Over 12,000 Signatures for Clean Water

On Thursday, March 8, Frank Moe personally delivered 12,500 signed petitions to Governor Dayton. After traveling 350 miles from Grand Marais, meeting with another team driven by Dave and Amy Freeman that brought petitions from Ely, and dealing with cold wind, rain and city streets, he and his dog team were right on time to meet the gathering of clean water advocates in front of the Capitol. For a complete story see Paul Austin’s Star Tribune Blog.

Frank's Team Arrives at the Capitol

Duluth Dogsled Event Draws Crowd

Frank Moe and his dog team left Duluth today after an event attended by over 200 people in Lester Park on Sunday. He is carrying around 10,000 signatures for clean water and against the toxic pollution of sulfide mining.  From Ely to Grand Marais to Finland to St. Paul folks are gathering to raise their voices that this type of activity is too destructive to experiment with our treasured lake country of northern Minnesota. Here is a Northland News report on the event.

Dogsled Event Kick Starts in Ely

Yesterday the Sled Dogs to St. Paul dogsled trip had a well attended send off event in Ely. Sue Schurke and David and Amy Freeman hosted the family-friendly gathering on Shagawa Lake which included a chance to visit with the mushers and the dogs, learn about and share perspectives on the proposed sulfide mines and clean water, and see the team off on their journey.  Northland News covered the event and featured the Friends staff Ian Kimmer.

The journey spans the length of the state to St. Paul to hand-deliver petitions in support of clean water to the capitol.  David and Amy will run their dog team from Ely to Finland where they will meet with mushers Frank Moe and Adam Harhu to hand over their petitions to be brought to St. Paul.

Briefs filed in AT&T’s appeal of cell tower ruling

Last August, the Friends won a decisive victory in our lawsuit against AT&T over the company’s proposal to build a tall, lighted cell tower at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Unfortunately, AT&T chose to appeal the case to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

The Friends have now filed our reply to AT&T’s appeal, with the pro bono legal assistance of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP. Several other individuals and organizations also filed an amicus brief, or “friend of the court” brief, supporting our case. Both briefs are available to view below:

(Both links are to quite large PDF files.)

• Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness reply brief
• Amicus brief
  (Filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness, photographer Jim Brandenburg, and artist Jerry Raedeke)

A hearing in the case is expected later this spring.

“The Firegrate Review, Volume 2″

Send your creative Boundary Waters essays, poems, essays, stories and trip reports for consideration in the second volume of the Friends’ canoe country chapbook. The chapbook is the perfect size to slip into your Duluth Pack for reading in the tent or around the fire. Please consider sharing your own tales from the canoe trails with fellow Boundary Waters travelers.

Guidelines

• Submission deadline: March 16, 2012
• Length:
• Prose – up to 1,500 words in length will be considered, but writers are encouraged to keep submissions concise.
• Poems – should be fifty lines or shorter.
• Submit: Use the form below, or e-mail to firegrate@friends-bwca.org or send via post office to 401 North Third St. Suite 290, Minneapolis, MN 55401.

Contact greg@friends-bwca.org with any questions!

All writers published in Volume 2 will receive a free copy of the chapbook. Proceeds from its sale directly support efforts to keep the Boundary Waters wild for future generations.

Purchase Volume 1 here and look for Volume 2 by the start of the BWCAW permit season on May 1.

Submit Your Writing

Short sulfide mining videos

This February, the Friends is releasing five short videos about sulfide mining. These are meant to be shared via email, Facebook and other online media.

Please check them out below and spread the word!

1. What is proposed in Minnesota:

2. Sulfide mining’s track record of pollution:

3. Risks to lakes, rivers and wetlands:

4. How sulfide mining could actually hurt our economy:

Video #5 will be released on Monday, February 27… stay tuned!