The reaction to news of a compromise on the BWCAW worked out between U.S. Representatives Jim Oberstar and Bruce Vento has been swift... and mixed. Oberstar's proposal to allow trucks on two wilderness portages has been entered into the transportation bill now under consideration by a Congressional Conference Committee. It has Vento's reluctant support after the addition of a provision removing some lakes from motor access.

Report includes comments from Bill Hansen, a Northwoods outfitter; Michael Furtman, president of Izaak Walton League of Minneosta; and Tom Bakk, state representative of Cook.

The compromise takes motorboats off two wilderness lakes and reopens two of the four portages where trucks once pulled boats between motorized lakes. A federal court ruling in 1993 took those trucks out of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.