Still no permits for the Chain of Lakes

There still hasn't been any resolution to mismanaged day use motor quota system for the affected BWCA Chain of Lakes. Recent contact with U.S. Forest Service Supervisor Jim Sanders asking for a meeting date to recalculate the permit quota didn't result in a quick answer.

The Forest Service has been involved in multiple lawsuits brought about by the Sierra Club, Izaak Walton League, Friends of the Boundary Water, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, and other groups over the Revised Forest Management Plan and the South Fowl Snowmobile Trail reroute.

The Forest Service is in the process of completing a detailed summarization for how it calculated the quota numbers for the previously exempt use on the "chains". The process was based on the same used for the 1993 BW Plan. As soon as the summarization is completed, the Forest Service will schedule meetings with CWCS and all parties involved in the law suit. It will then finalize its calculation of the quotas for the lakes and the previously exempt day use motor use. Public involvement and the environmental process will follow.

Another factor which could potentially delay scheduling a meeting on the recalculating of the permit quotas is whether or not a lawsuit is filed against the Echo Trail Area Management Plan. CWCS looks forward to the opportunity to work with the USFS to correct this problem that both the USFS and CWCS agree needs to be resolved quickly.