firefighters report zero percent containment on all of the major fires, most of which are remote and difficult to access.
Most of the firefighting capacity is currently focused on the 2,880-acre Camp Fire, with most firefighters working on structure protection in the area.
Aircraft are working on fire suppression, although limited visibility as of Wednesday was expected to hamper some of that activity. Fire officials are reminding the public that flying drones over any wildfire is prohibited. If drones are detected near the fire, any air operations supporting the fire will stop.
See much more on the fires and impacts on wilderness access, our worsening drought, as well as fire restrictions in this week’s Outdoors section.