Sometimes the courts get it right. The decision involving the use of towboats in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area is a good example. This decision will benefit visitors by better dispersing people.
As reported in the Ely and by our partners at PaddleAndPortage.com, the federal judge ruled against the environmental group Wilderness Watch to stop, reduce, or further restrict motorized towboat usage in the BWCA.
The U.S. Forest Service successfully argued that it properly allowed select businesses to transport folks into the BWCA.
“The Court concludes that the Forest Service has articulated a reasonable methodology for measuring motorboat use under the BWCAW Act,” Judge Nancy Brasel wrote in her ruling. “Using that methodology, the court concludes that motorboat use has not exceeded the base period use.”
We agree with the Forest Service that the use of towboats, limited to 25 h.p. motors, to assist canoeists starting their journey disperses visitors deeper into the million-acre BWCA.
It helps paddlers get a jump start to travel faster across Moose Lake near Ely, and other lakes including Newfound and Sucker, as they approach the Prairie Portage Ranger Station into Quetico.
Shutting down tows or reducing the tow capacity would have impacted Williams and Hall, LaTourell’s, and Spirit of the Wilderness, among other outfitters. The ruling would have a much larger impact on the Ely area, where many canoeists receive a tow across Moose and other lakes in the Ely area each season.
Brasel had ruled two years ago that halting the tow services would impact the ability for “older visitors and visitors with limited mobility” to experience the BWCA.
Motorboats have been a part of the BWCA since before it was even known as an abbreviation. There have been boats bringing campers deeper in going back to the days of Basswood Lodge and the myriad of resorts that were later kicked out and forgotten about.
The towboats stay and the BWCA is a better place for it. Less congestion is better. Period.
