Permit and Visitor Use Report

Yes, permits are required year-round to enter the BWCA Wilderness. Nine people and four watercraft are the maximum allowed together in the wilderness anytime or anywhere (on water, portages, and campsites). 

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

A quota limits the number of groups entering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness each day by limiting the number of permits available for each entry point from May 1 to September 30. Quotas reduce natural resource damage and help to protect the Wilderness for future generations.

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

An entry point is a lake, river, or trail where visitors enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A quota permit is valid to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness only on the entry date and at the entry point specified on the permit.

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Entry Points
• Recreation.gov

A quota system distributes visitor movement throughout the Wilderness during the summer months when visitor use is at its highest level.

Without a quota system, too many visitors would enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at the same locations resulting in significant physical and social resource damage to the Wilderness.

A quota system also helps to prevent wilderness character degradation per the Wilderness Act of 1964.

The Act defined wilderness to mean, “…An area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence .” Congress secured these areas to protect their unimpaired condition and preserve their wilderness character.

The quota system helps to maintain the integrity of the BWCA Wilderness as designed by Law and policy.

Mandatory quota permits are issued from May 1 to September 30 for Overnight Paddle, Overnight Hiking, Overnight Motorboat, and Day Use Motorboat through Recreation.gov.

A $6.00 non-refundable reservation fee is charged for each permit reserved.

Recreation fees are charged per person for all permit types except Day Use Motorboat.

When quota is available, “Walk In permits may be reserved in person on the entry date or one day prior at any permit issue station.

Most quota permits are reserved in advance.

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

At this time, quota permits are not required in the fall, winter, and early spring. However, Self Issued Permits are required for all overnight visitors entering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness between October 1 and April 30.

Self Issued permits are also required year-round for all non-motorized day use and for any motorized day use into Little Vermilion Lake.

Self Issued Permits are available from kiosks at Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness entry points and USDA Forest Service offices.

No reservations are required and no recreation fees are charged for Self Issued Permits.

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

Visitors may cancel quota permits online anytime up to two days before the entry date for overnight permits. If reservation is cancelled two or more days prior to entry date, all recreation fees paid will be refunded. If reservation is cancelled on the entry date or one day prior, visitors will be charged a penalty of $32.00 (two adult user fees), any additional recreation fees paid will be refunded. 

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

A “No-Show” is a group that makes a reservation and neither uses nor cancels it. The USDA Forest Service retains the entire payment if the group is a no show. 

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

The BWCA Wilderness has a “no refund” policy. Refunds are granted only for official forest closures for events such as wildfire. In the event a BWCAW entry point closes due to an official forest order, refunds are processed only for trips with entry dates falling within the date perimeters of the closure order, regardless of when the closure is announced. If the entry point remains open and the permit holder chooses not to use their permit, the reservation fee is non-refundable, and recreation fees may be retained if inside the cancellation window. 

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

All quota permits for entry points are released on a first come, first served basis at 9:00 a.m. CT on the last Wednesday in January through Recreation.gov and the contact center at 877-444-6777. Online reservations are recommended since there is a limited number of permits available for each entry point. 

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

A commercial issue station is a local business that has an agreement with the USDA Forest Service to

1. issue Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permits at their location, and
2. educate visitors about Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly principles via mandatory videos and discussion

More Information Is Available At

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Permits
• Recreation.gov

A Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness outfitter rents/provides any motorboat, canoe, camping gear, food, or similar supplies or equipment.

A Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness guide operates via a USDA Forest Service Special Use Permit and provides services or assistance in the Wilderness such as

• education,
• interpretation,
• training,
• touring,
• towing,
• tent camps,
• food packs,
• bear-resistant containers, or
• transport to an entry point) for monetary or other gains.

Currently, there are over one hundred outfitter guides commercially operating in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness under a Special Use Permit granted by the USDA Forest Service.

An Exempt Permit is use that is exempted from the quota system on specific lakes. In the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978, an exemption to the quota was provided to homeowners and resort owners (and their overnight guests) for day use motorboat access to the lake on which they reside.

“Each homeowner and his/her guests and each resort owner and his/her guests on a lake shall have access to that lake, and their use shall not be counted as part of that lake’s quota” (PL 95-495).

This exemption comes from the USDA Forest Service in the form of a written guest use permit or a registered boat sticker which is used to identify homeowner or resort-owned motorboats for identification and monitoring purposes.

In the past, Exempt Permits were issued to authorized researchers, volunteers, or other work groups for specific projects. As of 2019, these groups are required to reserve Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permits on Recreation.gov as visitors do.

Other government agencies or researchers working in partnership with Superior National Forest may be exempted from paddle and motor quotas on a case-by-case basis.

The BWCAW Permit and Visitor Use Report is published annually in five-year increments tracking visitor use for roughly 150,000 visitors per annum. Data for BWCAW Permits varies from year to year. 

Variances can be due to changes in: 

• weather, drought, floods, blowdown, wildfires,
• the economy,
• public health crises such as covid19,
• Canadian border closures,
• COVID-19
• crowding, and
• the timing of insects hatching.

In addition to environmental and economic impacts, reservation system processes are updated, contracts are renewed, and contracted companies change through the years. Reservation system algorithms and data collection methods, and therefore resulting data sets, may have subtle differences between decades. The latest version of Recreation.gov was launched by Booz Allen Hamilton on October 1, 2018. Prior data sets may differ from current data. Quota data obtained from reservations made through Recreation.gov is more accurate than self-issued permit data because it is the visitor’s responsibility to correctly fill out the self-issued permit and self-issued permits are not always filled out accurately or completely.