Meet Erik Simula, Birch Bark Canoe Builder
By Alissa Johnson For twenty years, Erik Simula has lived almost exclusively off the grid near the Minnesota and Canadian border. He hasn’t had a refrigerator or a freezer, and …
Wilderness Voices
Meet Board Member John Case
Board member since: I’d guess I’ve been on the QSF board for 25 years. Please tell us what your involvement with the Quetico Superior Foundation means to you: I think it …
Janice Matichuk: Quetico Ranger and Ambassador to the Wilderness
When Janice Matichuk accepted the position of Interior Park Ranger for Quetico Provincial Park in 1985, her daughter was five months old. The Cache Bay Ranger Station where she was posted lay 1,000 miles away from the log home she and her husband were building in eastern Ontario.
Meet Shelby Gonzales
Iron Range writer and marketing professional Home: Grand Marais Occupation: Marketing Manager at the Cook County Visitor’s Bureau and Outdoor Writer Radio Feature: “Out There” on WTIP, North Shore Community Radio …
Meghan Cosgrove
Board member since May 2012 Please tell us what your involvement with the Quetico Superior Foundation means to you: Some of my most formative experiences growing up came from canoe trips …
Tim Heinle
Camp Kooch-i-ching Director and Alumnus Tim Heinle is in his early 70s, but he still has vivid memories of his first trip to Camp Kooch-i-ching on Rainy Lake. He spent eight …
Meet Dyke Williams
Please tell us what your involvement with the Questico Superior Foundation means to you: I’ve been on the Board of the Quetico Superior Foundation for several years, including being one of …
Meet Aaron Brown, Iron Range author, college instructor, and radio show host
Home: The woods of Itasca County outside of Hibbing, MN Book: Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range (2008) Radio Show: Great Northern Radio Show In a Nutshell: Aaron Brown could …
Keep it Wild, Keep it Free
Voices for the North Country: Readers respond to Wilderness News How fortunate we are in North America to have wild public lands where we can camp, travel and be part of …
Meet Andrew Steiner
Quetico Superior Foundation Board Member Profile Please tell us what your involvement with the Quetico Superior Foundation means to you: The region holds many of my fondest memories. I find serenity …
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.
Gray Hairs: Saving a Place for Youth in the Great Outdoors
By Cliff Jacobson, Wilderness Guide & Outdoor Writer Last year, I presented a program for the Minnesota Canoe Association. About 150 people attended. With the exception of six teenage girls—who were …
Discovering the Birds of the Boundary Waters
By Julie Neitzel Carr Trekking the Boundary Waters, my portages followed a predictable path; I would double-check the distance on my map, hoist up a heavy Duluth pack, or if it …
Frank B. Hubachek, Jr. (“Bill”) 1923-2011
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Frank B. Hubachek, Jr. (“Bill”) on January 21, 2011. The 2010 summer issue of Wilderness News featured Hub’s Place, the …
Meet Charles Kelly
President emeritus of the Oberholtzer Foundation and QSF Board Member When Charles Kelly was five years old, he would climb out of bed, grab his pillow and his blanket and lie …
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…
On the Scent of Adventure
By Rob Kesselring It’s the smell more than anything, whether you are varnishing paddle blades in preparation for the upcoming canoe season, or spring cleaning and deliberating on whether to put …
Devils Cove: The Most Beautiful Place on Earth
By Greg Breining Imagine the Coldwell Peninsula—a dark fist jutting from the Ontario shore of Lake Superior, five miles across, with rocky knuckles. Poised on one knuckle, like the stone of …
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 …