Boundary Waters businesses call for state economic relief after wildfire closures

A letter signed by 82 businesses and nonprofits was delivered to Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Legislature on Thursday morning, calling on state leaders to provide economic relief in the wake of the July wildfires and the closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The letter represents businesses across all four Minnesota counties bordering the BWCAW: Cook, Lake, St. Louis and Koochiching.

Walz indicated earlier this week that a special legislative session to address the economic hardship facing businesses was unlikely.

“I would just not want to set expectations too high. I think it would be a pretty heavy political lift at this point in time,” Walz said on Wednesday.

Walz said he expected the issue to be addressed during the regular 2027 legislative session. Ingrid Lyons of Save the Boundary Waters said some businesses and their employees may need more immediate relief.

“I’ve spoken to outfitters who have income loss of 65% or higher, ” Lyons told WTIP. “That’s really a cash flow problem, and that means having to lay people off, and the season is on its tail end, and so there is a real need for immediate funding.”

Lucas Wakefield, executive director of the Cook County/Grand Marais Joint Economic Development Authority, agreed.

“They have bills and debt payments due now and have enormous portions of the revenues they were relying on to pay them,” Wakefield said. “Asking some of these businesses to hold out until January may be the same as asking a person who has fallen out of an airplane to wait an hour for a parachute to be delivered.”

Communities across the Boundary Waters region have reported significant drops in tourism during July, when the BWCAW was closed and wildfire smoke created hazardous air quality conditions. Members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation held a news conference encouraging the public to visit Ely and support affected businesses.

Last Friday, Gunflint Trail business owners attended a meeting at Hungry Jack Lodge to discuss how their businesses had been affected. During the meeting, Rep. Roger Skraba advised attendees that securing bipartisan support for economic relief could be a lengthy process.

Ben Seaton of Hungry Jack Lodge said that social media has misrepresented the current state of the Boundary Waters and is affecting businesses.

“Social media feeds are still filled with videos of smoke, flames and water bombers, even while paddlers voyage through a still and silent wilderness. The remaining season won’t make ends meet for some of us,” Seaton said.

The letter represents an effort by outfitters and other businesses across northeastern Minnesota to collectively call for economic relief from state leaders.

“We at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters will continue to advocate for our friends and colleagues in the outfitting business who are facing major impacts to their season,” Clare Shirley of Sawbill Outfitters told WTIP. “We look forward to continuing the dialogue with our local and state leaders to work towards solutions that make sense for the Northland business community. ”

The letter to Walz and the Minnesota Legislature reads:

Dear Governor Walz and Members of the Minnesota Legislature:

We are small business owners and operators and organizations in Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties writing to urge you to hold a Special Session to pass economic relief legislation for businesses harmed by the 2026 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) closure. If a Special Session is not held, we ask that an economic relief package is prioritized and passed as soon as the Legislature reconvenes in January 2027.

On July 15, 2026, the Executive Council extended Governor Walz’ Peacetime Emergency addressing the wildfires along the Canadian border through August 11, 2026. Any further extension of the Peacetime Emergency requires approval by the Minnesota Legislature via Special Session. If Governor Walz does not convene the Legislature to extend the Peacetime Emergency, we urge that he call a Special Session to address the significant economic harm caused by the wildfires and closure of the Boundary Waters to small businesses and the people of the Boundary Waters region.

The Special Session is a timely opportunity to deliver economic relief to the small businesses whose livelihoods depend on a summer tourism season the closure has already disrupted. As Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha, a member of the Executive Council, put it when the extension was approved: “Just remember, when the smoke clears, this won’t be over. It will perhaps be the end of the beginning, and so we’re going to need to continue to make these communities whole.”

We are asking the Legislature to introduce and pass a pre-negotiated bill during the Special Session to address the economic harm caused by the 2026 BWCAW closure. We recommend the bill include the following elements:

• Grants of up to $150,000 per for-profit or nonprofit business located in Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties that have been adversely impacted by the 2026 BWCAW closure.
• A requirement that businesses document a reduction of at least 20% in gross revenue between July-August 2026 relative to JulyAugust 2025
• A requirement that businesses provide a written explanation of how the 2026 closure resulted in the reduction in gross revenue.
• An accelerated program design so that grant funds reach small businesses quickly.
• A direct appropriation to fund the 2026 BWCAW closure relief program.

Minnesota has done this before. In 2022, the Legislature approved economic relief for businesses impacted by the 2021 BWCAW closure and the 2020 Canadian border closure through the Canadian Border Counties Economic Relief Program (Section 25 of SF 40921, Economic Development Appropriations). That program provided grants of up to $50,000 to businesses that documented a loss of gross receipts of at least $20,000, was implemented by the Northland Foundation, and was funded with a $2 million appropriation. That program is a proven model the Legislature can adapt for the businesses affected by the 2026 closure.

The wildfires and the resulting BWCAW closure have already cost our region a critical part of the summer season.

We ask you to use the Special Session to pass economic relief, so that the businesses that anchor our communities are not left to absorb these losses on their own.

Thank you for your consideration and for your continued support of Northeastern Minnesota.

Sincerely,
The undersigned small businesses of Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties

WTIP spoke with Ingrid Lyons about the letter sent to Walz. Audio of that conversation can be found below.

Josh Hinke August 7, 2026