Opinion: Blame funding cuts — not Superior National Forest managers — for proposed BWCAW fee hikes

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Picture this: A Kevlar canoe atop your head, the relief in your shoulders when you’ve gracefully placed it down in the pristine water facing out toward Kekekabic Lake, piling into the teetering canoe and, with the flick of your wrist, muscling it over to the left.

Avid canoeists and fans of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, like myself, need just close their eyes to bring back the sweet soft scent of the Boundary Waters enclosing their pores.

It’s a feeling most outdoor lovers recognize, but recently proposed fee hikes would make the permits to enter these special lakes and experiences more costly for visitors. More than double. While not ideal, let’s not shoot the messenger nor blame the Superior National Forest quite yet.

The Superior National Forest, which falls under U.S. Forest Service jurisdiction, has not increased BWCAW permit costs since 2008. These potential fee hikes come as a jump back to Boundary Waters frequenters. If approved by the forest’s Recreation Advisory Committee, the new fee could be implemented in January 2027. However, with ongoing financial fears among the greater public, and with DOGE cutting and the targeting of the National Park Service by the Trump administration, the surprise is one we should’ve seen coming. And one that many did.

The U.S. Forest Service website lists staffing shortage and rising costs for routine maintenance for portages and points of entry and campsites as reasons for the permit price hike; however, there can be no doubt that the Trump administration’s funding cuts are the central reason for the Superior National Forest’s seemingly greater reliance on outside troops: campers and BWCAW visitors.

The price for an adult trip permit currently sits at $16. The proposed change would increase that to $40. That’s a 150% increase.

This proposed hike shouldn’t come as a surprise seeing as wilderness areas across the country are all facing similar struggles. Forest Service retiree Suzanne Cable, in a blog post for Wilderness Watch, said that there is just one sole ranger employed to cover the 150,000-plus acres in the Wenatchee River Ranger district.

The U.S. Forest Service has been dealing with lackluster funding and inadequate resources and is currently in the midst of a hiring freeze. There’s less funding coming in and rangers going out (as in rangers forced to leave the workforce, not going out on trail), and what else does that spell but turning to the people who love the BWCAW and will want to experience it again and again?

Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director at Wilderness Watch, is more concerned about how the new permit price would affect kids, saying the potential extra fees will hurt youth camps just as much as they’ll make the BWCAW less economically accessible for parents and adult Boundary Waters enthusiasts. When the accessibility of wilderness areas is altered, so are plans to explore them.

The newly proposed Boundary Waters permit price tag is not abnormal. In fact, it might just be our new normal. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

The Trump administration’s cuts and gutting of wilderness areas will have long-term effects, so much so that outside forces are relying on the public more than they ever have before to help offset the costs of Boundary Waters upkeep.

Yes, canoeists who were paying the regular $16 will probably crack open their wallets a little more for the sake of visiting a place they love dearly, but the proposed price of BWCAW permits is still worrisome. There’s a bigger problem in front of us here, and it’s the rampant funding cuts. The proposed BWCAW permit cost increase is the result of the Trump administration’s commitment to risking the safety and sanctuary of wilderness spaces everywhere. So, don’t blame the Superior National Forest for the potential price hikes, blame the Trump administration.

The U.S. Forest Service is just trying to keep its head above water (see what I did there?) in the wake of federal funding setbacks. To Chris Knopf, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Boundary Waters, it’s not just a small price to pay, it is the price to pay.

“We need to understand that public goods are not necessarily free, that there’s a real cost to the rangers,” said Knopf. “[M]aintaining everything from the portages to the safety patrols and fire management — all that is really, really expensive.”

The proposed price increase is necessary for the Superior National Forest to thrive, or at the very least survive — something, I think, that resonates for all of us. For now, if you want to experience the majestic wonders of the Boundary Waters for yourself in the future, it seems likely you’ll need to factor the extra $24 into your budget.

Caroline Siebels-Lindquist, who’ll be a senior this fall at Drake University, is a summer intern for Minnesota Star Tribune Opinion.