“The Congress finds that it is necessary and desirable to provide for the protection, enhancement, and preservation of the natural values of the lakes, waterways, and associated forested areas known (before the date of enactment of this Act) as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and for the orderly management of public use and enjoyment of that area as wilderness, and of certain continuous lands and waters, while at the same time protecting the special qualities of the area as a natural forest-lakeland wilderness ecosystem of major esthetic, cultural, scientific, recreational and educational value to the Nation.”
– Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act, 1978
Minneapolis high school student Isaiah Bischoff was in the Boundary Waters — surrounded be more than a million acres of wilderness — when he found himself wondering how it came to be protected by the federal government. That question let him on a journey that resulted in the 10-minute documentary Drawing Boundaries: The Fight Over the Boundary Waters. Quetico Superior Wilderness News is featuring the film to mark the 40th anniversary of the legislation that has governed management of the popular wilderness ever since.
Drawing Boundaries was produced for the National History Day competition in Minnesota, in the Law and Courts category. It then qualified for the National History Day competition held in Washington, D.C.
For the project, Bischoff performed research and conducted interviews with Kevin Proescholdt, conservation director of Wilderness Watch and leader of the effort to pass the BWCAW Act, and former Ely mayor Chuck Novak, who opposed the wilderness designation.
This was not be Bischoff’s first such film, although he is still in high school. He previously produced “All in the Circle,” about a creative and caring summer camp.
This year’s competition theme was “Conflict and Compromise,” which the student auteur said made the Boundary Waters a relevant topic.
“The conflict of the environmentalists who wanted the area preserved as wilderness vs. the some of the local people who wanted multiple use of the area was very bitter and divided,” he says. “But in the end there was a compromise that was made in the legislation.”
He points out that the BWCAW Act of 1978 codified the compromise, but the conflict continued. While many people who live near the wilderness are still upset about the concessions they made, motor boats are also still allowed in parts of the wilderness (about one-fourth of its water area).
Hard-fought compromise
The BWCAW Act was signed Oct. 21, 1978 by President Jimmy Carter.
The final language emerged from competing bills that would have offered the Boundary Waters a broad spectrum of protection, from a weakened National Recreation Area to what would be called “pure wilderness” without any motorized activities allowed. It ultimately squeaked through Congress as the country approached another midterm election.
Bischoff’s film recounts briefly the uncertain path of the legislation from Minnesota to the Oval Office, from its inspiration by several major logging projects in the Boundary Waters in the early 1970s, to nearly being lost on its way from Congress to the White House.
The legislation followed the Wilderness Act of 1964, which had designated the Boundary Waters as a wilderness area but provided numerous exemptions for logging, snowmobiles, and more. The 1978 law ended all logging and almost all snowmobiling, and restricted mining, but continued to allow motorboats with horsepower restrictions on many lakes.
Despite its passage, conflict over the BWCAW did not end in 1978. The state of Minnesota soon sued to stop the law, but lost in District Court. In the 1990s, the debate was raised again as wilderness advocates sought an end to motorized portages in the Boundary Waters. Congress ultimately settled that disagreement with special legislation to allow two motor portages to continue operating.
The latest conflict regards mining near the wilderness. The conclusion and any compromises on that issue have not yet been found, but the hard fight has reminded many people of the years leading up to 1978.
As Bischoff found during the course of making his film, the BWCAW Act compromise created the large lakeland wilderness which is one of the most beloved and popular wilderness areas in the country. People come from across American and around the world to experience the beauty and solitude.
“There’s so much value in having an area people can go to just collect their thoughts,” Bischoff told his high school newspaper, the Southerner.
Bischoff will be part of the continuing story of Boundary Waters conservation next month, when he will travel to Washington, D.C. He has been selected by Kids for the Boundary Waters to participate in a lobbying trip intended to push for the completion of an en environmental review of mining in the wilderness watershed, which was recently cancelled by the Trump administration.
Law of the land
Here are the major provisions of the legislation, via the Library of Congress.:
- Establish the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Mining Protection Area.
- Restrict motorboat usage on specified lakes and rivers within the wilderness.
- Prohibits snowmobiles in the wilderness except in certain areas when permitted by the Secretary.
- Requires the Secretary to establish entry quotas for motorboats on specified lakes.
- Permits certain owners of commercially operated resorts to require the Secretary to purchase their interests.
- Permits such owners to retain a limited area for personal use. Directs affected owners to offer the Secretary the right of first refusal to purchase specified lands.
- Directs the Secretary to terminate, within one year, the timber sale contracts in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Provides for compensation for the termination of such contracts.
- Directs the Secretary to cooperate with the State of Minnesota in developing forest management plans to increase timber production to offset the reduction due to the reclassification.
- Prohibits the authorization of any permit or lease for exploration for, or mining of, minerals owned by the United States within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Mining Protection Areas.
- Authorizes the Secretary to acquire first by donation then by purchase, any minerals or mineral rights within the wilderness and mining protection areas
- Directs the Secretary to maintain certain existing water control structures at existing levels.
- Authorizes the Secretary to expand recreational opportunities in the Superior National Forest outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness by constructing a system of new hiking, backpacking, and cross-country ski trails inside and outside the wilderness area. Directs the Secretary and other appropriate executive agencies to develop an assistance program for resorts and outfitters in the area. Authorizes grants to improve economic opportunities in the area surrounding the wilderness.
- Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress a comprehensive management plan concerning the areas.
More to Explore
- Public Law 95-495: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act (PDF)
- Quetico Superior Historical Timeline
- WTIP: Looking back on 40 years of the BWCAW
- Duluth News Tribune: BWCAW turns 40
- Duluth News Tribune: Anglers and hunters share their BWCAW stories
- MPR News: As BWCA turns 40, question remains: How much wilderness to protect?
- Quetico Superior Wilderness News: The Historic Lodges of the Boundary Waters
- Quetico Superior Wilderness News: The State of the Wilderness 30 Years After the BWCAW Act of 1978
- MNopedia: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)