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State of the Boundary Waters and Paddling to DC – Wilderness News Fall Winter 2014 Issue

Cover Story: How will proposed mining, climate change, invasive species, nutrient loading, and algal blooms change the border lakes? The Quetico-Superior region of Minnesota and Canada bring to mind lake country—a landscape characterized by glacier carved lakes filled with clear, cold and clean water. Yet the list of possible impacts on northern Minnesota water quality is long: proposed mining, climate change, invasive species, nutrient loading, and algal blooms to name just a few…

Protecting Our Wild Rice Heritage

Evaluating Minnesota’s water sulfate standard for wild rice. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is reviewing its standards for protecting wild rice in Minnesota. With funding from the Minnesota State Legislature, the agency conducted a two-year study to determine how sulfate—the presence of which in water has been linked to an absence of wild rice—and other chemicals affect the health of wild rice.

Drilling equipment at a Twin Metals mineral exploration site.

Major Twin Metals Partner Declines To Increase Stake in Project

Mine proposal near the Boundary Waters loses significant source of funding. Chilean mining company Antofagasta PLC has declined an opportunity to take a bigger financial stake in the Twin Metals project near Ely, MN. The move means the company—which has invested more than $200 million in the joint venture so far—will pass up the chance for a controlling stake in the project, and operations will revert to junior mining company Duluth Metals.