With the month of May, Superior National Forest is entering its summer mode with a lot of changes happening over the month. For starters, on May 1st, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness entered into what is known as the “quota season.”
This means that overnight travelers in the BWCAW will need a permit issued through the Forest Service and picked up at a district office or cooperating business rather than a self-issued permit. Daily quotas on people entering the BWCAW for overnight use help us distribute visitors in the wilderness in both time and space.
The result is a better experience for paddlers with less congestion on portages, more open campsites, and fewer human encounters to detract from the wilderness character of a trip.
If you’ve traveled the BWCAW before, you’ll find that there are some changes this year. One of the most obvious is that the old Leave No Trace video has been replaced with a series of three shorter videos. You can watch two of the three segments at home while you are still planning your trip, and they will help you to pack for a trip that will Leave No Trace.
There are other changes in the permit reservation process as well, so visit our website early in your planning to find out more. You can also call or stop in at the Gunflint or Tofte Ranger District offices. We are now open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Starting around the middle of May, we will be turning on water systems at fee campgrounds and putting docks in as lakes open up. The water system status is an indicator of the fee status of the campground. Once the water is on, you’ll start having to pay the overnight camping fee.
The Recreation page of our website will list the fee and water status of our fee campgrounds, so you may want to check it before you leave on your trip. Some basic rules at our campground to remember: You must occupy your site on the first night. That means it isn’t fair to put a couple of lawn chairs on a site on Thursday to “hold” it for the weekend. There is also a group size limit of nine on a campsite, and if you have an extra vehicle, you’ll have to pay an additional half fee.
Firewood is available for purchase at only a very limited number of campgrounds. For most campfires, you’ll have to bring locally sourced firewood with you. To avoid spreading the emerald ash borer and other forest pests, please do not bring firewood in from other areas.
Speaking of fire, May also brings the spring fire season. The Ham Lake fire, one of the largest recent local fires, started on May 11 of 2007. May can be a very dry month, and before the leaves green up, the forest is very susceptible to wildfire. For the same reason, this is the time that our fire crews are working on some intentional prescribed burns. The timing of prescribed burns is very weather dependent, so it is impossible to give exact dates for these events. They will be announced on our website.
If you come across an area where prescribed burning is going on, please respect all posted traffic signs and be aware that there may be people on the road.
May will also see the return of hummingbirds to the North Shore. It is always amazing to think of our tiny ruby-throated hummingbirds flying all the way up here from the Yucatan. They need fuel for that trip, and you can supply it with a hummingbird feeder.
Start with cleaning your feeders, then fill them with a mix of 1:3 sugar to water. Don’t add dyes or food colors. The sugar will dissolve more rapidly in hot or boiling water, but make sure that it is cooled to room temperature before you put it out for the birds. Many feeders hold so much nectar that it may spoil in the feeder. If the nectar becomes cloudy in the feeder, dump it and put in new. Extra nectar can be stored in the fridge, but allow it to warm to room temperature before using.
Wildflowers of several kinds are blooming. Bloodroot and Dutchman’s breeches are some of the earliest, along with hepatica and trillium. These spring ephemeral wildflowers take advantage of this early spring period when there are no leaves on the trees and sunlight reaches the forest floor.
After the trees leaf out, some of the wildflowers lose their leaves and go dormant for the rest of the year. While there’s no plant above ground during dormancy, the root is still alive, and amazingly some of these fragile-looking flowers may be as old, or older, than the trees overhead.
While most of us might be going for a leisurely hike in the warm sun, a few will be running instead. The annual Superior Spring Trail Race will be going on Saturday, May 18. Be watchful for runners on the Superior Hiking Trail and crossing roadways.
Whether you are running, hiking, or humming like a bird, it’s a beautiful month—enjoy the spring!
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