Judge to hear bay issue
By Laurel Beager, News Editor
laurel1@dailyjournal-ifalls.com
Friday, November 15, 2002
A federal judge is expected to decide today whether to grant an injunction
that would force Voyageurs National Park to close 11 bays to snowmobile
use. The Voyageurs National Park Association filed for an injunction Sept.
13 in U.S. District Court to close the bays to human use until a judge can
hear a lawsuit filed in March 2001 on the issue. The suit was filed after
the national park service failed to close the bays Nov. 28, 2001.
The injunction was scheduled to be heard at 11 a.m. today by U.S. District
Judge Frank in St. Paul.
The bays, located on Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan and Sand Point lakes were
reopened last year to snowmobiling and other human activity after being
closed for nearly 10 years.
The bays, which include 4,667 acres of lake surface, were closed for the
protection of wildlife, primarily gray wolves, in 1992.
Voyageurs staff decided not to close the bays based on an analysis of a
three-year study completed last year by Rolf Peterson of Michigan
Technological University and graduate student Jennifer Fox. The study,
according to park staff, found no significant correlation between wolf
activity and the 11 bays closed to human use.
The suit was brought by VNPA, The Sierra Club, Help Our Wolves Live, The
Humane Society of the United State, Superior Wilderness Action Network,
Minnesota Wolf Alliance, Minnesota for Responsible Recreation, and
Defenders of Wildlife.
The suit claims that the study did not provided enough evidence that human
use of the bays would not affect wolves. Instead, the groups claim the
study raises more questions than it answers, including why stress levels
on wolves in the study are higher than those studied in other national
parks and why nine out of 11 wolves in Voyageurs equipped with radio
collars for the study were either killed or disappeared with no
explanation.
The suit also contends that no public notification or opportunity for
public input was allowed prior to the decision not to close the bays by
the Park Service.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concurred with the Park Service
decision not to close the bays last year. The service was involved because
the bays were closed primarily to protect wolves, which are protected
under the federal Endangered Species Act.