Latest News on the Boundary Waters

SAWBILL LAKE, Minn. — Anyone who travels in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness becomes obsessed with portages.

Anyone near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) over the next several weeks should be on the lookout for some hazy or smoky conditions.

In an agreement jointly announced Friday by the county and the U.S. Forest *Service*, Cook County gets about 1,620 acres of federally owned land that was ...

A windstorm that ravaged parts of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness more than 20 years ago is still impacting the ecosystem in a big way, with the ...

Forest managers will strategically set fire to parts of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness starting as soon as Tuesday. The fires are part of a ...

Elizabeth Warren is the first Democratic presidential candidate to oppose a controversial mining proposal near Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area ...

As people gather for the Wild Waters Music Fest in Duluth's Bayfront Festival Park today, there will be much conversation about what needs to be done to protect ...

Superior National Forest managers plan to conduct some prescribed fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) on the LaCroix, Kawishiwi ...

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue's Aug. 16 commentary was a masterful display of political pivoting and rhetorical sleight of hand (“Rest assured, USDA ...

Joe Friedrichs is news director at WTIP, a community radio station in Grand Marais. He hosts and produces the station's Boundary Waters Podcast. Reading.

Conservation Officer Don Murray (Two Harbors) worked bear-hunting and ATV activity during the week. Bear hunters are having mixed success but are reporting ...

One thing Becky Rom of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters never seems to mention is that the sulfur *content* of the Duluth Complex is less than 2 ...

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is facing the threat of sulfide-ore copper mining. Stephanie Pearson paddles into the wild.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren waded into a pair of controversial environmental debates in Minnesota this week by saying she opposed a copper-nickel mine ...

A mecca for paddlers, one writer grabs and oar and heads for northern Minnesota's vast Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The Star Tribune's Aug. 25 editorial calling upon Gov. Tim Walz to end the “contemptible veil of secrecy” surrounding the proposed Twin Metals copper-sulfide ...

From Alaska's Tongass National Forest to Minnesota's Boundary Waters, the Trump administration wants to despoil, not preserve, America's resources.

For months, the Trump administration has blown off requests from influential members of Congress, the Star Tribune Editorial Board and others to make public ...

Twenty years ago on the Fourth of July, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness withstood a storm that transformed the region. The storm, known as a ...

New mineral leases issued to Twin Metals by the Trump administration in June were supposed to be the third and final renewal of two separate leases that the ...

It's an argument that has become popular among supporters of the Twin Metals and PolyMet projects. Yet the clean energy case for copper-nickel mining hasn't ...

There are few outdoor pleasures more classically Minnesotan than mounting an expedition to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

In the summer of 2014, Thomas Tidwell, who had worked for the U.S. Forest *Service* for thirty-seven years, the last five of those as its chief, decided to visit the ...

Tracing a North Woods route that has transported people for centuries.

There are some vital things to pin down to before the trip.

The Mid-Gunflint Trail area is at high risk for property loss and other damage should a wildfire erupt in the near future, according to information shared by the US ...

A group of Girl Scouts were rescued by boat Friday night after lightning struck their campsite near the Minnesota-Canada border, authorities said. Several ...

The U.S. Department of the Interior today renewed two mining leases near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The decision opens what many ...

Minneapolis Star Tribune, Aug. 23. It's up to Gov. Walz to end secrecy over Twin Metals mine. State is not powerless as feds keep wraps on study of risks to ...

In early April, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) faced off against Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during a hearing of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food ...

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta has said it is confident of winning approval to develop a $1bn underground copper mine in a remote area of Minnesota, as it ...

Encampment Minerals has asked the DNR for permission to explore for metallic mineral deposits in the same watershed as the Boundary Waters. Written By: ...

On Monday, July 8, just before 5 p.m., the Cook County Sheriff's Office received an emergency call for help from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, ...

The BWCA is an ancient wilderness at risk due to proposed mining in its watershed.

