Northern Minnesota flooding causes Boundary Waters chaos, steelhead losses

Ely, Minn. — When Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness campers Nole Oltesvig and Rylan Kollberg left their tent to survey the aftermath of a rainstorm June 19, at first they encountered heavy sediment buildup where they’d intended to launch their canoe at the Big Lake public access. Then they noticed a boulder or two at the landing which, Oltesvig said, seemed peculiar.

Then they saw what was left of the road after likely more than 7 inches of rain had drenched the area, washed out the access road while leaving a boulder path in its wake, and, at least temporarily, stranding the 36-year-olds from Wisconsin.

“It was a feeling of pure confusion and being distraught,” Oltesvig said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

The campers’ mode of transportation was on the wrong side of an impassable road, on the last day of their excursion into the BWCAW.

Eventually, Oltesvig said, he and Kollberg encountered people from Big Lake Wilderness Lodge who escorted them from the area and to a place where they could call a friend from Wisconsin who would pick them up and bring them home.

Meanwhile, the van remains at the campsite. Oltesvig said he’s been in contact with U.S. Forest Service officials who will let him know when the vehicle can be retrieved.

For both Oltesvig, of Waupaca, and Kollberg, of, Sturgeon Bay, the BWCAW trip was their first.

Will they be return?

“Well, we gotta go back at least to get the van,” Oltesvig said with a laugh.

He said the weather in northern Minnesota was excellent during the first few days after their June 15 arrival. They caught some walleyes and smallies. Then came the rainstorm.

But their tent, he said, kept the duo mostly dry. While the experience turned sketchy, weather-wise, Oltesvig said he’d still recommend to other outdoors people a trip to the wilderness area.

“I don’t want to deter people from going up there,” he said Tuesday. “It was a beautiful place.”

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The widespread storm

The heavy rains in northern Minnesota and across the BWCAW, June 18-19, caused a number of washed-out roads, collapsed tents, and, it in some cases, forced paddlers to drag – rather than paddle – their canoes through flooded forest adjacent to lakes and streams.

Earlier this week, Superior National Forest officials began to reopen some BWCAW entry points closed because of the flooding or other road access damage.

“Some places saw almost 8 inches of rain in just two hours,” said Steve Renneberg, of Arrowhead Outdoors in Ely. “But things are starting to straighten out around here,” he said Monday.

Outside the BWCAW but in the area, lakeshore property owners had been scrambling to raise docks, Renneberg said. Those unsuccessful saw dock sections – and even boats, in some cases – drift away, causing travel hazards on several water bodies.

BWCAW trip cancellations were prevalent, he said, due to inaccessibility to entry points.

A Monday news release from the Superior National Forest reminded visitors and residents to remain aware and diligent of flood-affected areas and related damage to roads, trails, portages, and other recreation areas across the forest, including the BWCAW.

“While recent drier weather the past few days has improved some road conditions, future summer weather will include more rain and other weather conditions that could re-initiate flooding or other damages to Superior National Forest infrastructure,” the release said. “As the damage varied across the Superior National Forest, we remind visitors and the public to be patient as repairs are made and alert us of any new hazards such as sinkholes.”

Several BWCAW entry points were scheduled to reopen Wednesday.

According to the release, “Visitors are encouraged to use extreme caution on canoe routes throughout the BWCAW and across the Superior National Forest. River and stream flows are fast-moving with swift water and continue to rise in some locations; portages may be affected with flooding or more difficult to find. Stay within your skill levels and remain safe and flexible. If conditions exceed your group’s abilities, turn around and exit the area. Also, remember to always wear your life jacket.”

DNR Climatology Office data demonstrate the widespread nature of the heavy rains and subsequent flooding. During the 24-hour time period from 7 a.m. on June 18 to 7 a.m. on June 19, rainfall totals included 7.6 inches northwest of Tower in St. Louis County, 7.33 inches 20 miles north of Two Harbors in Lake County, 7.3 inches in Marble in Itasca County, and nearly 5 inches in Cross Lake in Crow Wing County.

According to a Climatology Office press release, “Totals near Lake Vermilion may have exceeded 8 inches, although no observers in any of the three major networks serving Minnesota reported such amounts.”

North Shore steelies

Cory Goldsworthy, DNR fisheries supervisor for Lake Superior, said the flush of water in North Shore rivers running to Lake Superior likely proved disastrous for wild steelhead production in those rivers.

“At this point, the eggs incubating in the rivers were likely blown out and another year-class is gone, essentially,” Goldsworthy said Tuesday. “It’s a natural resources thing we have no control over.”

Rivers along the North Shore are “flashy,” he said, in that there’s little to slow heavy rainfall from rapidly rushing downriver to Superior, gobbling up whatever’s in the way. In the top 16 steelhead rivers along the shore, favorable habitat is limited to about 20 stream miles.

“(Given) limited habitat (less than 20 miles), poor habitat (susceptible to floods, droughts), and the drought/flood cycle we have been in the last five to 10 years, our steelhead population has declined by as much as roughly 80% (approximately 1,000 adult at the Knife River trap in 2017 compared to just 200 this year),” Goldsworthy wrote in a Tuesday email to Outdoor News. “Stocking during this time likely would not have helped bolster these declining populations because the flood/drought cycle would have impacted those stocked fish as well.”

Goldsworthy said the June flooding event was reminiscent of the flooding that occurred in 2012 and took out the swinging pedestrian bridge at Jay Cooke State Park on the St. Louis River, which feeds Lake Superior.

Tuesday, he lamented the results of the most recent flood on the area’s popular steelhead population.

“Another year gone for steelhead production,” he said.