Podcast: What Does the 2024 Election Mean for the Boundary Waters?

Welcome to Big Red Canoe, the podcast from Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, where we introduce you to captivating people and intriguing stories from America’s Treasured Wilderness. I’m Dave Meier. Grab a paddle and hop on in. ​

Dave Meier: we’re well into the fall outside. And we typically talk about recreation on this podcast, but we just had a very significant election. And so we’re going to talk about that today and the implications of the election for the Boundary Waters.

And so I’m, I’m joined by Steve Schultz. He’s our government relations manager here at Friends of the Boundary Waters. And Steve brings more than 25 years of experience working in politics, including lobbying at the Capitol, volunteering for campaigns and organizing people and communities to protect our water.

And so we wanted to talk about what just happened and friends of the boundary water started talking about the election immediately after the results became clear and Donald Trump was elected for another term as president and and some have said that talking about Trump’s win and its implication for the boundary waters is too political.

Many people go to the boundary waters to get away from our hyper connected world, and to get to something natural, something real, something spiritual. So Steve, I wanted to just ask you, why are we talking about politics ?

Steve Schultz: Well, thanks for having me, Dave,

and It’s a great question. It would be great if everybody agreed that our pristine wilderness should be protected, but that’s when politics comes into things when people have differing opinions on things and we need to figure those, figure those differences out, and that’s where politics comes in.

And unfortunately, Donald Trump is on the side. Of wanting to develop our pristine wilderness . Our biggest concern, though, would be sulfide mining in and near the boundary water. So, you know, the 1st Trump administration was not good for clean water, wilderness or climate

president Biden and the Department of Interior put in a moratorium, which is a ban on on mining and other polluting developments and projects within the Superior National Forest.

We expect that Trump will overturn or will back out of the moratorium right now, the mining ban that is in place

Very quickly, though, there is, again, a process to do that. And if he follows that process, that could take, you know, a year or 2 in the past, though, if past is prologue, he will not follow those rules and he will be impatient and will attempt to kind of force that through, as opposed to going through the process of public input and actually looking at science and things like that.

Dave Meier: Well, let’s back up a little and, and take us through what happened during Trump’s first term, and, you know, drawing from that what we might expect from a second term.

Steve Schultz: . He attempted to do more things than he actually accomplished in his first term. Many of the rules and regulations he tried to weaken were eventually reversed in the courts due to a lot of our work and our partner’s work because he didn’t follow the established procedures that are in law attempting to weaken these laws and their application without the use of proper science or public input.

And it turns out about four out of five of his different policies were actually overturned and were not actually put into place. So that was a good thing that came out of his, his first administration was a lot of his efforts ended up being moot. He did, however, reinstate the twin metals leases during his first administration and said in a rally just this last summer in St. Cloud that it would be one of the first things he does in the first 10 to 15 minutes. In reality, it won’t be the first 10 to 15 minutes, but he’ll at least get get things going. And that has us concerned around the these mineral leases. But, you know, one of the big questions is, though, did he learn from his first term?

Will he follow the rules this time? Or will he just try to push forward without regard for the for the laws that are on the books?

In his first Administration, he attempted to reduce the budgets for the agencies that are in charge of protecting our wilderness and the water like the EPA, the Department of Interior, the U. S. Forest Service again. Fortunately, for us, he had very little success at actually implementing these bad policies, but he did put people in charge. Of those agencies that are more concerned about cutting the rules that protect our water and wilderness first to increase profits instead of protecting our environment and our health, which is generally the mission of an agency, like the environmental protection agency.

You know, we can, I think we can expect more of more of the same from a second trump administration. We think he’ll have less guard rails with those that he surrounds himself with. And he has more experience trying to implement these policies to favor business interests over the public interest. He’s already appointed a secretary of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, that’s much more friendly to business and eliminating regulations to streamline mining, for example, near the boundary waters.

We need agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to make sure that if If businesses are proposing projects that they go through what’s called environmental review, and we look at all of the possible problems that that that project or development can cause to our air, our water, our climate, wildlife, and make sure that everybody gets to.

Have their say in that public comment period. We expect that those will be reduced. We won’t have as much time to do comments. We won’t have an agency that will prioritize the opinions of people who care about wilderness, who care about protecting pristine places like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

And it seems like protecting the environment is an afterthought. You know, I can sum it up pretty succinctly. We have our work cut out for us over the next four years protecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness now that Trump is in charge and the Republicans are in charge of Congress.

