Hazardous air quality forecast for much of Minnesota Thursday as fires grow

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Early Thursday evening, under an eerie and smoky haze, Willy Vosburgh eased his motor boat up to a dock at the south end of Moose Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Vosburgh, a resort owner and canoe outfitter, had just picked up two paddlers who had endured a harrowing escape from the fires burning in Quetico Provincial Park, across from the Boundary Waters in Canada.

This was just one of the dozens of groups of paddlers who Vosburgh and other resort owners helped evacuate from the wildfires this week. It started Monday afternoon, when Vosburgh said he got a call from the U.S. Forest Service asking him to pick up canoeists on nearby Basswood Lake.

"As we departed here, boats were coming out of everywhere, because as we were heading up, we realized other outfitters had gotten the same call,” Vosburgh told MPR News. “And all of a sudden there were 10 watercraft sitting queued up at Prairie Portage."

They portaged across to Basswood, and motored down to pick up paddlers who Forest Service crews were evacuating from Pipestone Bay, which was surrounded by wildfire. Ash was falling from the sky. The flames were getting so close, that many groups had to leave their canoes behind.

"We were able to grab a family that had no equipment, no gear," said Vosburgh.

Resort owners and outfitters in Ely played a critical role this past week by using their motorized towboats to help evacuate canoeists from the lakes in and around the BWCA. 

Bob LaTourelle also responded to the call for help. His resort sent out four towboats. He says three generations of his family have helped with emergencies in the wilderness. 

"I think we all are helping folks out in times of need quite often, and, yeah, you're not really, you know, thinking about it too much, and if it's your duty or not or whatever, you're just kind of helping out when the need arises."

When the Forest Service closed the Boundary Waters early Tuesday, agency officials estimated there were as many as 10,000 canoeists still in the wilderness. For most, their journey out was uneventful. But some escapes were dramatic. Wilderness rangers spent days rounding up campers to get them out of the million acre wilderness.

But they needed help from outfitters who use towboats in areas of the Boundary Waters where motors are allowed to ferry paddlers and their canoes deeper into the wilderness.

The boats are usually motorized aluminum fishing boats equipped with a rack that holds the canoes and gear above, and because they have motors, they’re not allowed in many parts of the BWCA.

On Wednesday, Vosburgh got special permission from the Forest Service to take his boat to a spot where motors typically are not permitted to pick up a family from Illinois.

It was an emotional experience for Brandon and Laurie Hoopingarner and their son Gabriel. 

“[We] could see the smoke everywhere,” Gabriel Hoopingarner said. “Sun was almost blocked out.”

“And there was ash everywhere,” added Laurie. 

Asked if it was pretty scary,” Brandon paused, and said “yeah,” as his wife told him, “it's okay."

Many people are praising towboat operators for rescues like this one, but the use of towboats has long been controversial in the Boundary Waters. Some argue the motors take away from the natural quiet which is essential to the wilderness experience. The group Wilderness Watch has sued to limit how many towboats outfitters can operate.

"We appreciate the work that the towboaters have done in helping to safely evacuate people out of the boundary waters, and it's risky work," said Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director of Wilderness Watch.

"But that is an emergency situation, and it's very different from the day-to-day ongoing towboat use that occurs inside the Boundary Waters."

Towboat operators like Vosburgh say their local expertise is critical in emergency and crisis situations. He also says towboats allow more people to experience the wilderness.

“If you got 25 groups a day that are trying to go up Moose Chain and the west wind or east wind is cranking, everybody's going to clog the [nearest] campsites, and there'd be no place to camp,” that all canoeists could reach, Voshburgh explained. “So [without towboats] the quota [of people allowed into the BWCA] would have to get cut."

Vosburgh's towboat runs are now done for the foreseeable future, with the Boundary Waters now closed indefinitely. He finally has time to turn his attention to his resort, where guests have had to evacuate because of the growing fires. 

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Resort owners and outfitters in Ely played a critical role this week in helping evacuate canoeists from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, as they used their motorized towboats to get people and their gear out. But there's long been a controversy over the use of noisy towboats in the quiet and pristine wilderness.

Towboats, which are often controversial in the BWCA, praised their role in fire rescues

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