The mine was on his mind and so was his sleeping bag. These two things kept Daniel O'Kane, a St. Paul bartender, going as he swam or paddled nearly 90 ...

An environmental group sued the Trump administration Thursday, seeking the release of documents related to a decision last year to end a study of a proposed ...

Millions of trees bowed before the storm's might but never recovered their posture as hurricane-force winds blew through northeastern Minnesota. The violence ...

Twin Metals, Iron Range Building and Construction Trades Council will sign project labor agreement Wednesday. Written By: Jimmy Lovrien | Aug 20th 2019 ...

Historically, permits for the BWCA were handed out through a lottery system, but in 2012, Superior National Forest switched to first-come, first-served.

The morning hung still and warm as our group of five eased two canoes into Gunflint Lake. In the bow of my boat sat my youngest son, Aidan, and I wondered if ...

A young landscape architect's vision of a roadless wilderness laid the groundwork for the Boundary Waters.

Copper-nickel mining could help conquer the climate crisis, supporters say. Is there any weight to that argument?

Editor's note: This counterpoint originally published in the Star Tribune on Aug. 30. It is being republished with permission. Editor: On the Iron Range, we've ...

A 17-year-old was safely located in Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park after wandering away from a wilderness survival group in the Boundary Waters Canoe ...

Guest post by Save the Boundary Waters is a part of our America's Most Endangered Rivers® series spotlighting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

DFL Rep. Betty McCollum wants the federal government to complete a study on the impacts of copper-nickel mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters ...

Possible human remains belonging to a New Mexico man were found in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the St. Louis County sheriff's office ...

Without attempts to implement more protective regulations, the opportunities for posterity to enjoy a pristine wilderness area might be dwindling.

Washington, D.C. — The Trump administration is shortcutting science and ignoring local concerns to let a massive mining company exploit one of the nation's ...

A group of paddlers associated with the Star Tribune made a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in June. The group included Tribune Outdoors ...

Reports were mostly positive this morning as many anxious paddlers, canoe outfitters and resort owners hoping to book a permit for the 2019 paddling season in ...

HUDSON, Wis. — Anyone who's explored the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness knows the value of a good map. Maps depicting waterways, portage ...

A mishmash of flat rocks poked out of shallow water, making it difficult to land our canoes and awkward to unload them. It would be dark in a few hours in the ...

The magnificent beast had a hankering for salt lick.

Joseph Goldstein formed Kids for the Boundary Waters in Minnesota to protect the BWCA from mining contamination.

Paths between lakes over which you carry your canoe and gear, portages are the measuring stick of a trip's rigor. Long Portage in the BWCA is the test of tests.

Skeletal remains found in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last month are human, a medical examiner has confirmed, but identification of the ...

UPDATE: At 6 p.m. WTIP received an update from the Forest *Service*. According to Patty Johnson, Fire Management Officer on Gunflint and Tofte Ranger District, ...

Today: Jason Zabokrtsky of Ely Outfitting Company, who has a zeal for getting people into the wild. He started an essay contest last year for teenagers, with the ...

Notices of the death Sunday of former Minnesota U.S. Rep. and longtime Minneapolis Mayor Don Fraser at age 95 necessarily emphasized his extensive ...

In 1948, United States lawmakers passed the Thye-Blatnik Act to buy resorts and private lands in what would eventually be named the Boundary Waters Canoe ...

Skeletal remains found in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last month are human, a medical examiner has confirmed, but identification of the ...

The first-come, first-served reservation system was overwhelmed.

Forest *Service* updates message that is must-viewing for visitors. Sorry, gang: No bear.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A group of six Girl Scouts are trapped in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area after a severe storm ripped through the area Friday night.

A new reservation system for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permits malfunctioned not long after it went online Wednesday morning.

by Tom Coombe During a visit to Ely Tuesday that included meetings with those both for and against the Twin Metals Minnesota project, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D) ...