We’ll need all of our supporters backing us up taking action and in whatever way they’re comfortable doing to make sure that we can slow this down and make sure that these policies aren’t actually implemented and we don’t see sulfide mining near the Boundary Waters.

Dave Meier: Yes, because sulfide mining is very toxic. You know, it has sulfuric acid and heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and lead. And as we know, the Boundary Waters is very much water. And you know, the proposed mine is located right at the edge and the water’s flowing right towards the boundary waters.

I mean, that’s the danger, right? Copper sulfide mines have always polluted. There’s never been a sulfide. Mine that is not contaminated surrounding water sources. I just think of all the things that are special about the boundary waters, a day of paddling cooling off, going for a swim. Hearing the call of the loon and toxic mining puts all that at risk.

Steve Schultz: Yeah

Dave Meier: So in addition to the presidency, how does Republican control of both chambers of Congress potentially impact the protection of the boundary waters?

Steve Schultz: Yeah, this will definitely have an effect on the boundary waters. It’s a big problem for the B. W. C. A. You know, Congress makes the laws of of our land and controls the money. Currently before this election, the republicans controlled the House of Representatives. The democrats controlled the Senate by 1 vote.

They had 51 to 49. But now that they, now that both chambers are in the hands of Republicans, we can assume that they’ll use all their power to, to, to pass policies that threaten wilderness, public lands and clean water. Again, that’s what they’ve done in the past. They will pass a budget again.

That would not adequately fund the agencies that are there to protect our water and our air and our health. Representative Pete Stauber was reelected up in northern Minnesota in Congressional District 8, which the Boundary Waters are a part of that district. Very large margin, he won his election by this year, and he has introduced a bill to open up the Superior National Forest, which includes the Boundary Waters canoe area for sulfide mining.

And this type of mining has never been done in Minnesota before. We haven’t had a sulfide mine. We’ve done, you know, we’ve had a lot of taconite and iron mining up on the iron range. But these types of mines have never been permitted in Minnesota and we’ve never had to deal with the possible large scale pollution that comes with it, and like you said, Dave, the pretty much constant flow of runoff that will be will be getting into eventually into the boundary waters, because the twin metals proposal is right on the edge, you know, and just a brief civics lesson.

You know, you need the house to pass a bill, you need the Senate to pass that same bill, and then you need the president to sign it into law and the margin in the in the house is pretty close. But, but all you need in the house is, is a one vote majority. And as long as Republicans have that they can pretty much push through whatever they choose to.

In the Senate, it’s a little different. In the Senate, right now. That’s control. Like I said, controlled by Democrats. But after the election last week, Republicans picked up 3, possibly 4 seats of the race in Pennsylvania hasn’t. Been officially called yet, so they’ll have 52 or 53 votes in the Senate but to pass a policy in the Senate, you need 60 votes to end debate unless it’s a budget bill.

So, in the big picture, Congress being controlled by Republicans, will make Trump’s efforts count. To open up the boundary waters canoe area to sulfide mining much easier. You know, his appointments to the agencies that are charged with protecting our wilderness and water will be more easily confirmed by the Senate.

So he’ll appoint a secretary of the EPA. That person just doesn’t start the Senate. Is going to advise him and then eventually will either approve or, or, or did decline to allow that secretary to take his position. But since there’s 5253 Republicans, odds are, unless the person is, is way out there, has some kind of crazy controversy in their past they will get confirmed.

I’m sure he’ll be proposing budgets and he said on the campaign trail that he thinks like many of our agencies can be cut in half and unfortunately that would decimate our agencies like the environmental protection agencies. or the Department of Interior or the U. S. Forest Service.

There won’t be there won’t be enough staff if they cut these in half to really do scientific review of these proposals and how they will affect our water and how they will affect our air, our climate, or the, or the wildlife, or the ecosystems. And then finally, I would say Republican control of Congress in both chambers means there won’t be really any significant congressional oversight of Trump’s actions or his decisions or the laws that he’s putting into place his executive orders.

That just tends to to to make our jobs a little more difficult because we don’t have that stage of Congress saying this is what’s happening. We have to be that stage ourselves. And then finally, I’m sure they’ll also introduce other bills to weaken our environmental laws, including opening up the B. W. C. A. to sulfide mining with with representative Stauber’s bill 3195.

