EDITOR’S NOTE: UPDATE: An earlier version of this story tagged this as a “Special Report,” which is an apt description, but I’ve changed that tag to “Editorial” to avoid any confusion for readers, as the writing is editorial in nature. … This site was created to celebrate the confluence of psychedelic music, art and nature. For more than 20 years, conservation was a main focus of my journalism career. The Boundary Waters, more than anything, drew me to Minnesota. While politics have not been a focus of this site, I won’t sit by idly as this Administration and Rep. Pete Stauber attempt to ruin the natural place that I hold as most sacred to my own spirit.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. —
About 300 people filled the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda Thursday to protest the assault that U.S. House Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Duluth), Republicans and the Trump Administration are waging on Minnesota’s crown jewel: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the vast, undeveloped and sensitive lake country along the border of Canada.
Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith was not shy in calling out Republican attempts to do away with protections for the Boundary Waters. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) led the charge as the top speaker, and she had fiery words for those who seek to erode environmental protection to chiefly benefit a Chilean mining company, Antofagasta Minerals, and its subsidiary, Twin Metals.
The science is clear: No mining company has ever done sulfide mining without causing irreparable environmental damage. Some mining shills will try to BS various arguments about letting science figure out this problem. I’m all in favor of science, but this is not the place to experiment. Sulfide mining releases acid and toxic metals which cause lasting environmental damage. It’s why the mining company Polymet, in a nearby proposal inside the Lake Superior watershed, said it would have to capture and treat polluted water for 500 years. The industry’s greed and insistence on mining here illustrates their incompetence and lack of fitness to maintain such a precarious system for 5 minutes, much less 5 centuries.
The BWCAW is a million acres of undeveloped precious woods, lakes, streams and wildlife, a place where wolves, bears and moose roam. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
A few days ago, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee passed legislation, part of a reconciliation bill, that would rescind an order that canceled all leases in the Boundary Waters watershed on Superior National Forest lands. That order, established in 2023, placed a 20-year moratorium on mining leases in the area.
This session, Stauber attempted to pass legislation that would have ended the mining moratorium and reestablish leases owned by Twin Metals. His legislation failed to pass the Senate.
Among attendees were sportsmen, including several conservation organizations, who wanted to send a message to any who would risk irreparable harm to a sensitive natural treasure that belongs to every American. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
But Republicans couldn’t resist the temptation to use the committee process to savagely slide this legislation into what is supposed to be a budget bill, all while cynically attempting to sell this as “responsibly unleashing American resources,” as Stauber irresponsibly said. Here are his listed office contact lines for DC: (202) 225-6211; and Hermantown: (218) 481-6396.
“I am here to say with all of you, hell no!” said Smith, who recently introduced her own legislation to protect the BWCAW from mining.
Rob Drieslein, publisher and co-owner of Outdoor News, emceed the rally. He, like all of the speakers, were fired up about this attack on our public lands. He’s been a supporter of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a progressive Montana-based conservation group with a strong Minnesota chapter that has staunchly defended public lands in an unforgiving political landscape that has seen conservatives punished severely for defending conservation whenever it runs up against the Republican agenda.
The event was emceed by Rob Drieslein, publisher and co-owner of Outdoor News, the weekly conservation newspaper that I worked at as an assistant editor and reporter until leaving to launch www.jaminthestream.com in early 2023.
One of the most powerful speakers at the rally was Tony Jones, a pastor from Edina and author of The God of Wild Places and host of The Reverend Hunter podcast.
Tony Jones, host of The Reverend Hunter podcast, spoke powerfully about how special the Boundary Waters are to all Americans. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
“Sigurd Olson — or as I call him, St. Sigurd, knew that these waters are magic,” Jones said, referencing an early conservation hero instrumental in the forming of this federal wilderness area, which was established in 1978 under President Jimmy Carter. It sits inside the Superior National Forest, which President Theodore Roosevelt had the foresight to create in 1909.
“Here’s something interesting about Sigurd’s fierce advocacy for the BWCA: of course, he cared for the creatures and critters that inhabit the wilderness, the flora and fauna. But if you read him closely, you’ll see he fought for the wilderness because he knew that we need it.”
Canoes are the main mode of transportation in the BWCAW, and the lakes are connected via portage trails. PHOTO BY JAVIER SERNA/@jaminthestream
Jones, who said he drinks directly out of lakes while on BWCAW trips, shared his written remarks with me, which included this Olson passage.
“There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe. A magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. ”
While Minnesota’s Iron Range has a long, rich history with significant contribution to this country’s iron needs and mining has had widespread support among Minnesotans of both parties, the proposed mining adjacent to the BWCAW has minuscule support in this state, but for the likes of Stauber, mining interests, and a few that stand to benefit from its ruin. Even polling by Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s top pollster, revealed just that during Trump’s first term.
About 300 people filled into the Minnesota Capitol Rotunda.
But Republicans seek to take advantage of a filibuster-less Senate.
Those protesting Thursday were riled up.
Mark Kenyon, host of MeatEater’s Wired to Hunt podcast.
“When they ask us what we did in this incredible moment, let’s make sure we have a damn good answer,” said Mark Kenyon, host of the MeatEater’s Wired to Hunt podcast, one of the speakers at the rally.
Ingrid Lyons, executive director of the Save the Boundary Waters, was the last speaker.
The event was organized by Save the Boundary Waters, Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters, MN Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Minnesota Conservation Federation, National Parks Conservation Association, MN Trout Unlimited, Trust for Public Land, Voyageurs Conservancy and Audubon Society.
Though any new mining leases in the BWCAW watershed would also need state approval, including the governor’s signature, the thought of such a decision coming down to which party holds office is unacceptable. The concept of allowing a federally protected natural treasure to be polluted by a mining conglomerate, much less a foreign one, is treacherous.
There is a reason the likes of Roosevelt, Olson and Carter, among many others, such as Vice President Walter Mondale, all had the foresight to set aside these sacred woods and waters.
It wasn’t to line the pockets of foreign billionaires.
