Wilderness Watch Files Lawsuit Claiming Forest Service Outfitters Have Exceeded Allowed Tow Trips in BWCAW

Wilderness Watch, based in Montana, recently filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Forest Service outfitters have improperly exceeded the maximum number of trips they are allowed to make with motorized boats to tow canoeists in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  The lawsuit apparently is based on the assumption that each permit issued represents a trip actually taken and also involves an ongoing dispute as to what specifically constitutes a “trip.”  In the lawsuit, Wilderness Watch asserted that the number of assisted trips “adversely affect[ed] Wilderness Watch’s organizational interests, as well as its members’ use and enjoyment of the BWCAW.”  Wilderness Watch reportedly asserted that the assistance provided by the outfitters to the canoeists was diminishing the wilderness experience of its members who did not need such assistance.  The outfitters have asserted that the goal of Wilderness Watch is to remove all of the motorized services provided in BWCAW.

The Wilderness Act generally prohibits any motorized activities within wilderness areas.  In order to obtain the original BWCA wilderness designation in 1964, its promoters provided assurances that established motorized uses would be allowed.  After that designation, motorized use was then further scaled back to only certain lakes and under quota limits.