If you were hoping to book your permit next week for the 2019 paddling season in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, it turns out there's no rush.

The Trump administration has renewed mineral leases for a Chilean mining company that is pursuing a copper mine near Minnesota's Boundary Waters, the ...

The U.S. Forest *Service* says it has finally fixed the bugs in a new online reservation system for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness travelers that crashed ...

There are only a few more days left to weigh in on the Trump administration's recent proposal to renew two controversial mineral leases on the doorstep of the ...

On July 18, 2019, Twin Metals Minnesota suddenly announced it would use dry stacking for tailings waste at its proposed copper-nickel sulfide mine adjacent to ...

by Tom Coombe If Twin Metals Minnesota is permitted to develop a copper-nickel mine near Ely, it will be built with union labor. That was the backdrop for a ...

ELY – The Superior National Forest is taking a new look at the use of recreational commercial services on the Superior National Forest and some local outfitters ...

The U.S. Forest *Service* said Friday it will cancel and refund fees for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness permits made earlier this week on a new ...

After an unsuccessful attempt last week to launch a new system by which permits are purchased and secured for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness ...

The U.S. Forest *Service* says it's going to try reopening its new Boundary Waters Canoe Area permit reservation system on Feb. 27 after making a technical fix.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum wants the U.S. Forest *Service* to complete a study on the environmental effects of Twin Metals' controversial copper-nickel mine ...

The Trump administration should swiftly release the data, documents and analysis it relied on to make a controversial 2018 decision advancing copper mining ...

Information brief by the Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department The following summarizes the history of the major actions occurring in the ...

Minnesota's Sen. Tina Smith, along with State Rep. Rob Ecklund, right, visited Tuesday with Brian and Andrea Strom at the Crapola World Headquarters in Ely.

Conservation and economic development can coexist, something a hasty Obama administration decision precluded. The right process for reviewing mining ...

IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS — On a recent Thursday morning, the sun again failed to reveal itself. But the day was brighter than ...

The skeletal remains found last month in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are human. The remains were found at a campsite belonging to a New ...

Why has the EPA inexplicably approved a copper sulfide mine by the Boundary Waters despite not a single example where such mining has not left the ...

While hunters in the North can seem about as scarce as the bucks that call it home, this is where massive borealis deer thrive. Hunt the dense forests of the ...

Today: Joseph Goldstein, whose sense of environmentalism and love of the North Woods spawned his organization, Kids for the Boundary Waters, aka ...

The bill creating the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was signed 40 years ago this weekend. Decades later, the tension over natural resources and ...

What started as acknowledgement of the importance of our forested areas to our developing nation became a push for wilderness to stop all development.

Authorities in Minnesota say skeletal remains found in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are human. Authorities believe they are of a New Mexico ...

Slashing two national monuments in Utah may have received the most attention, but Trump's Interior Department and U.S. Forest *Service* have been quietly, ...

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Federal officials say they are starting over on accepting reservation for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northeastern ...

ELY – Officials with Twin Metals Minnesota and the Iron Range Building and Construction Trades Council gathered here this week to sign a formal project labor ...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A leading group in the opposition to a copper-nickel mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has hired a ...

Atmosphere, Doomtree, Cloud Cult, Low and Jeremy Messersmith will play the Wild Waters Music Fest at Bayfront Festival Park.

The U.S. Forest *Service* on Monday fixed its failed reservation system for trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), but ending what was a ...

I first saw the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in July 2014 from a seat in a U.S. Forest *Service* floatplane. Below me, stretching as far as I could see, ...

Americans lost big-time on May 15 when the Trump administration renewed two expired mineral leases for Chilean mining giant Antofagasta to mine sulfide-ore ...

Since February, Rep. Pete Stauber has been pushing a bill that would switch all reservations in the BWCA back to a lottery system — clashing with the Trump ...

Presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren took her pitch about fighting corruption in Washington and rebuilding the middle class to Minnesotans on Monday at ...