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ELY – The group looked lost.
After arriving at the Kawishiwi Ranger Station to pick up their permit for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a party of soon-to-be paddlers were greeted with a locked door. The ranger station was closed.
Just down the road, at Spirit of the Wilderness, an outfitter, bait shop, and retail store on Ely’s bustling Sheridan Street, the answer to why the ranger station was closed, and more importantly the permit, were waiting.
“We helped them out,” said Ginny Nelson, a co-owner of Spirit of the Wilderness. “They switched their permit from the ranger station over to us and we got it all taken care of.”
With the Memorial Day weekend now several weeks in the past, and the busiest stretch of the Boundary Waters paddling season fast approaching, two of the most accessible locations for visitors to the BWCA Wilderness to pick up their permits are no longer options.
As Paddle and Portage first reported in late April, the Gunflint and Kawishiwi ranger stations in Grand Marais and Ely, respectively, are not issuing BWCA Wilderness permits this year. The quota season for permits runs from May 1 to Sept. 30. Ongoing budget and staffing woes impacting the U.S. Forest Service are the root cause of the change, according to agency officials.
An estimated 4,300 permits were issued between these two ranger stations last year alone, meaning those permits are being handled somewhere else this year. The bulk of those permits are being issued by various outfitters and other small businesses based near the BWCA Wilderness.
Paddle and Portage visited and spoke with outfitters in Grand Marais, Tofte, and Ely June 4 to learn how this process and reallocation of the permits is going. By and large, things are going well, the outfitters agreed. Most people heard about the news from Paddle and Portage or other media, or received an email from the Forest Service informing them that they would need to change their permit pickup location if they had selected the Gunflint or Kawishiwi ranger station for the 2025 quota season.
At Spirit of the Wilderness, which is located across the street from the typically busy ranger station in Ely, Nelson said they issued 120 more BWCA Wilderness permits in May this year than they did in 2024. They’ve had multiple groups come in who were unaware of the changes, but generally speaking, most people transfer their permit from the ranger station to the outfitter without any issues.
“We’re getting a lot of phone calls about it, but it’s pretty easy to switch the permit over to us once we explain how to do it,” Nelson said.
Sarah Lynch from Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte agreed, saying there’s been a noticeable uptick in the number of permits they’ve issued to start the quota season.
“It’s been a noticeable change so far,” she said. “We’re expecting it to be a significant increase in terms of how many permits we’re issuing once the season really gets going.”
Lynch reminds visitors that businesses that rent gear and sell equipment to BWCA visitors are small businesses that rely on customer support. She hopes people will be patient and financially supportive as these businesses pick up some of the workload of the federal government. They can also show up prepared, Lynch said. For instance, a group should have their BWCA permits filled out completely upon arrival. A complete permit means all those who are going on the trip are added online via recreation. gov before the group shows up to have their permits issued. Have the names spelled correctly and include the number of watercraft the group is taking.
Nelson agreed, saying some groups show up without having anyone other than the group leader added to the permit. Upon arrival, there’s a group of four standing at the counter hoping to be added to the permit.
“They’ll say, ‘add me.’ And it’s like, ‘okay, who are you? What’s your name,’” Nelson said.
The Kawishiwi Ranger Station in Ely, operated by the U.S. Forest Service, is traditionally one of the most utilized places for BWCA Wilderness visitors to obtain their overnight paddling or hiking permits. The ranger station in Ely issued approximately 3,000 permits in 2024, as Paddle and Portage previously reported.
Two of the busiest outfitters in Ely bookend Sheridan Street, with Spirit of the Wilderness on one end, and Piragis Northwoods Company on the other. Tim Barton is the outfitting manager at Piragis. He told Paddle and Portage June 4 that they had an influx of calls in late April about the ranger station in Ely not issuing permits this year. In preparation for the possibility that more people would be coming to the outfitter, which has indeed proven true to start the season, Piragis added another issuing station in its headquarters. They are also considering adding an additional spot for people to be able to watch a BWCA rules and regulations video that is required viewing before people can obtain their permit, Barton said.