Dave Meier: Yeah. What exactly is resolution 3195 and why are conservation groups concerned about it?

Steve Schultz: Yeah, it’s it. This is this is a very concerning bill because first it’s already passed the House. It passed earlier this spring in April by a very narrow margin, but we don’t expect that margin to change because the amount of Republicans to Democrats is about is similar to what it was this last year going forward.

And what it does a few things. It’s it’s actually a pretty. I shouldn’t say it. It’s a radical bill. There are things in here that we don’t typically see in bills like this. What it does 1st is reverses the 20 year ban that that President Biden put into place that restricts many polluting practices on federal land in the Superior National Forest.

And that includes copper, nickel, sulfide mining. The second thing it does is reinstates the leases for Twin Metals, which is the mining company that’s proposing to put their project right on the right, right on the border of the Boundary Waters. And and it also requires the government to do environmental review of their operations in 18 months.

I’ll get more into depth in that a little bit. The final part, though, which is the more radical part of this bill prohibits judicial review of the leases or any permits that are granted, which typically we as citizens have a right to. to sue if we think that either a law hasn’t been followed, if you’ve broken the law, or if, or if somehow this is going to affect our interest.

And we feel like the people of Minnesota, people of the country have an interest in this, in this national treasure. So,

Dave Meier: is that pushback important?

Steve Schultz: you know, it’s, it’s, it’s really important for us to have that right to be able to, because we know that president trump is planning on cutting the number of scientists that are there.

So, if we don’t have enough scientists to be able to do a proper environmental review, we don’t even know if the project they propose will cause problems and the way we, the way we remedy that. is by going to courts when people have different opinions about a law or what we’re supposed to do, we have courts to be able to work out those differences.

And this bill cuts that off, which is, which is that radical part of it. Typically that is not put into a bill like this. And, and like I said, this, this threat is, is real and it’s, it’s real right now. With the House staying Republican, it will pass again there. And the current Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, ignored this bill since it was passed in April.

But now that Republicans have control there, they’ll, they’ll at least have hearings and, and committee votes on this. That will be putting it into the end of the public sphere,

will be there will be ready to argue against what we think are are ill informed opinions about what can be done near a pristine area like the boundary waters, and

thankfully, they won’t be able to pass this bill on its own because they do need 60 votes to end debate, and they only have 53, and maybe they pull off, pull off a couple of Democrats to join them, but it’s going to be really difficult for them to get to 60. So, why is this a real threat? Well, the party in control of the Senate does have a way to pass a budget with only 50 votes.

It’s called the Budget Reconciliation Act, and They will figure out a way to make this pertinent to the budget, whether putting that into the National Defense Authorization Act or looking at different royalties that could be a part of a budget, they will get that into that bill. So, not to get into too dirty of the details deep in the weeds here, but we see a path where this bill could be passed.

By You know, October, November, December of 2025, and that would be a real threat for the boundary waters. Because again, we wouldn’t, you know, our, our initial reaction would be, well, we’ll sue them. This is not the right thing to do, but section 3 says we can’t sue them. So we would probably need to do something before that, like, challenge the the validity of section 3 of the bill, which, which would, Deny judicial review.

So, yeah, the environmental review part of this, which is a part of the 2nd part of the bill. It says 18 months. And just to kind of put that into perspective there’s another mine here in Minnesota that was proposed about, you know, 17 years ago called poly met and that’s a sulfide mine that has been in the environmental review process for 17 years. That’s nearly 18 years, not 18 months. So how can we really actually understand how this mine will affect the boundary waters if we own, if an arbitrary date of 18 months is decided upon and again, couple that with cutting staff at the agencies that are going to do this environmental review.

It makes it really difficult for us to be able to get a clear picture of How this this project would actually affect the boundary waters. So if it passes in its current form, we think you know, the friends of the boundary waters, the state of Minnesota, our partners would have standing on this section 2 of reducing environmental review to slow that process down.

So we’ve got that on our side is as long as we can, Sue, we’re going to be there trying to make sure that the actual consequences of this type of bill will be out there for folks to know.

Dave Meier: Yeah. I feel like that’s really important, Steve. Sorry to interrupt, but just cause I feel like we’ve seen some, cases like this before and , these things do take time and I feel like we hear a lot. Well, you know, Minnesota has. Has regulations around environment and and we’re not going to permit things that that might pollute.

