A Small Group Of People Have Been Living In A Northern Minnesota Campsite For Months
Minnesota is famous for it's variety of beautiful campgrounds throughout the state and during the summer you need to make sure you get your reservations in early or you might miss out on finding your spot. But, their is a rule in Minnesota against dispersed camping which means you cannot stay at a campground for more than 14 days at a time in the summer.
According to the Minnesota DNR's conservation officer report they received complaints of a group of people who have been in the Beltrami Island State Forest for months. Beltrami Island State Forest is the second largest of Minnesota's 60 state forests located in Lake of the Woods, Roseau, Beltrami County.
According to Conservation Officer Jeremy Woinarowicz he said to Bring Me The News:
The three campers had taken on the area as their own and had multiple state forest violations, including cutting live trees, litter and violating the dispersed camping length of stay.
Joe Albert, the DNR's enforcement division communications coordinator said "they are trying to gain compliance from the campers but note difficulty in making contact with them." No citations have been issued at this time.
These rules are in place to allow others to use the campsites and to prevent people from living on public lands. Garbage and water are also a big concern because of the mess that many of these people leave behind do to carelessness and the lengthy time they spend in the woods.
Also as evidenced by the current wildfire, burning restrictions have been put into place for most of the summer but with people camping for extended periods of time they are most likely to be building fires at their campsite too. This is a sad situation for so many people who actually take pride in leaving their campsites as pristine as when they arrived, and situations like this can be devastating to the environment.