Ely-area outfitters recently voiced concerns about U. S. Coast Guard regulations for businesses that guide clients on federally navigable waters. The agency requires that outfitters be licensed and that they and their employee know first aid and CPR as well have background checks and undergo drug testing.
The heads of Voyageurs National Park and the Superior National Forest asked Minnesota Pollution Contol Agency board members to tighten restrictions on taconite and coal-burning power plants as the state impliments new haze reduction regulations.
Voters in Cook County will decide on a sales tax in November that would support the construction of a fiber optic network and the expansion of high speed internet to the North Shore. Proponents argue that Internet connection is vital to economic sustainability.
Last week several environmental groups asked federal agencies and the state of Minnesota to take a more active role in preventing air pollution that contributes to haze over Voyageurs and Isle Royale National Parks and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The Forest Service is accepting public comments on the development of a new snowmobile trail from McFarland Lake to South Fowl Lake in far northeastern Minnesota. The new trail was necessitated by the closure of the Tilbury Trail which crossed land included in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
A regional haze plan developed by the Minnesota Pollution Control agency seeks to address visibility impairment and haze in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park. The plan is open for public comment until September 3.
A federal appeals court recently reversed a Bush administration ruling allowing commercial activity in more than 50 million acres of pristine national forests.
A law passed in May that will allow loaded firearms in Voyageurs and other national parks is not in effect yet. That’s the message Voyaguers officials are spreading, noting that the law doesn’t take effect until February 22, 2010.
Two weeks ago, five wildlife protection groups filed a complaint against the removal of Great Lakes Wolves from the Endangered Species List. Today, wolves are back under federal protection as the …
Five wildlife protection groups have filed a complaint in Federal District Court challenging the removal of federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the Upper Midwest.
Voyageurs National Park will use $230,000 in federal stimulus funding to rehabilitate campsites over the next two years. The money appropriated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will support work on some 38 campsites in the park.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a temporary order requiring all new projects in U.S. Forest Service-managed roadless areas be approved by his office. Apart from the permanently protected Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, the Superior National Forest contains roughly 62,000 acres of roadless areas, mostly adjoining the BWCAW.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has assumed management responsibilities for the state’s gray wolf population following the delisting of the wolf as a threatened species.
A new bill will allow park visitors to carry loaded rifles, shotguns, and semi-automatic weapons in National Parks, including Voyageurs National Park in International Falls.
Critical habitat for the endangered Canada Lynx has been expanded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including parts of northern Minnesota.
By Charlie Mahler, Wilderness News Contributor The Boundary Waters. The Border Route. Those dividing “B” words have long been embedded in the names used to describe the Quetico-Superior region. The notion, …
By Sally Nankivell, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness Board Member A recent snowmobile trail controversy has resulted in a familiar scenario: local motor enthusiasts versus environmentalists, each passionately arguing over the …
By Charlie Mahler, Wilderness News Contributor Three new mining projects inside and adjacent to the Superior National Forest signal a new era in northern Minnesota mining. In a region known world-wide …
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule is the most significant public lands conservation measure of recent years. Protecting nearly 60 million acres of national forest land form logging and road-building, including 147,000 …