But in fact, in, in, in many cases, the longer the courts have looked at some of these proposed projects, the more that they’ve seen that they would pollute. And so, if the boundary waters is important to people, I mean, I think that having that that review. Is important to make sure that that that pollution doesn’t happen.

Steve Schultz: certainly. And we also need time to educate people about these types of proposals. And that’s when you have that public comment period where we can work with our outreach staff and with our partners to reach out to as many people who support the boundary waters or the general public.

Maybe they don’t know they support the boundary waters, canoe area yet. But we get in touch with them. We let them know what’s possibly going to happen, and then they can they can make a public comment. And when putting in this moratorium or ban on mining, more than 675, 000 Americans commented with the overwhelming majority of votes.

them being in favor of protecting the boundary waters. So that’s something we also have on our side. If, if, if president Trump does follow the rules, he needs to take those 675, 000 comments into consideration and they would need to get comments of their own from interests who. Support putting mining near the boundary waters, and there’s definitely not 675, 000 of those.

There’s a few businesses that would definitely benefit from this, but the public interest here, not the polluting interest here is protecting our clean water and our wilderness. And this pristine area that’s really unique to, you know, it’s in our backyard and it’s unique to the entire earth. It’s one of the. places with the cleanest water on earth and we need to make sure we protect that.

Dave Meier: Are there other pieces of legislation besides that bill that could be used to promote mining in the boundary waters or near the boundary waters?

Steve Schultz: Yes, you know, I’ve already mentioned the budget bills that Republicans will push both at the state and the federal levels which will reduce the number of scientists, reduce the enforcement staff to be able to protect our water and air, just generally speaking. Representative Stauber will introduce other bills in case he can’t get 3195 through, he’ll have a couple of other bills that are waiting.

One of them that we’re most concerned about would be the National Defense Authorization Act or the defense, the defense budget bill, you know, they could say these minerals are critical for our military, and we need to have domestic sources of them, for example and then and that National Defense Authorization Act tends to be a bipartisan bill.

It’s a difficult vote for rep representatives and senators to vote against because it includes veterans benefits and other important homeland security defense spending. So we’ll be working really hard to, to, to try to keep it out of that bill. But again, it’s really difficult with, with the Republicans and the majority of the house, they can pretty much do whatever they want to do and we, we’ll be there.

We’ll be sending emails, making phone calls but it. It in the end, it’s up to it’s up to the speaker and the committee chairs of the house to figure that out. And those are Republicans right now.

Dave Meier: So that’s all on a national level. What are some state or local elections that have happened that, that might affect the boundary waters now?

Steve Schultz: Yeah, great question here at the at the state level, the state House of Representatives was up for election. So all 134 districts were, were elected we’re up and going into the election, the Democratic farmer labor or DFL party had a four seat lead going into the election. So Republicans would have needed to flip a net four seats to take control.

The, the Republicans got three. Not quite to four, which leads us in a really unique situation where we have a tie in the statehouse which has only happened once in Minnesota history. So the DFL lost complete control of state government before this election. They had what was called the trifecta.

So they had the House, the Senate and the governor. But now, now that the house is tied and there isn’t a clear majority and there’ll be power sharing, it’s going to be very difficult for us to pass state laws like prove it first to protect the boundary waters, Lake Superior and the Mississippi River from copper, nickel, sulfide mines that the federal government, you know, If what they say is true, they’ll be pushing these onto us and not to get too far into the weeds.

But it will be much more difficult for the legislature to pass a budget with a tied vote in the House and that budget funds the state agencies that are charged with protecting our water and our air and wilderness. So that, that could, those budget bills could directly affect the, the boundary waters.

With, with a split in the house, I think it’s going to be more difficult as well for us to stop bad proposals that might, for example, reduce water quality standards or weaken laws or regulations that protect our water and air or attempts to to gut rec. Regulations in the name of streamlining permitting for for businesses that might want to weaken environmental review for polluting industries or limit public input on laws or regulations that protect our wilderness and our water more generally.

So, so, yes, state and local elections definitely can affect the boundary waters. And this is 1 specific way that will be. Seem play out over the next couple of years in trying to defend the, you know, the, the, the regulations and rules that we have in place right now that protect our health and water.

