(for a longer chronology, compiled by Stephen Wilbers, click here)

1858 State of Minnesota admitted to the union, and receives ownership of the beds of navigable waters

1860-1870 Additional grants from Congress of swamp and other lands – about 5 million acres

1902 U. S. Land Office withdraws 500,000 acres in future BWCAW from settlement

1904 At request of Minnesota Forestry Board, Congress grants 20,000 acres to the state for the Burntside Forest Reserve. “State Forest Reserves should be devoted not alone to the business of raising timber, but to the pleasure of all the people." Minnesota Forestry Commissioners Report, p. 48, 1905

1905-1908 General C. C. Andrews persuades the U. S. Land Office to withdraw 659,700 more acres

1909 Superior National Forest (SNF) created by President Theodore Roosevelt (Proclamation No. 848) from previously withdrawn public domain lands, including parts of the present BWCAW

1909 Minnesota establishes Superior Game Refuge of 1.2 million acres, coinciding with national forest

1922-1926 Development of roads in roadless Superior National Forest – Echo Trail, Fernberg Road, Upper Gunflint Trail

1926 Roadless wilderness area (640,000 acres) in the Superior National Forest established by U.S. Agriculture Secretary W. M. Jardine in a policy to “retain as much as possible of the land which has recreational opportunities of this nature as a wilderness”. Logging allowed to continue; dispute over access roads stopped

1930 Congress passes the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act to protect water levels and lakeshores by prohibiting dams, and logging within 400 feet of recreational waterways in then existing Superior National Forest

1933 Minnesota passes “Little Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act” for state lands similar to federal statute

1927-1936 Boundary changes and purchases increase federal ownership in Superior National Forest to over 2 million acres, which includes one million acres in the wilderness area.

1938 Forest Service establishes Superior Roadless Primitive Area with boundaries similar to BWCAW

1941 Forest Service establishes no-cut zone of 362,000 acres along the international boundary

1948 Congress passes Thye-Blatnik Act to buy resorts and private lands in the wilderness. Also provides for in-lieu-of-tax payments to Cook, Lake, St. Louis Counties for federal wilderness land

1948 Forest Service changes boundaries of roadless area and deletes much land near Lake Isabella to accommodate logging – “Tomahawk sale”

1949 President Harry Truman issues an executive order for an air-space reservation over the BWCAW, which prohibits planes landing on lakes and flights below 4,000 feet over the wilderness

1949 Minnesota passes legislation that regulates aircraft and watercraft similar to Forest Service policies

1958 Forest Service changes name of Superior Roadless Area to Boundary Waters Canoe Area

1962-1964 Controversy over logging, timber roads, motorboats and snowmobiles in BWCA increases

1964 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman appoints Selke Committee to recommend changes in BWCA management

1964 Congress passes the Wilderness Act and the BWCA becomes part of the National Wilderness Preservation System with a clause that allows some logging and use of motors to continue

1965 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman issues management changes recommended by Selke Committee - increases the no-logging zone, motorboat zoning and limits some snowmobiling

1966 Travel permits for BWCA begun by Forest Service. Controversy over copper-nickel mining.

1971 Minnesota passes regulations (NR 1000) establishing right of state to regulate use of motorcraft on state waters, similar to the federal rule, and authorizes joint cooperative agreements with USFS.

1972 Lawsuit by Minnesota Public Interest Research Group to prohibit logging of virgin forest in the wilderness until an Environmental Impact Statement is done by the USFS

1973 Federal District Judge Phillip Neville rules to prohibit mining in the BWCA in a lawsuit brought by the Izaak Walton League. Reversed on appeal to 8th District Court in 1974

1975 Federal District Judge Miles Lord bans logging of virgin forests. Reversed on appeal in 1976

1975 Congressman James Oberstar introduces bill to “resolve” BWCA issues by creating a 600,000 acre wilderness (no logging or motors) and a 400,000 acre recreation area (allowing motors). Removal of established wilderness for a recreation area strongly opposed by environmentalists.

1976 State passes legislation prohibiting mining and peat harvesting in the BWCA

1978 Congress enacts BWCA Wilderness Act, eliminating logging and snowmobiling, restricting mining, and allowing motor boats on only a fourth of the water area. Boundary adjustments of 50,000 added to BWCAW; total wilderness now 1,098,057 acres (formerly just over 1 million acres)

1979-1982 Challenge to the BWCA Wilderness Act (Public Law 95-495) by the State of Minnesota and others upheld by Eight District Court; U. S. Supreme Court refused to review this opinion in 1982

1980-1990 Congress appropriates $84 million for state and federal implementations of BWCAW Act

1991-1993 Court decisions require motorized portages to be closed as stipulated by 1978 Act

1992 Minnesota passes law governing maintenance of campsites on state land in the BWCAW

1993 BWCAW Management Plan approved by Superior National Forest; appealed and upheld by 8th United States District Court

1996-1997 Federal mediation process over motor portages as sought by U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone; no consensus

1998 Congress allows two motorized portages to continue through a rider on transportation bill

1998 Recreational Fee Demonstration Program (user fee) starts; fees applied to BWCAW management

1999 BWCAW reappraised under Thye-Blatnik Act; yearly payment to counties $2.1 million

1999 Huge blowdown July 4 affects 300,000 BWCAW acres with 32 percent extensively damaged

Compiled by Janet Green, February 2003. Based on Appendix A, The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem, M. Heinselman, 1996, University of Minnesota Press; Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness newsletter, “BWCA Wilderness News”; and Superior National Forest documents.