Archaeologist Says Knife Lake Site Could Be Earliest Minnesota Settlement
Researcher who has been studying Boundary Waters quarry says new tests indicate humans were there thousands of years ago.
History
Proposed Legislation Could Undermine the Wilderness Act and the Protection of Wilderness
On the surface, two proposed pieces of legislation appear unrelated to wilderness protection. The Sportsmen’s Heritage Act seeks “to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting.” The National …
Quetico Superior Foundation: Giving All Voices A Fair Hearing
By Alissa Johnson When I was in high school—the mid-1990s—a debate arose over motorboat access to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). I went to a demonstration to keep motors …
Ernest C. Oberholtzer: Lifetime Advocate
“Destroy the beauty of the visible shores and islands of these lakes and rivers and you destroy the whole charm and pleasurable utility of the region for the public,” Ober wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Basswood Beach Resort and Canoe Trips
Travel back in time with an historic family fishing lodge that thrived in what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness…
Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center
By Rob Kesselring Take a drive to the end of the Gunflint Trail and spend a few hours at Chik-Wauk Museum, the word serendipity will come to mind. Could there …
Old Photos Provide a Peek into BWCA History
By Alissa Johnson In our last issue, Wilderness News published photos from an album uncovered in an attic trunk. They once belonged to Big Bill Wenstrom, who was the last private …
Photo Gallery: Superior National Forest Boundary Waters Historical Photos
These photographs were found in a U.S. Forest Service photo album, circa 1920. At the time the region was known as the roadless area of the Superior National Forest. Each photo …
Presentation to Discuss BWCAW Archaeology
A presentation sponsored by the advocacy group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness will discuss the discovery of several siltstone quarries on the BWCAW’s Knife Lake which are believed to date to paleolithic times. The event will take place on Tuesday, October 19 in St. Paul.
Hub’s Place – The Wilderness Research Center
The landscape of northeast Minnesota would look different today if not for the efforts of a Harvard educated, Chicago lawyer by the name of Frank Hubachek. Born in 1894 to parents of means and influence, Hubachek spent his boyhood holidays in northern Minnesota and learned at a young age the need to experience nature in unspoiled, unfenced settings. It may be tempting to assume that rich people don’t get their hands dirty, that Hubachek’s support was purely financial or legal and that the real firebrands of the wilderness preservation effort were the likes of Ernest Oberholtzer and Sigurd Olson, but you would be wrong.
Big Bill Wenstrom – Last Man Standing
Sig Olson’s readers were introduced to Big Bill Wenstrom in Open Horizons (p. 97). Sig wrote: “It was Big Bill Wenstrom who taught me how to throw on a canoe. He …
Canoe the Heart of the Continent Centennial Canoe Voyage
Last July, the Canoe the Heart Expedition commemorated the centennial of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada and the centennial of Superior National Forest in Minnesota. It also promoted the continued …
Along the Trail: Zenolith on Crooked Lake
When the Canoe the Heart Expedition stopped at the Crooked Lake Pictographs this summer, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness summer intern Kate Logan noticed a splotch of dark, black …
The Changing Nature of Wilderness Protection: Looking Forward
Special Feature Part II By Alissa Johnson In part I of The Changing Nature of Wilderness Protection, Wilderness News uncovered a transformation in the challenges facing the BWCAW. Where issues like …
The Changing Nature of Wilderness Protection
Special Feature Part I: The Changing Nature of Wilderness Protection The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act from 1978 to Today By Alissa Johnson, Wilderness News Contributor October marked the 30th …
The Canoe: A Vehicle for the Spirit
Childhood Memories Evoke the Stirrings of Wilderness Experience By Pat Kallemeyn, Wilderness News Contributor One of my most vivid childhood memories is of the voyager art installed in my hometown’s post …
Evidence of Meteorite Impact Found off the Gunflint Trail
By Charlie Mahler, Wilderness News Contributor In the Gunflint Trail region, which has seen its share of calamity in recent years in the form of blow-downs and forest fires, geologist Mark …
A Perspective on the 100th Anniversary of the Quetico Superior Region
If the entire human history of North America was compressed into one year, a century would be the equivalent of a single day. Geologic time is even more absurd; a century …
A Man of the Trees
Jack Rajala has spent most of his life in the forest. He is well known in Minnesota forestry circles as an advocate for white pine restoration and as part of Rajala …