ELY — The cost of accessing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness could more than double under a U.S. Forest Service proposal.
The forest service is proposing to increase overnight trip fees from $16 to $40 for adults and seniors, and from $8 to $20 for youth – the first fee increase since 2008. The changes, which could take effect in January 2027 pending public comment and federal approval, would generate an estimated $2.6 million annually to address what officials describe as critical maintenance needs.
At an open house held at the Kawishiwi Ranger District on Monday, the proposal drew criticism from some residents who argued the increases would price out families who have traditionally used the wilderness for day trips and short excursions.
“This program was really about managing the permits and the groups in the boundary waters, not for the locals that live up here,” said one attendee, who worried that local people wanting to take fishing trips would be “shut out” by higher costs.
Local residents also raised concerns about the online reservation system, which they say disadvantages rural communities with slower internet connections. Several attendees described being “kicked out” of the system and experiencing crashes during high-demand permit releases, putting them “behind the eight ball” compared to nonlocal users with faster connections.
Forest Service officials acknowledged these technical challenges weren’t intentional but defended the system as necessary to ensure fair access for all users rather than giving preference to locals.
“We’re trying to not have a preference for one group over another,” said one official, noting that the current system has removed some historical advantages locals enjoyed in accessing permits.
The fee increase aims to address what officials describe as an $11 million maintenance backlog across the wilderness. Currently, the Forest Service generates about $1.3 million annually from user fees, with 87-percent of those funds returning directly to wilderness operations.
The revenue shortfall has left nearly half of all campsites in need of varying degrees of rehabilitation, according to the Forest Service. Officials say the additional funding would primarily support wilderness ranger positions and portage crews.
One resident had volunteered with wilderness rangers during the previous summer, helping maintain campsites across the region.
“I went out all of May and June with a ranger, and helped them dig latrines and cut down hazard trees and survey the conditions of each site,” the volunteer said. “I wonder how much I would pay to make sure I had a sanitary, non-stinky latrine when I went out to the boundary waters.”
The volunteer described rangers working from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., completing 11-12 portages daily while maintaining “utmost respect and courtesy” toward visitors.
The discussion also revealed ongoing staffing challenges in wilderness law enforcement. The Forest Service hopes to hire a new officer for Ely after operating without one for an extended period, and officials emphasized that wilderness rangers serve multiple roles beyond traditional law enforcement.
“This wilderness area is really good about training staff to be very multi-disciplinary,” one official explained. “Our wilderness rangers do everything. They’re talking to people, they’ve got that low-level law enforcement training so they can issue citations, they do education, they’re doing maintenance on the sites, they’re doing rehab on the sites.”
The Forest Service is accepting public comments on the proposal through Sept. 2. Following the comment period, the proposal will go to the Regional Recreation Resource Advisory Committee for review and recommendation.
If approved, the fee increases would take effect in January 2027, marking the first change to wilderness access costs in nearly two decades.
To make a comment, visit the Superior National Forest’s website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/superior.