Forest Service seeks public input to update BWCA forest plan

As summer approaches, the Superior National Forest is seeking input from the public, local communities, interested parties, and tribes to update and modernize the current Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Forest Plan. 

According to Superior National Forest officials, the current management situation and Forest Plan are over 30 years old. 

The Superior National Forest outlined numerous issues it seeks to address as it updates the Forest Plan and Wilderness Chapter amendment. One of the identified issues is addressing the increased visitation in recent years. In the Mar. 29 news release, the Superior National Forest said the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) has experienced increased visitation, impacting management practices and degrading the overall wilderness character and environment. As part of updating the Forest Plan, the Superior National Forest is looking for public input on moving forward and continuing the wilderness character while ensuring accessibility. 

“Changes to our Forest Plan can better position the Forest to restore and preserve wilderness character and meet the purposes of wilderness described in the 1964 Wilderness Act and 1978 BWCAW Act,” Tom Hall, the Forest Supervisor with the Superior National Forest, said, “The management direction for the BWCAW was last updated in 1993. Our implementation and monitoring over the past 30 years, as well as changes to national wilderness management policy and guidance, have highlighted several issues affecting wilderness character in the BWCAW and the wilderness experience for visitors.” 

The issues to be addressed in a Wilderness Chapter amendment include, but are not limited to, the following:  

• Increasing visitation and changing trends in utilizing public lands and primitive management areas. The increase in visitation has adversely impacted all four management areas of the BWCAW: high-use campsites and travel routes, as well as previously under-visited pristine areas, to escape people in popular locations. Monitoring has indicated social and ecological impacts, such as crowding, noise, light pollution, lack of campsite availability, littering, campsite and portage erosion, campsite expansions, water quality degradation, and other issues preventing the Forest from managing to standard. There is a need to update management direction to preserve wilderness character while providing opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation, restoring naturalness and protecting other features of value across the Wilderness.  
• Following up from the BWCAW Towboat pre-scoping in August 2023, over 1,300 comments were received. The primary issues identified relate to how towboats are managed in the overall motorized cap within the BWCAW and the impact that towboats have on wilderness character. Management of the towboat commercial service is just one aspect of the larger whole related to both motorized use and wilderness character. To effectively manage commercial towboat use in the BWCAW, management direction in the existing Forest Plan concerning commercial towboats may need to be updated to address specific standards and guidelines to continue to preserve wilderness character and ensure compliance with the statutory limits set in the 1978 BWCAW Act. In addition to commercial towboat use, there is a need to consider the context of motorized use within the BWCAW, as provided for by existing law.   
• Much of the Superior National Forest has fire-adapted ecosystems, and large fires occur periodically in the landscape. The current Forest Plan only contains project-specific Plan amendments to allow management-ignited prescribed fire in the BWCAW on a project-by-project basis over the past 25 years. Where multiple project-specific Plan amendments are done for a given issue, it suggests considering a programmatic Plan amendment to allow lightning fires to play a more natural role.   
• Additional management topics include, but are not limited to: fisheries stocking, survey and spawn take; outfitter and guide operations; visitor management (overnight paddle quota, campsites); special provisions; structures; other agency use; wilderness education plans; the reservation system and research needs.  

The public is invited to submit comments online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/superior/?project=65777 through May 17, 2024. 

Furthermore, the Superior National Forest will host two open house opportunities for the public to engage with officials, ask questions, and submit comments. 

An in-person open house will be held on Thursday, Apr. 11, from 4:30-7 p.m. at the Superior National Forest Headquarters in Duluth. Then, a virtual open house will be held on Thursday, Apr. 18, from 4-6 p.m.

Join the virtual meeting here: Click here to join the meeting, meeting ID: 289 483 854 876, Passcode: XPqvvs 

The Superior National Forest is accepting public comments through May 17, 2024. Following the public comment period, the Superior National Forest said they will develop a proposed Forest Plan Amendment to address the purpose and need for action. Then, officials will notify stakeholders and partners of the proposed amendment and initiate the public involvement process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Formal public scoping for this project is anticipated in early 2025. 

Kalli Hawkins April 11, 2024