MINNEAPOLIS — Visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area will no longer need to enter a lottery to get permits to enter the million-acre wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota.

The U.S. Forest Service is dropping the long-used lottery system next year, and will offer permits on a first-come, first-served basis instead. Superior National Forest supervisor Jim Sanders told past BWCA visitors in a letter that the lottery is no longer necessary because of improvements to the reservation system.

The agency had used a lottery from Dec. 1 to Jan. 15 to allocate permits, especially for high-demand entry points and dates.

After the lottery period ended, permits would be handed out first-come, first served.

“There’s so very few dates where there isn’t some availability, and very few entry points with that high level of demand, that it just doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of anyone to keep the lottery,” forest spokeswoman K