Information: 218-365-7600

Location and Size: The July 21, 2016 storm impacted an area north and east of Ely Minnesota, on the Superior National Forest, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The impacted area is approximately 3 miles wide by 10 miles long. The western boundary runs as a curved line from Hook Lake, west through Cummings and Crab Lake, and south to include the Van Vac Road south of Burntside Lake. The eastern boundary runs from Ima Lake south to Hudson Lake. Lakes, portages, and campsites outside this area are also affected by fallen trees. Affected lakes include: Fall, Wood, Wind, Snowbank, Disappointment, Thomas, Moose, Pipestone and Back Bay of Basswood, Crab, Burntside, and Mudro Lakes. Roads heavily impacted include the North Grassy Road, Cloquet Line, Snowbank Lake Road, and the Fernberg Trail. The Cloquet Line has only been partially cleared and will require equipment and time to clear to the end.

Description: Crews continue work both inside and outside the wilderness to open portages, trails, and recreation sites.

Thank you! Response to this emergency was an interagency effort. The Kawishiwi Ranger District is grateful for the partnerships of both the Lake County and St. Louis County Emergency Management organizations. Morse/Fall Lake First Responders, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office and Rescue Squad, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and SAR, Ontario’s MNR, OPP, and Quetico Park offices, Ely Ambulance, Life Link Helicopter, LaTourell’s Outfitters, Voyageur Outward Bound, and the USFS Seaplane Base and Tanker Base staff.

Visitors are reminded to look up and all around. Evaluating sites and removing hazard trees will take a very long time. There are many leaning trees, broken tops, and hanging branches that can easily fall. Saturated soils make otherwise stable trees prone to falling over. Consider these hazards and prevailing winds when choosing a parking, picnic, or camping site.

Caution is advised when driving through the impacted area. Many roads and trails are narrow, down to one lane in some places, and may be littered with debris. Trees may continue to come down. Crews continue working on them. Please drive slowly and defensively. See Details of work accomplished and planned on page 2.

Resources:
Today the management of the July 21, 2016 Storm Damage incident was transferred from a Type 3 Incident Management Team back to the Kawishiwi Ranger District. Local resources will continue to focus on storm recovery.

Closures: There are no closures at this time. Superior National Forest
Forest Service

7/25 Information added today is in red:
BWCAW Permit Issuing Stations, please share the message in bold with every group regardless of their destination:

Visitors are reminded to look up and all around. Many sites have been affected. Staff will not be able to evaluate all of the sites and remove all hazard trees immediately. There are many leaning trees, broken tops, and hanging branches that can easily fall. Saturated soils make otherwise stable trees prone to falling over. Consider these hazards and prevailing winds when choosing a parking, picnic, or camping site.

Some of the access roads to wilderness entry points in the Kawishiwi Ranger District have ONE emergency lane cut in order to allow trapped campers to leave. Crews have NOT fully opened the roads. Power companies are still working to repair lines and there are some down. We’ve had reports of people driving the access roads too fast and this is endangering our crews and each other. Getting visitors INTO the wilderness is NOT an emergency.

We have not been able to assess everything within the impacted area yet due to the need to open portages. Traveling roughly clockwise, beginning at Snowbank, here are the conditions as we know them right now:

• Snowbank Area: Portages from Snowbank into Disappointment, Disappointment to Parent, and Parent to Snowbank are now passable. The portage into Grub was cleared yesterday. Portages have been cleared as far as Ahsub. The condition of portages to the north are either very rough, impassable or unknown at this time. Heavy impacts are believed to be as far east as Thomas and Frasier.
• Lake One Area: Portages into Lake Two are passable. Conditions beyond are believed to be mostly passable.
• Access into Ojibway: Passable but may be one lane. A crew will be working on the portage from Triangle into the North Kawishiwi River today.
• Farm Lake, Birch, and White Iron roads and campsites are south of the largest impacts but had scattered damage. Roads are mostly passable. The South Kawishiwi and Birch Lake Campgrounds had little damage and are open.
• Mudro entry point: The North Grassy Road is mostly open shoulder to shoulder now but crews continue work there this morning plus logging traffic will continue. The road is narrow and shoulders are now full of cut trees. Power is not yet restored on much of the Echo Trail so power company trucks and workers may be on the roads. Please drive slowly! Mudro to Lower Basswood Falls through Horse is passable. Horse to Fourtown is passable. Conditions on portages to the west and north of Fourtown are unknown.
• The Fenske Lake Campground was impacted and remains open. Portages on the Circle Route are clear into Grassy Lake. Camping is not recommended on Bass, High, Dry, and Low Lakes at this time. Hiking the Bass Lake Trail may be hazardous. Crews will be working on the hiking trail today. The portage into Bass Lake is passable.
• Burntside/Crab Lake: The Van Vac access was hard hit but is now passable. Downed power lines were repaired. The Passi Road was impacted but is now passable. The Crab Lake portage was made passable yesterday. Campers report portages to the west and to the north of Crab Lake as rough but passable. Slim and Little Rice Lakes were impacted. The North Arm and Slim Lake Access roads were impacted and are now passable. The portages into Slim, Rice, Hook and Kenue Lakes were made passable yesterday.
• Fall and west Basswood: Newton and Pipestone portages are passable. Campsites on the western end of Basswood are being checked today for storm damage. Crews made the portage from Back Bay to Frog Bay passable yesterday. The Fourmile Portage is being cleared into Ella Hall today.
• Moose Lake Road, eastern Basswood: The Moose Lake Road is passable but there are still low power lines across the road. Power company trucks and Forest Service crews are working on the road. Basswood and Moose Chain Campsites have not been assessed yet for hazardous trees. Prairie Portage is passable. Portages into Sucker, Birch, and Ensign may be difficult but are passable. Portages farther east seem to have been less affected.

If returning BWCAW visitors have updated information, please let us know.
If you called us concerning people who were out in the woods during the storm, please call 365-7600 when they are out or if you hear from them.