Superior National Forest managers announce changes in national and BWCAW permit reservation process

Starting in 2019, visitors will see some changes in the National Recreation Reservation System which includes the permitting process for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). These changes address privacy, security, financial, and program requirements of the new, nationwide recreation. gov website launching October 1, 2018.

The new platform has stronger security controls, better protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and increased fraud protection. Recreation.gov will no longer store credit card information.

In 2019, the $10 reservation fee is changing to $6 for every quota permit. That means whether you reserve a permit ahead of time or purchase a “walk-in” permit, the fee will be $6. This includes Day Use motor permits.

Group leaders (permit holders) are required to have a valid email address to reserve a permit. Each alternate permit holder is required to have a valid email address to be listed as an intended alternate at time of reservation.

Alternates must respond to the recreation.gov email sent at the time of reservation and accept being an alternate within 72 hours of booking, or the permit will not have alternates.

If an alternate does not have a recreation.gov account, they will be required to create one at verification when they respond and accept being an alternate. Alternates can log on to www.recreation.gov and create their account any time prior to a reservation.

All participant names must be entered for the permit to print at issuance. Participant names may be added to a reservation any time before the permit pick-up.

For reservations made by a cooperator, permit holders will receive a copy of the confirmation email.

While the new recreation. gov website may be accessed via an older operating system, you will need the latest version of an officially supported browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer 11) to use the new recreation.gov.

While the new nationwide website (recreation.gov) is undergoing the transition to the new site, the system will be available for exploring. However, you will not be able to create a new account or access an existing account until October 5, when account access is expected to be available.

For the 2019 BWCAW quota permit season, all permits for all entry points will be available on Wednesday, January 30, 2019, at 9 a.m. CST. Permits may be reserved online at www.recreation.gov or by calling the reservation line at (877) 444-6777.