Found this on last week's trip to the BWCA.

I strongly doubt this was the forest rangers' work. Leaving half the tree in the water doesn't strike me as them. Plus the tree helped shield the campsite from the existing winds, and it was nowhere near the tent pads, kitchen, or the most likely landings.



They also took down a few smaller trees in camp. Again, cutting trees off a few feet up the ground doesn't strike me as a USFS job.



The smaller trees apparently was to build a windbreak. Which makes cutting down the mature tree by the water even more stupid.

The mature tree was to replace one of the logs in the kitchen. It was pretty sappy since it was from a living tree. Some of the existing kitchen logs were still at the site and partially burnt.



Not exactly sure what they were doing with the fireplace, other than attempting to start a forest fire. We removed the logs next to the fireplace. I thought about cutting down the rest of the two small trees and rubbing the fresh cut marks with dirt to hide the scars, but I didn't feel right about it, even though I'm guessing that's what the forest service would do as a repair. The rest of the tree in the water was a lost cause - didn't have the time on the trip to cut it up enough to drag out of the water and move the brush away from camp.

What's really annoying is that not too far past the toilet, on some well traveled trails, were plenty of fallen timber that would have been easy to carry back to camp.

What's even sadder is that the perps were proud of their "woodcraft."

Are you planning to contact the USFS to inform?

What goes into peoples heads that think this is ok to do? Just plain destructive fools.

missmolly: "What's even sadder is that the perps were proud of their "woodcraft." "

Was thinking the same thing...I bet they left feeling proud. Very sad.

T

Yes report it to the USFS-show them that you care.

I think it is time to request more help for the USFS enforcement side and also yes orientation films or something. This year is out of control up there.
Someone said this weekend the parking lot was packed at Isabella lake and everywhere little gravel pit there was a trailer.
Some of that is good people are utilizing the area. But it seems like these adults don't know how to behave. I still want to believe in is a small minority, but it seems to be growing.

Unfortunately, as has been already mentioned on this forum plenty, there seems to be a spike of this type of damage and disregard for the rules in 2020.

On another thread there was a highlighting (LOW-lighting?) of a video showing much behavior contrary to respectful use of the BWCA. The producer of the video didn't seem to be aware that they were conducting themselves outside of the rules and were just trying to depict how much fun they had. The video was taken down soon after criticism started rolling in on what was being shown .

I do enjoy watching videos of people's trips and I'm amazed on the apparent lack of understanding what is and is not allowed. Why else would one post on YouTube a video showing yourselves performing activities that are clearly illegal? Just yesterday I saw various videos that included washing dishes in the lake, feeding the wildlife, toasting each other around the fire with cans of beer, pulling cans of baked beans out of the food pack for supper and flying drones (It is for certain that the drone flying was within borders of BWCA as some of the drone shots were of Johnson Falls). I'm a bit surprised that I didn't see someone's video include, "Hey, look at this big living tree we are cutting down. Might improve our view of the lake!"

One individual was even showing hand-held cell phone use while driving during an "on the way there" portion of the video. That is violation of a rule that is not unique to the wilderness and there should be no excuse for not knowing so maybe it's just that certain folks don't care.

Heartbreaking.

Stupid f"n people.

When our leaders flaunt rules and laws, some people feel free to do the same.

Report it: Tofte Ranger station: (218) 663-7280

never shared these before , only thing you can do now , is try to educate , bored kid's i'm sure , even these dead old standing trees , deserve to hang on as long as possible , kind of a cool look.

PaddlingWithDog: "Are you planning to contact the USFS to inform?"

I called the ranger station at Tofte, and they were supposed to send me an email to reply to. I haven't seen it yet.

Is there a better way to inform them?

pretty sad stuff, anyone that has ever been on cherokee knows is a beautiful lake.

dasunt: "Found this on last week's trip to the BWCA.

I strongly doubt this was the forest rangers' work. Leaving half the tree in the water doesn't strike me as them. Plus the tree helped shield the campsite from the existing winds, and it was nowhere near the tent pads, kitchen, or the most likely landings.



They also took down a few smaller trees in camp. Again, cutting trees off a few feet up the ground doesn't strike me as a USFS job.



The smaller trees apparently was to build a windbreak. Which makes cutting down the mature tree by the water even more stupid.

The mature tree was to replace one of the logs in the kitchen. It was pretty sappy since it was from a living tree. Some of the existing kitchen logs were still at the site and partially burnt.



Not exactly sure what they were doing with the fireplace, other than attempting to start a forest fire. We removed the logs next to the fireplace. I thought about cutting down the rest of the two small trees and rubbing the fresh cut marks with dirt to hide the scars, but I didn't feel right about it, even though I'm guessing that's what the forest service would do as a repair. The rest of the tree in the water was a lost cause - didn't have the time on the trip to cut it up enough to drag out of the water and move the brush away from camp.

What's really annoying is that not too far past the toilet, on some well traveled trails, were plenty of fallen timber that would have been easy to carry back to camp. "

I see a lot of this type of bad bushcraft in Canada. Everyone wants to be Joe Robenete. Tables, seats, sweat lodges. All I see is easy firewood. A-holes.

Saw the same thing at a site on Insula this September along with an "extra fire pit,cigarette butts everywhere and bumper stickers on the latrine. Made us sick.

Did anybody notice more damage to any other campsites on Cherokee? I'm wondering if it was an overusage/undereducation thing from this summer with all the heavy traffic. It probably goes without saying.