‘Listening Tours’ to engage opponents and proponents of wilderness values in open, honest, respectful conversations—campfire style.

MINNEAPOLIS –– On March 6th, John Roth assumed the leadership role of Executive Director at Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and quickly began planning a series of ‘Listening Tours’ for Minnesota and our nation’s capital to meet and hear from all stakeholders in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The first Listening Tour is scheduled for northeastern Minnesota March 22nd through 24th.

“Whatever one thinks of wilderness values, if they want to express an honest interpretation unbound by anger and threats then I want to hear it,” says Roth. “Civil discourse and respectful debate are the essential elements of a healthy community, and we—all stakeholders in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) including opponents, proponents, elected officials, U.S. Forest Service employees, Department of Natural Resource employees and reporters around Minnesota, our nation and the world—are the BWCAW community.

“The Friends is the lead organization protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It is a great honor for me to lead this wonderful and critical organization as we continue our work to preserve and fully restore the wilderness of that treasured region. One of the wilderness values which helps us listen to each other is quiet—especially evident around a wilderness campfire when people are really listening to what each person has to say. I intend to bring that value to my Listening Tours.”

Roth comes to the Friends from his private, Minneapolis-based law practice of 25 years which specialized in nonprofit organizations, publishing, intellectual property, the arts, and land protection. He is an avid canoeist, including leading canoe trips in Norway and Sweden, traveler, art collector, reader and gardener. He and his family, wife Julie, author and illustrator of children’s books, and two children, Elsabet and Joren, own a remote hike-in cabin on the border of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Among his many accomplishments, Roth has productively combined his passion for the environment with his love for the arts. He was co-founder and a director of Concerts for the Environment (CFE), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about environmental issues. More than 30 artists performed for CFE, including Paul McCartney, Rosanne Cash, and James Taylor, with speakers like Robert Kennedy Jr., Winona LaDuke, and Senator Gaylord Nelson. CFE distributed educational materials to more than four million people and raised more than $250,000 for nonprofit environmental organizations.

In his work with one of the largest land owners in Wisconsin, Roth successfully advocated for rerouting a natural gas pipeline to preserve a trout stream and large stands of high-quality hardwoods, and developed a conservation easement plan for thousands of acres including several lakes and miles of streams. Over the past several years, John also has served as a Voyageurs National Park Association Board member, raising critical funds for projects such as the “Birds of Voyageurs National Park” book, the removal of former cabins in the park, and the publication of new park maps.

“The Board of Directors is very pleased with our decision to hire John,” says Carolyn Sampson, chair of the Friends. “We knew it would be extremely difficult to find a successor to Melissa Lindsay; through her six years of leadership the Friends matured into a robust, effective, mission-driven organization. Now John’s unique blend of life and work experience will enable him to successfully lead the Friends in its next stage of growth.”

According to Roth, the key to the Friends’ next stage of growth is having open, honest, respectful conversations about wilderness values with all stakeholders of the BWCAW.

John Roth’s first Listening Tour will concentrate in the Ely area of northeastern Minnesota. Listening Tours for the Duluth, Gunflint and Crane Lake areas of northeastern Minnesota will follow in coming weeks, and tours for the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota, and Washington D.C. are being planned for the next three months.

The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness’ mission is to protect, preserve and restore the wilderness character of the 1,075,500 acre BWCAW and the Quetico-Superior ecosystem.

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