For Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting women conservationists and environmental stewards who have contributed to preserving forests, wilderness areas, and cultural history in Northern Minnesota. Their efforts and activism helped shape the modern conservation movement and led the way for sustainable practices.
After Minnesota achieved statehood and industries flourished, logging and mining took over the northern landscape. Logging camps and railroads spread across the region. As a result, people made little effort to manage the forests or control the environmental changes.
This led to more formalized efforts to protect wild places, develop resilient forests, and preserve cultural traditions. Although women were largely excluded from political office in the 19th century, they remained highly active in shaping public policy. A growing movement of women’s clubs and individuals in Minnesota raised awareness and championed the safeguarding of the state’s natural and cultural resources.
The stories shared here influenced government policy and led to the eventual designation of areas like the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Maria Sanford
Known for her advocacy, Maria Sanford played a key role in defining the forest conservation movement. She did this by urging government officials to take action to protect the forests. Her efforts lead to the preservation of 600,000 acres in northern Minnesota.
Sanford was born in 1836 and became a professor at the University of Minnesota from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Throughout her life, she worked alongside other activists to raise support for preserving the forests in Northern Minnesota. She also advocated for better conservation practices. As a member of the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs, she joined a group of educated, upper-class women committed to social causes.
Sanford helped lead the effort to protect lands threatened by timber companies, denouncing their actions. According to an article published by the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, she stated they aimed to “saw down, chop off, and drive out every pine tree the region contains.”
Sanford and fellow conservationists believed that people care more about a place when they experience it firsthand. So, they invited a congressional group to visit the forests.
Eventually, that visit resulted in the preservation of hundreds of thousands of acres of Northern Minnesota forest. Further, it culminated in the establishment of the Chippewa National Forest, which President Theodore Roosevelt officially designated in 1908.
Florence Elfelt Bramhall
Florence Bramhall was an active leader in the early conservation movement. Her efforts led her to collaborate with University of Minnesota Professor Maria Sanford, who shared her commitment to stewardship. Together, they helped preserve over 600,000 acres of northern forests in the state.
Born in Minnesota in 1862, Florence Elfelt Bramhall developed a strong passion for forest conservation. She led the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs, served as president of the Saint Paul Women’s Civic League, and participated in the Minnesota Conservation Commission. Through these roles, she joined a broader network of women committed to environmental initiatives.
In 1900, Bramhall told the St. Paul Globe that she supported the idea of a “forest park” managed with “scientific forestry practices.” She argued that allowing the magnificent forest to be destroyed would be a grave mistake, stating, “It is impossible to think that people can be so blind to their own interests and the interests of the state.”
Staying true to her own words, Bramhall represented the Minnesota State Forestry Association at a national congress in Washington, D.C., in 1904, the same year President Roosevelt delivered his speech on “The Forest in the Life of a Nation.” She participated in forestry management discussions and advocated for preservation at this event.
In an essay for the annual report of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, she argued that forestry appealed to both men and women, uniting them in a common cause. She urged readers to protect the state’s lakes, streams, and rivers from vandalism, calling the region’s “woods and water” one of its greatest assets.
As the conservation movement gained momentum, Bramhall questioned how Minnesota could preserve its forests without depleting its resources. She criticized the state’s wasteful practices, noting how people accepted “any frenzy of waste” as long as it served short-term interests disguised as “State Development.” Despite these challenges, Bramhall continued to push her message forward and lobbied government officials.
Still, the women’s conservation efforts proved significant as government officials took notice. U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot later remarked, “Without the farsighted and patriotic support of the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs, it would have been impossible” to conserve wilderness in Minnesota.
Frances Densmore
Frances Densmore is remembered for her work as an ethnologist dedicated to cultural conservation. She built strong relationships with indigenous communities in northern Minnesota, amassing an extensive collection of audio and writings that documented their way of life.
Densmore was born to a middle-class family in 1867 in Red Wing, Minnesota. It was there that she first heard music from the Dakota tribe coming across the waters near her home. She actively sought opportunities to hear native music and developed an interest in reading more about their culture.
