Old Photos Provide a Peek into 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 …
Inspiration
Wilderness News Print Edition – Spring 2011
The Spring 2011 Issue of Wilderness News Print Edition is now online! Experience Lake Superior from a kayak, travel back in time with an early voice for the Boundary Waters, and follow urban teens-at-risk into the wilderness in canoes they built by hand.
Wilderness News Print Edition Fall-Winter 2010
The Fall-Winter 2010 Issue of Wilderness News Print Edition is now online! Follow women into the wilderness, take a trip back in time, and catch up with one of the Gunflint Trail’s most adventurous families…
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 …
Women in the Wilderness
“We can do it. We can do it without a guide.” By Rob Kesselring Wilderness News Contributor It started with a dare in 1986. Seven female volunteers at a nature center …
Book Review: Paddle North: Canoeing the Boundary Waters–Quetico Wilderness
Discover the essence of the Up North wilderness experience, essays by Greg Breining and images by photographer Layne Kennedy. It’s well worth reading, and a worthy gift.
Book Gathers Boundary Waters Writing
A new book — The Firegrate Review: A Canoe Country Chapbook — published by the wilderness advocacy group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, gathers the BWCA experiences of 19 writers in a collection of stories, essays, and poems.
The Changing Forest of the Quetico-Superior Region
Last year we celebrated the 100th anniversary of Quetico Park and Superior National Forest. In reality, this anniversary commemorated the 100-year fight to protect this patch of earth. Throughout the twentieth …
Moments of Clarity
By Andy Wright All I’m saying is, you would just never expect to find jellyfish in the Boundary Waters. Sure, you always hope to spot wildlife on a trip; wolves, …
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 …
Book Review: Our Neck of the Woods
As essay collections go, Our Neck of the Woods is more of a confessional than a nature tale. Up and down the state, and via every outdoor pastime (fishing, hunting, skiing, canoeing, camping), writers confess to a love of Minnesota …
Painting History
In 2006, Quetico Provincial Park’s French River proved impassable by kayak—so Ken Lister crawled upriver through the slippery, overgrown underbrush. His destination? French River Rapids. Lister suspected that an oil painting by Canadian artist Paul Kane portrayed the rapids. If correct, he would disprove widely held notions about the painting’s origins, and possibly discover a new understanding of the fur trade.
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 …
Wilderness News Profile: Paul Schurke
To meet Paul Schurke in person is to forget that you are standing in the company of an Arctic explorer. He wears the crinkled eyes and bronzed face of a life …
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 …
Wilderness News Profile: Frederick Winston
In 1964, Fred Winston received an inquiry following Wilderness News’ inaugural publication: “I can see that there are many sides to Minnesota’s wilderness problem. But which side are you on? What are you trying to prove?” In his reply, Fred Winston set the tone for the Quetico Superior Foundation’s role in the ever changing wilderness debate and set an example of activism.
Dorothy Molter Museum Remodeled
Ely’s Dorothy Molter Museum got a $16,000 facelift recently, thanks to an $8000 grant from Minnesota Iron Range Resources, the and matching private donations. The museum that recognizes the last person to live in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area now has a remodeled interpretive center.
Paddle the Heart Reaches Crane Lake
The first Canoe the Heart trail reports are in! View photos and learn more about this expedition across the heart of the continent.
Nature Rocks: Getting Kids Outside
A new program co-sponsored by author Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods, reviewed in the Spring 2009 print edition of Wilderness News) and the Children & Nature Network inspires families to get outdoors.
Spring 2009 Issue of Wilderness News
The Spring 2009 issue of Wilderness News, the sister publication of Wilderness News Online is available now. Read highlights and download your copy today.