Forest Service officials have temporarily banned campfires in the Superior National Forest, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and closed some lakes and access points because of four wildfires burning in the area.
Minnesota and the U.S. Forest Service are closer to solving a decades-old dispute over 83,000 acres of state-owned land locked up inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
The Superior National Forest has imposed campfire restrictions in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and closed some lakes east of Ely because of the fire danger.
Ground crews are battling another wildfire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness northwest of Ely. The Cummings Lake fire covers an estimated 20 acres. The area is filled with black spruce in a lowland area about 12 miles northwest of Ely.
Firefighters now have a wildfire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northeastern Minnesota more than 50 percent contained. A Monday morning update says the fire is 53 percent contained. The size remains about 146 square miles.
A half-inch of rain over the next couple days is expected to keep a large forest fire from spreading in northeastern Minnesota. More than 780 firefighters are working the blaze in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.