Dave Meier: Well as an outdoors person and somebody who enjoys, you know, what Minnesota has to offer, including the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior, this, this seems grim and, and I’m definitely concerned about it. You know, we’ve been hearing about other people’s concerns from friends of the Boundary Waters community.

What can Minnesota residents and outdoor people do to support the Boundary Waters protection under the current political landscape?

Steve Schultz: Yes. Great question. And, you know, at times it does feel like maybe all hope is lost because of this, but we do have checks in our system and like judicial review, like, like the courts we have citizen action, which is one of the things that we focus on to try to keep the pressure on our politicians.

And there is a lot that you all could do to get involved, to protect the boundary waters. And we’d love to get you involved here if it’s something you want to do. You know, we have 4 tools in our advocacy toolbox. We have litigation, legislation, citizen action and political action.

I talked a little bit about litigation earlier and how we can use that tool to stop or sulfide mining proposals. You know, my work focuses on on the latter three legislation, citizen action, and political action and, as I’ve stated in the, in the previous questions legislation is going to be difficult to pass with Republicans in control at the federal level, and there being a tie in the House at the state level.

You know, the only way that we get legislation passed, though, is with citizen action and people putting pressure on their elected officials. So 1 thing that folks could do if they’re interested is join our citizen action network. We meet twice a month now to learn about different issues, different ways that we can get involved to protect the Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness.

We do presentations, we’ll do letters to the editor. To get opinions in front of people in the news will table at events to meet people in their communities. 1 big thing we have coming up in January is boundary waters day at the Capitol, January, 23rd 2025. so please join us.

Then if that’s something you can do is going to be a full day of learning about the issues meeting with our legislators. And rallying in the rotunda to rally in for wilderness. Other things that people can do is, get in touch with their, with their state representative their state senator and contact their federal representatives as well to make sure that you know, whether you do that with an email or a phone call or a good old handwritten letter these do make a difference especially if we can get to, you know, if we can get a lot of people in the same district putting pressure on that elected official, they get a little concerned, like, Maybe this is something I need to listen to my constituents about if folks are so inclined, they can actually meet with their legislators themselves outside of Lobby Day, and I’d be glad to help arrange that if you’re interested on political action, we work with candidates who commit to being Boundary Waters champs, and then we work to help get them elected.

And why would we get involved with this? Because like you said, Dave, at the beginning, like, why does politics have to be involved in the boundary waters? It’s a beautiful place, but unfortunately, like I said, people have differing opinions and we want those who have the opinion that we need to protect clean water and wilderness for future generations in office, and that makes our job a lot easier when trying to pass laws that protect our water and wilderness. So we’re already planning for 2026. That is maybe a little bit of hope that people can have that we’ll have. We’ll have our chance again in 2026 to get folks in office to turn things around and help us help us win.

Dave Meier: Well, that’s encouraging. I think you know, people you know, wonder if, if things are so polarized right now that, you know, things are just locked in but if we can continue to use our voices, that we can continue to, you know let our elected representatives know that we, Prioritize wilderness and that this is important to us and continue to make that difference.

And you mentioned the boundary waters day at the capital. And that’s a that’s 1 way. We’ve been doing this for a while, and people can show up at, at the Capitol. We’ll have information on our website about how to get involved in that and, and when to, when to show up.

And you can also meet with your representatives right when you’re there so you can participate with us in a, in a fun day. Bringing a canoe to the capitol and, and and bringing the boundary waters to the capitol, and also have those. have Some of those conversations and hopefully some of that listening from your legislators.

Steve Schultz: Yeah, definitely. You know, I did. I did forget one thing that we always need and one way that you can get involved if you if you don’t want to write a letter or make a phone call, go to the boundary water, stay at the capital and that’s to help us out with funding the funding that we need to do this work.

You know, not not everybody wants to be at the state capital every day or the US capital every day, nor do they have the time to do so. And that’s why we’re here. to speak for all of the Boundary Waters supporters. You know, we’ve got Give to the Max Day on Thursday, and we’re already taking contributions now.

We have very generous donors who have committed to match dollar for dollar your donations up to 175, 000. And we’re going to need the support to fight back against the, the radical and sometimes crazy proposals that are our opposition puts out there. You know, they’re backed by big money from these polluting mining companies and we won’t outspend them, but with all of our supporters behind us, you know, we can continue to be the voice for you the voice for water, the trees, the wilderness.

