BOUNDARY WATERS – A food storage order enacted in spring 2024 will expire in the coming months unless the U.S. Forest Service extends it beyond the original deadline.
The Forest Service increased regulation on storing food in the BWCA to try to prevent bears from associating human visitors in the wilderness with food. The original order started just ahead of the 2024 paddling season. It is set to expire April 19, 2026. For all practical purposes, however, the current order expires this month, as the rule is only in effect from March 1 to Nov. 30.
Joy Vandrie is a spokesperson for the Forest Service on Superior National Forest, which includes the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. She told Paddle & Portage Nov. 18 that the Forest Service is “reviewing the 2024 Bear Food Storage Forest Order.” An analysis of the two years the order has been in effect is wrapping up, and a determination based on public feedback and other input, including from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, is expected soon.
“An updated forest order will be issued in December,” Vandrie said.
Paddle and Portage asked the Forest Service last week about the status of the food storage order. The following questions were sent to Forest Supervisor Tom Hall, Wilderness Program Manager Cathy Quinn, and Vandrie Nov. 18: Questions: –The current reading of the food storage order says it will expire April 19, 2026, which essentially means it expires Nov. 30 of this year. What are the plans to renew, extend, or modify the current order?
–If modified, is it possible the order could be in effect from April 1, or May 1, rather than March 1? (I ask this as some winter campers, myself included, have wondered about the necessity of having it in effect in March, when lake trout fishing and winter camping can be extraordinary and bear activity minimal or absent) –Overall, did the 2025 quota season see continued decreases (compared to 2023) in bear/human conflicts in the BWCA Wilderness, which the Forest Service reported in 2024 and attributed to the food storage order?
–Were any citations issued for violating the food storage order in the BWCA Wilderness in 2025?
Forest Service officials said all of these questions will be answered when the update to the food storage order is issued in December.
According to the current (original) order, “In effect March 1-November 30 each year, except while being prepared, consumed, or under on-site visual observance, all food, food containers, scented items (such as soap, lip balm, toothpaste) and refuse shall be suspended at least 12 feet above the surface of the ground and not less than 6 feet horizontally from the trunk of a tree, or stored in an Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee certified bear resistant container.”
Meanwhile, visitors to the BWCA Wilderness continue to see the food storage order notification posted at most entry points. There was much hullaballoo in spring 2024 about the fine for violating the food storage order being only $50, though the signs at most BWCA entry point kiosks and the order itself clearly state a fine of $5,000 and mention the word imprisonment. Nonetheless, the Forest Service insists the fine is $50 for any violation of the order.
There was also the running narrative from the Forest Service in 2024 that year one of the food storage was more an “educational” rollout of the order. In other words, fines weren’t likely to occur if someone did not comply with the order in year one unless the violation was so egregious a law enforcement officer or wilderness ranger deemed a ticket was necessary.
Previously, Paddle and Portage asked the Forest Service why the food storage order starts March 1, when lake trout fishing and winter camping are commonplace across the wilderness and bears are largely dormant. They responded with a public statement: “There is significant variation from year to year in seasonal weather transitions. Since bears have been known to come out of hibernation as early as March, the Superior Wilderness and Wildlife Staff set March 1 as the effective date for the order.”
Black bears typically hibernate from October through March, according to the University of Minnesota. Even with a mild winter such as the one Minnesota experienced in 2024, many bear researchers across the state still expected bears to emerge when “true spring” arrived in late March or April. The National Weather Service is expecting the 2025-26 winter in the BWCA to be colder and wetter than average.
In autumn 2024, the Forest Service highlighted the fact there were fewer bear-human conflicts in the BWCA Wilderness that summer than in recent years. State and federal officials attributed the low number of bear-human conflicts in the BWCA Wilderness last year to the food storage order the Forest Service enacted at the start of the paddling season.
“The proactive enaction of this order likely circumvented a summer of problems for (Boundary Waters) campers and reduced available attractants across a wide area,” said Andrew Tri, bear researcher with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The Forest Service says that, on average, there were approximately 40 conflicts between bears and people in the BWCA Wilderness during the three years before the food storage order was enacted. In 2024, there were about 10, according to the agency. The 2025 tally for bear-human conflicts in the BWCA wilderness is expected in December.
In addition to proper food storage, there are other actions that visitors can take in bear country that help keep bears wild, alive, and healthy, including by making sure anything with a scent is properly stored, the Forest Service emphasizes. This includes, but is not limited to, toothpaste, wrappers, lip balm, soap, petroleum products and lotion.
For anglers, disposing of fish remains at least 200 feet from any campsite, portage, trail and shoreline is a requirement in the BWCA Wilderness and can help reduce bear interactions as well, according to the Forest Service. As winter approaches, anglers should note that burying fish remains once the ground freezes is nearly impossible, and it’s illegal to leave fish guts and remains on the lake, according to the DNR. If longtime Quetico Park Ranger Janice Matichuk had her way, visitors to the BWCA Wilderness would return their fish remains to the lake they came from.
“It’s crazy to put fish guts in the woods,” the late ranger often said.
