New St Croix River Camping Restrictions

The Thursday, February 22nd St Paul Pioneer Press has a front page article titled “St Croix Boaters face new camping restrictions”. It is an interesting article about the new National Park Service camping restrictions being proposed. The National Park Service will hold an Open House on its proposed camping regulations from 6:30 to 8:30 pm March 6 at William O’Brien State Park Interpretive Center. You can review the proposed regulations at the web site shown on this link: NPS St Croix River Proposed Camping Regulations

At least the admit they will be looking at charging for the “free” passes at some point.

I might be uninformed, but isn’t leaving human waste against the law now??

I guess I don’t camp there to know if more regulation is needed or not.

I think it stinks to have designated camp sites/etc. There is no way there will be nearly enough sites, and permit availablility will be impossible just like many areas of the bwca.

There goes the last minute weekend camping with the family

There has not been any “Last minute camping” on the upper croix for well over 15 years. All of the even remotely decent spots are grabbed up by Thursday afternoon for any summer weekend.

These regs are long overdue.

The quote from that paper hit the nail on the head: “How many Nation Parks do you know of where you can camp anytime, anywhere? There aren’t any.”

-J.

I dont camp there when its 95 degrees.. I know its really busy in the summer peak. I never had too much for problems finding a spot in the area I like to camp in the off season.

Regulations or not, every available spot is going to be gone in the off season. I guess people will have to make their plans in Feb to camp in august… even for a mid week trip.

Dave – I read through some of the information. The way I understand the proposal the camping will be only allowed in designated camping spaces but you only need a reservation for the Backwater designated campsites. The other spaces will be filled on a first come basis. In order to use the space you must also have an Overnight Use Pass which is available free-of-charge. You can get the pass directly from the NPS Visitor Center or via mail and possibly through the Riverway website. Only one pass will be needed annually, but persons would need to be in possession of it whenever staying overnight on the riverway.

Here are a few of the other proposals concerning camping:

Requiring overnight users to use carry-in, carry-out toilets or onboard facilities on self-contained boats.

Requiring tent camping in designated campsites, whether on the main channel or in the backwaters.

establishing group size limits for all overnight users.

Placing shoreline use restrictions (no tents, fires, etc) on overnight boat tie-ups.

Requiring all overnight users to possess an overnight use pass with information on all applicable Riverway regulations and their purpose.

Reducing the length of stay from 7 consecutive nights to 3 consecutive nights.

I’m going to speak out of both sides of my mouth…like usual.

All of the enforcement agencys covering the Croix (Park Service, MN DNR, WI DNR, Pierce County, Washington County and the Coast Guard Auxilery) can’t control the wacky boaters on the river now…(please note…I said boaters, that would include ALL boaters) how are they going to fund the enforcement of this?

We can’t enforce the littering laws there now.

I don’t get it?

Brian –
These new rules would only apply to the Federally-administered zone of the St Croix River. The National Park Service (NPS) administers the federal zone of the St Croix from just north of Stillwater to the headwaters. These new rules would be in effect for this northern zone under the jurisdiction of the NPS. This is what the NPS has presented as their implementation plan:

Proposed Implementation Schedule
It will not be possible to implement the changes proposed by the preferred alternative in one year. The NPS goal for 2007 is to establish designated campsites on the Interstate to Osceola stretch of river and to do outreach and education to let people know that specific regulations (camping in designated sites only, group size limits, overnight use pass, etc.) will go in to effect on the Interstate to Osceola stretch of river 2008. In 2008, the NPS would establish designated campsites on the Osceola to Log House stretch of river and do outreach and education to let people know that the regulations will go into effect on that stretch of river in 2009. Enforcement of the regulations on the Interstate to Osceola stretch will also go into effect in 2008. The NPS will work its way down river until the plan is fully implemented in the Federally-administered zone. Thus, it may take up to 4 years to fully implement the plan. If the NPS is able to establish designated campsites more quickly than anticipated, the schedule may be stepped up. The public will be kept informed of the progress of the implementation schedule and what to expect from year to year.

You were expressing some concern about how “They” were going to enforce these new changes. The changes will only happen in the Federally-administered zone so I don’t think you will see much of a change from the area of the St Croix you normally see: the Stillwater to Prescott stretch of water. The Minnesota and Wisconsin DNRs and other local agencies ( county sheriff boat patrols, etc) administer the St Croix from Stillwater to Prescott. These new rules changes would not affect the camping situation below the city of Stillwater. The “wacky” boaters that you are talking about are mostly in this lower stretch so I don’t think you will see much of an impact from what is going on now. In about 4 years the NPS implementation plan will finally reach the southern most stretch. That last 4 mile or so stretch from the High Bridge to the Boomsite just north of Stillwater. There will be a lot of complaining (especially from the big boaters) when the camping on that stretch of water is brought into compliance with the rest of the management plan.

Thanks for the clarification Steve.

FYI.

Meeting at the legion in Stillwater at 3:30 Sunday 3/4 to debate the potential new river regulations.