FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 6, 2026
Contacts:
Ingrid Lyons, Ingrid@SavetheBoundaryWaters.org
Libby London, Libby@SavetheBoundaryWaters.org
82 Northeastern Minnesota businesses and nonprofits unite call for Boundary Waters wildfire economic relief
(Ely, MN) – A letter to Governor Tim Walz and members of the Minnesota Legislature was delivered this morning, signed by 82 Northeastern Minnesota businesses and nonprofits affected by July's lightning-caused wildfires in the Boundary Waters. The letter calls on state leaders to provide urgently needed economic relief for Wilderness-edge communities facing significant financial losses caused by the wildfires, which led to temporary Wilderness closures and a resulting decline in tourism and visitation. The businesses that signed on are located in the four Boundary Waters counties: St Louis, Cook, Lake, and Koochiching Counties in Minnesota.
QUOTES:
"Strong Wilderness-edge communities are essential to a thriving Boundary Waters, and when they succeed, Minnesota succeeds. I've seen firsthand the challenges local businesses, nonprofits, and families continue to face because of this summer's wildfires. I'm hopeful the Legislature will come together to pass an economic relief package that gives our neighbors the support they need, strengthens our local economy, and helps these communities recover and thrive." – Lacey Squier, Manager, Boundary Waters Connect
“We are in an uncertain time - the peak season for canoeing was cut-off and we are struggling to get people to return to the Boundary Waters. Social media feeds are still filled with videos of smoke, flames and water bombers, even while paddlers voyage through a still and silent wilderness. The remaining season won't make ends meet for some of us.
Fires move fast, and the wheels of power move slow. We can't and don't expect a comprehensive solution today. But our officials waiting for the perfect time, the perfect words, or the perfect solution only leaves the rest of us without those very things we need so very badly right now. ” – Ben Seaton, Hungry Jack Outfitters
The letter says the following:
Dear Governor Walz and Members of the Minnesota Legislature:
We are small business owners and operators and organizations in Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties writing to urge you to hold a Special Session to pass economic relief legislation for businesses harmed by the 2026 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) closure. If a Special Session is not held, we ask that an economic relief package is prioritized and passed as soon as the Legislature reconvenes in January 2027.
On July 15, 2026, the Executive Council extended Governor Walz' Peacetime Emergency addressing the wildfires along the Canadian border through August 11, 2026. Any further extension of the peacetime emergency requires approval by the Minnesota Legislature via Special Session. If Governor Walz does not convene the Legislature to extend the peacetime emergency, we urge that he call a Special Session to address the significant economic harm caused by the wildfires and closure of the Boundary Waters to small businesses and the people of the Boundary Waters region.
The Special Session is a timely opportunity to deliver economic relief to the small businesses whose livelihoods depend on a summer tourism season the closure has already disrupted. As Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha, a member of the Executive Council, put it when the extension was approved: “Just remember, when the smoke clears, this won’t be over. It will perhaps be the end of the beginning, and so we’re going to need to continue to make these communities whole.”
We are asking the Legislature to introduce and pass a pre-negotiated bill during the Special Session to address the economic harm caused by the 2026 BWCAW closure. We recommend the bill include the following elements:
- Grants of up to $150,000 per for-profit or nonprofit business located in Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties that have been adversely impacted by the 2026 BWCAW closure.
- A requirement that businesses document a reduction of at least 20% in gross revenue between July-August 2026 relative to July-August 2025
- A requirement that businesses provide a written explanation of how the 2026 closure resulted in the reduction in gross revenue.
- An accelerated program design so that grant funds reach small businesses quickly.
- A direct appropriation to fund the 2026 BWCAW closure relief program.
Minnesota has done this before. In 2022, the Legislature approved economic relief for businesses impacted by the 2021 BWCAW closure and the 2020 Canadian border closure through the Canadian Border Counties Economic Relief Program (Section 25 of SF 40921, Economic Development Appropriations). That program provided grants of up to $50,000 to businesses that documented a loss of gross receipts of at least $20,000, was implemented by the Northland Foundation, and was funded with a $2 million appropriation. That program is a proven model the Legislature can adapt for the businesses affected by the 2026 closure.
The wildfires and the resulting BWCAW closure have already cost our region a critical part of the summer season.
We ask you to use the Special Session to pass economic relief, so that the businesses that anchor our communities are not left to absorb these losses on their own.
Thank you for your consideration and for your continued support of Northeastern Minnesota.
Sincerely,
The undersigned small businesses of Cook, Lake, St. Louis, and Koochiching Counties
Background:
Lightning-sparked wildfires have burned roughly 68,000 acres across the Superior National Forest this July, forcing a full closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and evacuation orders around Ely. For this town and others, whose economy runs on a short summer season of outfitting, guiding, and lodging, a closure like this, even a partial one, is devastating.
According to a press conference yesterday morning with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Governor Walz indicated that a special session is unlikely and that a peacetime emergency extension is unnecessary. But it has not been ruled out, with him saying:
“I think all of us … know the difficulty of coming to an agreement on a special session, especially at a time of political campaigns going on — probably makes it challenging,” he said. “But look, I want to let the folks up there know — if we can come to some type of agreement and we can get a package that can get forward, I’m certainly open to that.”
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