IN THIS ISSUE:
Climate Change in the Northwoods Part I: Talking About Climate Change
By Alissa Johnson
In many ways, the climate change discussion is everywhere. Paris hosted the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In March of this year, President Obama announced a pact with Canada to fight climate change. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was considering whether to prosecute climate deniers. Yet on a personal level, the scale of the issue can make it hard to navigate. How will it affect the places you love? What can you do to have an impact on the situation? In this series, Wilderness News dives into the topic as it relates to northern Minnesota and the Quetico Superior Region. We’ll learn what climate change means for places like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and north woods communities. We’ll also meet people and organizations working toward solutions. We start with Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy, an organization founded by Ely resident and Polar explorer Will Steger; it’s reimagining the way we talk about climate change across Minnesota, including places like the Iron Range. Read More >
Something in the Water
Bent Paddle Brewing of Duluth joins the call to protect the planet’s most precious resource.
By Greg Seitz
The water of Lake Superior is famous for its beauty, depth, cold, and power. It is also gaining a reputation for making great beer. It is pure and pristine, perfect for brewing. The owners of Bent Paddle Brewing Co., located in downtown Duluth, attribute their quality beer and remarkably rapid success to the extraordinary quality of Gitche Gumee’s water. “It’s an amazingly blank slate,” says co-owner Laura Mullen. “Other breweries have to add minerals or remove minerals to get the same water as we do when we open the tap.” Read More >
Voyageurs—A Must Visit National Park
The National Park of Minnesota’s north woods celebrates the Park Service’s Centennial.
By Greg Seitz
One hundred years ago this August 25th, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the National Park Service. For the century since, the agency has managed an ever-growing roster of places deemed worthy of perpetual protection. There are mountains and deserts, coasts and ocean, lakes and rivers. Minnesota’s only National Park is comprised of wild woods and waters. Voyageurs National Park’s big lakes and roadless forests were set aside in 1975 to recognize its beautiful north woods scenery, geologic features—including some of the oldest rock in the world—and the history of the French-Canadian canoe paddlers and fur traders called voyageurs, who criss-crossed the region 250 years ago. Read More >
Mining Update: First Months of 2016 Include Major Moves for Northern Minnesota Mining Proposals
By Greg Seitz
Gov. Dayton declares opposition to copper-nickel mining in Boundary Waters watershed; Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has halted new leases of mineral rights on state lands near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He announced the decision in a March 6th letter to Twin Metals, the company seeking to open a massive copper-nickel mine on the South Kawishiwi River, just a few miles from the edge of the wilderness. Dayton called the BWCAW a “crown jewel in Minnesota and a national treasure” and said he has an “obligation to ensure it is not diminished in any way.” For those reasons, he said he has instructed the state Department of Natural Resources not to allow any more mining or mineral exploration activities on state lands in the area. Read More >