Many BWCA outfitters, including Sawtooth, Piragis and Spirit of the Wilderness, are open from early in the morning until after traditional working hours. A 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or even later schedule is common for outfitters along places like Sheridan Street or Highway 61, for example. Barton said even before the news that the ranger stations in Grand Marais and Ely would not be issuing permits this year went public, groups have traditionally chosen outfitters as pickup spots even if they aren’t renting canoe or gear from them.
“The hours we’re open work better for a lot of people who get to town later in the day, or who want to get an early start,” Barton said.
In Grand Marais, which is dwarfed by Ely in terms of BWCA visitors and volume, the Gunflint Ranger Station was traditionally another place for BWCA Wilderness visitors to obtain their permits. The Gunflint Ranger Station issued approximately 1,300 permits last year, according to data obtained by Paddle and Portage for purposes of this story. The ranger station is located off Highway 61 in Grand Marais. There are already limited options for BWCA visitors to obtain permits in Grand Marais, with Northern Goods (formerly known as Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply) the only other option in Grand Marais itself. There are numerous outfitters up the Gunflint Trail that can and are issuing BWCA permits this year.
Mitch Reaume is the owner of Northern Goods in Grand Marais. This is his first year running the business after purchasing it near the end of 2024. Reaume told Paddle and Portage June 4 that it is still early in the season, “But generally speaking it is looking like we will have two or three times as many permits going out of our location compared to last year.”
When asked if the additional foot traffic into the store has been good for business, Reaume paused before responding.
“This one is a little tricky to answer. In the short term, yes. We obviously love when people come into our store and they can shop with us before their adventures,” he said. “That being said, no part of us celebrates seeing the Forest Service defunded. We know how critical a role they play for the long-term protection and care of the wilderness. So by no means do we view the current political happenings as a long-term win. We love more people coming into our store, but we wish the current situation weren’t the reason it was happening.”
There’s not much monetary reward for BWCA cooperators to issue the permits themselves. Businesses are allowed to charge $2 to issue each BWCA permit, and some do, Lynch and Nelson both acknowledged. However, even if an outfitter issues 30 permits each day, that would only bring in an extra $60, while the staff of these small businesses take time away from other tasks in order to help people get into the Boundary Waters.
Inside Sawtooth Outfitters Wednesday morning, a group of six soon-to-be paddlers were watching the required video before Lynch and her staff issued them a BWCA permit. One member of the group, Liz Biaggio from Green Bay, Wisc., said they’d heard the news of the ranger stations not issuing permits this year. They had to transfer their permit from the Tofte Ranger Station to Sawtooth just days ahead of their arrival on the chance the ranger station would be closed, and because they were renting canoes from Sawtooth.
“We realized there was really no reason to go there,” Biaggio said of the ranger station just down the road from Sawtooth.
Paul Meyer, another member of the group heading to Pine Lake on the far eastern side of the BWCA once they picked up their permit from Sawtooth Wednesday morning, said he was “shocked” that the ranger stations in Ely and Grand Marais weren’t issuing permits this year. Compounding the shock, Meyer questioned why the ranger stations in Ely and Grand Marais remain open to the public, with staff behind the front desk, when they aren’t issuing permits.
“It’s like, why not issue the permits if the doors are open and people are there working?” he said of the ranger stations.
The Forest Service has been relatively quiet about the fact the Gunflint and Kawishiwi Ranger Stations aren’t issuing permits this year. Paddle and Portage asked Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall about the permits during a town hall meeting in Lutsen May 2. Paddle and Portage was the only media in attendance at the public event, and asked Hall specifically about the ranger stations not being closed.
“This was completely staffing related,” Hall said.
Hall said the ranger stations in Ely and Grand Marais were the two places most impacted on the Superior National Forest by the push for a reduction of the federal government.
Meanwhile, in Ely, Nelson said Spirit of the Wilderness and other outfitters on Sheridan Street are ready and able to absorb the thousands of permits that will be moved from the ranger station this paddling season. In 1999, the business put a sign out front that states in all capital letters “BWCA PERMITS.”
“We didn’t know this would be happening at the time, of course,” Nelson said about the ranger station down the road no longer issuing permits. “It’s pretty obvious, though, that we’re here and ready to get people permits and whatever else they need for a successful trip to the Boundary Waters.”
