AND HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

[greatoutdoors]

Thinking about becoming a                   
BWCA guide? Forget about it

The U.S. Forest Service is up to its old
tricks again, this time not allowing new fishing
guides or any other types of recreational special
uses.
The agency is hiding behind yet another
lawsuit that it now needs to study and while that
study is going on, everything and everybody
gets put on hold.
This appears to be directly related to the
lawsuit against towboats in the BWCA and the
agreement/settlement that requires a study be
done on Recreation Commercial Services.
Instead of focusing on the towboat issue,
the agency has expanded the impact to include
the entire Superior National Forest and any type
of recreational special use permitting.
This is simply ridiculous. The Forest Service
should be able to study the towboat issue
and continue to conduct business as usual.
For businesses that already have a recreational
use permit, including fishing guides, they can
continue.
But if a person decided they wanted to
start a guide business this spring, their application
would not be considered by the Forest Service.
Another example of government putting
unnecessary, unreasonable and draconian limits
on instead of adapting and being user friendly.
A letter on this decision was sent out to
current recreational special use permit holders
last month.
Forest Supervisor Connie Cummins said
in the letter the USFS is currently conducting a
Recreational Commercial Services Needs Assessment.
“No new permits will be issued, and no
new levels of services will be processed during
this time. Exceptions to this hold will be for
permits that were in the process of being issued
at the start of the Needs Assessment…
“If the Forest authorizes new business
or the expansion of services by existing businesses
during the analysis period, it will be
necessary to start over as there would be new
information to include,” the letter states.
There is no timeline for this process other
than the looming possibility of the agency
having to implement a National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to evaluate potential
changes. This could literally take years.
Some local guides believe this is the
beginning of the end of commercial uses in the
BWCA (and the Superior National Forest for
that matter). The Forest Service doesn’t want to
have to deal with towboats or ciscoes or guides
or truck portages or any other type of commercial
endeavor. This is their way to shut the door
and keep it shut.
Existing businesses may believe this is
just the Forest Service stumbling through legal
hoops as the result of yet another lawsuit filed
by groups who really don’t want people to use
the Boundary Waters.
If you don’t believe this is the case,
remember this is the same agency that got
all excited about a basketball hoop on Prairie
Portage.
We would like to see the agency reverse
its position on this issue and continue to work
with people instead of slamming doors. Start by
asking how the agency can help.
For instance, there are numerous outfitters
who issue BWCA permits on behalf of the
agency which could not possibly do it without
them. Instead of hassling, how about reaching
out and asking what could be done to help
private businesses.
We only have to look at the decision to
dump the lottery for motorized permits as an
example of a federal agency that is far from user friendly.