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 wild nature. We might imagine that these areas are wild because they were set aside in a pristine condition for future generations to enjoy. Restored and rescued is closer to the truth—and usually not without a fight. As demand for resources and land increases, continued political vigilance will be necessary to maintain the special protections these areas enjoy. But we need something else. Preservation of the wilderness depends on knowledge and experience. You’ve got to know it and you’ve got to live it! The more you can learn about the natural and human history of these wild places the better, and the more you can pass this knowledge on to the younger generation the more likely it will be continued to be valued and cherished. More important than knowledge is experience. It is the juice, the energy, that will guarantee these lands stay preserved forever. After experiencing the freedom, the wonder and the magic of the land beyond the road, it becomes an inseparable part of you. So get out there. Put the paddle in the water and bring the kids along. —Rob Kesselring
Women in Wilderness
For me, last summer’s canoe trip acquired an intergenerational feel because of sharing a canoe with my paddling partner and daughter Emily, as well as discovering during a trip to Norway in June of 2011 that my great grandmother Maren Bunnaes Larson grew up in an area of Norway that mirrors the BWCA to a tee. Walking along the shoreline of her birthplace, I found myself wondering if my love for the Boundary Waters was planted well over a century ago by my ancestral soul sister Maren? —Norma Christianson
A Survivor of the 70s
My deceased husband, Jon, was involved in all the problems in Ely in the 70s—testified on behalf of the wilderness, had a building burned, car overturned at our home, I & my son were threatened, our store (Canadian Waters) was blocked & they threatened to storm it, my husband & his brother were armed. Finally, he was hung in effigy in front of our store. Sig Olson was a good friend, as is Lynn Rogers, our ‘bear’ man. What we left 10 yrs. ago, was a town that had finally achieved a tourism status with w/trees, flowers, flags, old lighting; on the edge of the wilderness. What is left now is a shrinking tourism base & a town waiting for mining to mistakenly ‘save’ it again. It’s a hard place to live, & everything is a fight. The future mining has a strong potential to destroy everything, I’m glad it will not be our fight now. We were left the only scapegoats to attack in town. Our employees had guns pointed at them as well. The 70s were far worse living there than most people realize. Living in a quiet, peaceful forest now, working to support clean-up, restoration & re-introduction efforts in the hills/Karst of S. Ind., which is being successful. Supporting your efforts, because Ely was home.
—Joyce K. Waters
Send your anecdote, stories or pictures about the Quetico-Superior Region to editor@queticosuperior.org
This article appeared in the Summer 2012 edition of Wilderness News >