REGIONAL- A concerned group of business owners who depend on providing services to visitors to Voyageurs National Park are mounting a concerted effort against proposed changes in park policies that they say threaten their livelihoods.
That effort was in full view Monday at the Orr City Council meeting, where longtime fishing guide Tim Watson and houseboat operators Justin and Heather Ebel asked council members to sign on to a letter asking the state of Minnesota to assert its rights to regulate the waters of the park, which under state law belong to Minnesota and not the federal government. Justin Ebel addressed the council first.
“To put it simply, coming in 2025 up around Voyageurs National Park there’s going to be some significant changes policy-wise regarding how we can recreate and do commerce within the boundaries of the park, specifically on the water,” Ebel said. “We’re asking for support of a letter that we want to (deliver) at the state level to uphold the statute that basically states that the state of Minnesota did not relinquish the water rights to the lake when they transferred the land and jurisdiction.”
Citing relevant statutes and treaties, the informal confederation of owner/operators is imploring “the governor, the attorney general, other constitutional officers, and other public officials, such as the commissioner of natural resources” to “vigorously assert and defend” the state’s jurisdiction over the water and related resources in the park.
While the letter acknowledges the National Park Service’s authority to regulate the land ceded to the federal government to create the park, the complainants assert that recent actions and proposals to regulate water-related activities have crossed the line into activities that they contend should rightly be regulated by the state.
Multiple issues
The current kettle of discontent began simmering in the summer of 2022, when resort owners and service operators aired vigorous complaints about heavy-handed enforcement of boating regulations by the park’s law enforcement rangers in four public forums hosted by the park service. They contended the actions were negatively impacting their customers and were creating an environment in which many would not return for fear of having to deal with the situation again. Additional anger was stoked with the June 2022 tasing of Ebel as he was trying to help customers on one of his houseboats seek safety after running aground on a rock near the Ash River Visitor Center. Park officials refused to discuss the incident and would not answer questions posed to them by the Timberjay, resulting in a months-long effort to uncover the truth through Freedom of Information Act requests for body cam footage and documentation of the incident. The Timberjay still has requests pending for the results of Department of Interior investigations of the incident.
State Rep. Rob Ecklund expressed his concern at the time, and asked DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen to review the agency’s agreements with the park concerning law enforcement.
Park officials served up a new bone of contention last year when they proposed a plan for regulating access and use of frozen lake surfaces in the park during the winter. Two public meetings drew huge crowds, most objecting to plans to impose access fees and restrict lake access to within 300 feet of ice roads and designate areas beyond the roads as low-access, restricting traffic to snowmobiles only. The proposed plan would allow only snowmobiles or other nonmotorized means to transport ice fishing houses to low-access locations, and the ice houses would have to be occupied overnight by the users. Park Superintendent Bob DeGross encouraged participants to submit written comments for the park to consider as development of the plan moved forward.
DNR Northeastern Region Director Shelly Patton made it clear in both public comments at the Kabetogama meeting and in a letter submitted to the park that she had serious concerns about the jurisdiction of the park service to impose such plans on the state’s waters.
According to multiple court decisions cited by Patton in her letter, frozen lakes remain public waters and therefore federal regulations “cannot be applied to the state’s public waters to restrict access across the surface of public water, be it open or frozen.” Implementing the Frozen Lake Surface Access and Use Plan would severely restrict the public’s access to the entire surface of public frozen waters and effectively represent NPS seizing the rights of ownership that were not conveyed to them, Patton noted.
A third issue has arisen this year with alterations to how the park handles commercial use authorizations, or CUAs, the permissions granted to vendors to operate services within the park. The park has 17 different categories for commercial use, primarily including water-based business activities like fishing guides, private tour boats, boat rentals, and towing, repair and support services. Historically, operators could include multiple business services under one CUA application, for which the fee is $200, and the CUA was good for two years. This year, all current CUA holders were required to reapply at a fee of $100 per application in order for the park to bring everyone in line with a standard two-year management cycle, according to DeGross.
Watson told the council that the park’s new policy is that businesses have to apply for separate CUAs for each service they offer.
“In the past with our CUA, we could do what they called the bundle,” he said. “With the new plan, I would have to pay a CUA fee for each activity.”
As an example of the impact, the Ash Riviera Resort is listed on the park’s vendor webpage as having six CUA services. While formerly an application for those services could be filed as a bundle and cost $200, individual filing fees for each will cost $1,200. And Watson said the application fee will go up to $350 for 2025.
Additionally, the park will be imposing a management fee for CUAs which has yet to be determined. Watson said one option being considered would be charging three percent of the gross receipts for a service, while another would be based on head count. Either way, Watson believes the additional fee is unwarranted, excessive, and could create financial hardship for businesses operating on thin profit margins.
Legal precedent
While Minnesota law appears to be on the side of the group advocating for state control, past court decisions have aligned with the authority of the park service to regulate activities within its boundaries, including on the waters.
In the case of United States vs. Brown, Carl E. Brown received criminal citations for duck hunting on Black Bay on Rainy Lake, within the park’s boundaries. The district court judge ruled that the park service did have jurisdiction over the waters within the park’s boundaries and could enforce NPS regulations. The judge reasoned that Minnesota’s active involvement in establishing the park included an implicit understanding that the park service would have regulatory authority for all activities within the park, both on land and on water, despite the state’s claim to authority due to its continuing ownership of the waters. Subsequent cases have relied on the rationale from Brown to reinforce the federal government’s position.
But Watson and his companions are not deterred by past court rulings. He references a case in Alaska where the court issued an opposing finding saying that Alaska law prevailed over federal regulations when navigating a river running through a national park as evidence that the Brown decision is faulty and that Minnesota should assert its rights over the waters of VNP.
The group, which currently includes members representing the communities of Ash River, Kabetogama, Rainy Lake, and Crane Lake, decided to try for some additional clout for their effort by seeking the endorsement of governmental bodies and officials connected to the areas surrounding the park. The Orr council, which voted unanimously to sign on to the effort, is the second such body to give its approval, following Kabetogama Township. Organizers hope the resolutions of support will help convince state officials to come on board, and the group is also seeking endorsements from Eighth District Congressman Pete Stauber and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.
“Everything that’s dealing with land in the park, we have no quarrels with that at all,” Watson said. “What we have a problem with is federal regulations on water that they don’t own, that belong to the state and citizens of Minnesota. It negatively affects all those winter businesses that are out there – that’s huge. And the CUA situation with the fees is going to get exorbitant and do they really have the right to do that, because most of those fees pertain to access to the water that is still state water. Jurisdiction is the big deal, and it’s up to the state to stand up and defend those water rights according to state law.”