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Dave and Amy Freeman began and ended their year in the wilderness on the autumnal equinox, eventually spending 366 days in the Boundary Waters. All photos courtesy Dave and Amy Freeman.

Plugged In

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Dave and Amy Freeman spent a year in the Boundary Waters, using social media to inspire others to protect the wilderness.

Urban Boatbuilders Partnership Program Manager Collette King spent three weeks at Camp Ogiche Daa Kwe, helping campers and staff build a skin-on frame canoe, which they named Morning Light. All photos by Liz Hattemer.

Morning Light – A Canoe Built by Campers at Ogiche Daa Kwe

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There is something delicate about the look of a skin-on frame canoe. In the sunlight, the wooden frame shows through its skin, as do the shadows of paddlers. Looking down into the boat, the line where water meets air is visible. Yet it is a seaworthy craft, light enough for the youngest and oldest of paddlers to carry, and, at girls’ wilderness camp Ogiche Daa Kwe, a perfect metaphor for community. Last summer, campers and staff at the Rainy Lake camp built a 17.5-foot wilderness traveler skin-on frame canoe.

Amy Adair, Quetico Foundation Intern Biologist, measures crayfish as part of a study to assess the impact and risk of invasive crayfish on the aquatic ecosystem in Quetico Provincial Park. Photo by Brian Jackson.

Climate Change in the Northwoods Part III: What People Are Doing

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In the last two issues of Wilderness News, we’ve taken a look at climate change in the northwoods. In this final installment, we look at some of the things people are doing to cope with and address climate change. In the Quetico-Superior Region, climate change is not something looming on the horizon.

Status Report: Border Country Birds

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The loon’s famous song, echoing across wilderness lakes, makes solitude audible. It simply sounds like wilderness. Many other bird species also find the habitat they need to breed amid the forests, lakes, rivers, and wetlands of the Boundary Waters, giving unique voice to the wild landscape. Here, a tongue of Canada’s boreal forest creates ideal conditions for an array of bird species—for a few months each year.

http://www.theclevermoose.com/

Climate Change and the Disassembly of the North Woods

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In an excerpt from John Pastor’s new book, What Should a Clever Moose Eat? Natural History, Ecology, and the North Woods, the author examines the impact of climate change on the North Woods and the personal responsibility that comes with it.

Hiking near Carlton’s Peak on the Superior Hiking Trail. Photo courtesy Superior Hiking Trail Association.

Three Decades of Superior Hiking

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This summer, thirty years after a pair of trailbuilders first started flagging a hiking route along the ridges overlooking Lake Superior on Minnesota’s North Shore, the Superior Hiking Trail will be finished—mostly. The final section of the trail, connecting it to the Wisconsin border southeast of Duluth, should be completed by Labor Day. Hikers will then be able to travel from that point all the way to the Canadian border on the trail that has been called one of the best in America. But the work is never done. Hundreds of volunteers will continue to put in thousands of hours each year keeping the trail in good condition.

Sunrise on Rainy Lake, photo by Joshua Henderson.

Voyageurs—A Must Visit National Park

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The National Park of Minnesota’s north woods celebrates the Park Service’s Centennial. One hundred years ago this August 25th, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the National Park Service. For the …

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What will it take to get you outdoors?

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In a recent article for the Star Tribune, writer Tori McCormick sums it up: “What will it take to get you outdoors and into nature? Can you be persuaded, either through …

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Why Do We Return to Wilderness? Wilderness News Fall-Winter 2015

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At the Quetico Superior Foundation (QSF), our mission is to protect the wilderness character of Minnesota’s border lakes canoe country and Ontario’s Quetico region. We do that through the publication of Wilderness News and by giving grants to non-profit organizations that share our mission. We know that leaving a lasting legacy is better done through the actions of many. Here, we pay tribute to and thank some of the organizations that have put our grants to use over the last few years…

Poem: Listening by Larry Christianson

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LISTENING . . . Listening . . . to wilderness wind sweeping through forest and across water, speaking with wisdom for all who pause. In the distracting clamor of modern life, …

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