So please make a contribution today or by Thursday, November 21st to get that match and help fund our important work for the next year.

Dave Meier: And people can do that by going to our website, friends bwca. org. And participate and give to the max or here before the end of the year. So Steve, you know, this is all really heavy and, and it’s, it’s. Made me wonder, do you think about this stuff when, when you get out to the wilderness

I mean, the boundary waters was created through political action. And so, you know, when you’re sitting there on the side of a lake is that something that you’re thinking about or do you do you want to just kind of go there and forget it all? Or what’s, what’s your approach and what do you, how do you like to enjoy the boundary waters?

Steve Schultz: That, that is a great question. I, you know, I love going to the Boundary Waters. I love being outdoors, in and on the water. You know, it’s, it’s why I do this job to protect that. And you know, sometimes it can be feel like you have the future of the wilderness on the line or on our shoulders, which is why getting up there is so important.

I try not to think too much about politics when I’m in the wilderness, you know, I’m, I am a political person though. So you know, I like politics. I think politics is about improving people’s lives, which is why I do it. You know, having a . pristine wilderness with so much clean water right in our backyard, motivates me to be in politics.

But as we have experienced with the last week’s election, it can be stressful to and especially when things don’t go your way. But you know, I’m sitting on the side of the lake and I know the threats. That are there to our pristine wilderness and water. And so I can’t help think I think a little bit about politics and power when I’m up there.

You know, I worry that it won’t be there in the future you know, or it won’t be a special if it’s polluted you know, sometimes I get angry. When I’m up there surrounded by all the beauty, and then I think, how can there be some people out there who want to want to prioritize money and profits over the wonder of the wilderness and clean water, but then I get back into the moment let the wilderness recharge my batteries and, you know, I appreciate that, that we have it now.

And that motivates me to continue the work that we do to protect it for future generations. But I would say most of the time I go up to the, to the wilderness to have fun, you know, be happy be at peace with nature, reflect on my place in the world at times. And unfortunately, politics sometimes gets into my brain when I’m doing that reflection.

But you know, I just, I. I really just want to be there with friends and family or you know, so I can, I can forget about all of those worries of, and fear and anger and, and just be there in the moment, enjoying one of the coolest places on earth. So,

Dave Meier: it’s about community. I mean, it’s about you know, that’s a place where we can experience that community of people experiencing wilderness. And, and that’s something that, that, that often is very significant in people’s lives. I know for me right now. You know, you mentioned future generations and, and I’ve got two younger boys and they’re they’re up with me there now, and I’m, I’m thinking about them and, and how they might be able to enjoy this wilderness in the, in the future you know, with them, with the next generations, seven generations forward as, as, as people talk about.

So well, thank you for joining me today is there anything else that you want to share about our work or about politics or anything we didn’t cover?

Steve Schultz: you know, I just, I do want to leave folks with, you know, hope is not lost. We, we do have tools that we can work with. We have. Thousands of supporters backing us up, not only here in the state, but across the country. And you know, it’s our job now to work together to keep the pressure on them, to keep the truth out there, to keep science focused when we’re making these decisions.

And we really appreciate folks support and we need it now more than ever. So thanks again for everything that you all do. And thanks Dave for having me on today.

Dave Meier: Thank you very much for that, Steve. And, and, and thanks for joining us today.

 

Dave Meier: And thank you everyone for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend and leave us a rating wherever you get your podcasts. We’ll be covering a wide range of recreational topics this season, and we’ll meet some great personalities from the B W C A along the way.

So be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.

 

And to become a member and support the Friends, visit friends bwca. org.

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Dave Meier: Big Red Canoe is a presentation of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Original Music by Surge and the swell. I’m Dave Meier and we’ll see you next time on Big Red Canoe.

Almost 50 years ago, a group of friends met at a diner and began to organize a movement. They formed a group dedicated to preserving the pristine waters and forests of northeastern Minnesota. Through grassroots organizing, they helped pass the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act, which protected the Boundary Waters for future generations.

Today, that organization, Friends of the Boundary Waters, continues its work to protect Preserve and restore this cherished wilderness, whether it’s through fighting toxic mining proposals at the edge of the boundary waters or introducing the next generation to the wonders of the B. W. C. A. Our strength is in our members.

It is in you to learn more and find out how you can join this community today. Please visit www.Friends-BWCA.org.