These experiences eventually led her to become a music teacher and ethnographer, recording indigenous music for the Smithsonian Institution.
Beginning with her work in Minnesota, she traveled north, where she met with the Chippewa (Ojibwe) bands of Grand Marais and Grand Portage. She was allowed to observe and write down their history, legends, and traditions. She also recorded their music which can still be appreciated today.
In a time when government policy urged tribes to adopt Western customs, she felt a need to preserve some of the tribe’s heritage. This resulted in her traveling throughout North America and connecting with other native groups.
Over sixty years, she recorded more than 2,000 wax cylinders of native music. Additionally, she also wrote over twenty books and authored numerous articles related to her journeys.
Frances E. Andrews
Frances Andrews was an early advocate of legislation that included provisions for preserving federal lands, which would later become a national park and wilderness area.
Andrews, born in 1884, came from a wealthy, well-educated family. Her father worked as a businessman and was active in politics. The family eventually moved from North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he began building grain mills.
Each summer, her family retreated to their rustic cabin on Isle Royale. There, Frances spent her time fishing, hiking, and exploring the woods, which inspired her later work in environmental stewardship.
When she became old enough, she took over Hunt Hill, a farm her family had acquired in Wisconsin. There, she applied her understanding of land conservation by returning the property to its natural state. This reinforced her conviction of preserving wild spaces.
The 1920s was a period when the government was developing the National Park Service and establishing national parks. Frances joined other environmental advocates in urging the federal government to set aside wilderness areas and large swaths of forest for public benefit. Through her social connections, she befriended Minnesota conservationists such as Sigurd Olson, Sewell Tyng, and Ernest Oberholtzer.
At the time, Oberholtzer developed a bill to protect the Rainy Lake watershed. In support of the effort, Frances, along with her father Arthur, wrote letters, raised awareness, and contacted congressmen. They also leveraged their social circles and connected with wealthy donors to back the legislation.
The Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act, passed in 1930, endorsed policies aimed at conserving federal lands. This included areas that would later become Voyageurs National Park and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). In addition, the legislation aimed to protect the area from rapid commercialization and deforestation by removing federal land from homesteading or sale, with a focus on clean water, and safeguarding shorelines. It also minimized environmental impacts from mineral development across a 4,000 square-mile area stretching from Rainy Lake to Lake Superior.
After the bill passed, Oberholtzer sent a telegram to Frances to celebrate the victory. He also expressed his gratitude to her and her family for their support.
Frances dedicated the rest of her life to supporting Oberholtzer’s work. This included the Quetico-Superior Council he helped found and the Izaak Walton League. Using her inheritance, she established the Andrews-Hunt Fund through the Minneapolis Foundation. The fund supported the Hunt Hill Nature Center and other organizations, such as the Quetico Superior Foundation.
In an article published by Mallard Island Newsletters, Oberholtzer was noted as saying that she could get more done than any person he knew.
Loss of Indigenous lands
While conservation efforts benefited natural landscapes in many ways, they coincided with the loss of Indigenous lands, shaping the state’s complex history. The 1887 Dawes Act (also known as the General Allotment Act) divided tribal lands into individual allotments, often leading to those lands being sold or taken by non-Native settlers. As a result, the Ojibwe and other tribes lost millions of acres that they had lived on, cared for and managed.
More info:
- Maria Sanford & the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs – Aldo Leopold Nature Center
- Remembering two women who helped save Minnesota forests – The Minnesota Star Tribune
- Frances E. Andrews – A Lasting Legacy – Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation
- The Densmore Repatriation Project
Wilderness guide and outdoorswoman Pam Wright has been exploring wild places since her youth. Remaining curious, she has navigated remote lakes in Canada by canoe, backpacked some of the highest mountains in the Sierra Nevada, and completed a thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail. Her professional roles include working as a wilderness guide in northern Minnesota and providing online education for outdoor enthusiasts.