Fall 2006 - Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

FALL 2006
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VOLUME 29
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ISSUE 4
The Friends’ mission is to protect, preserve and restore the wilderness character of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
and the Quetico-Superior Ecosystem. The organization was founded in 1976.
Celebrate 30 Years
of Protecting a Quiet Place
“The BWCA is a land with great potential for spiritual regeneration.
On August 30th, 1976, we published our first newsletter. It was an
“The BWCA is the last large and relatively complete example of
appeal from the newly formed Friends of the Boundary Waters
the northern conifer forest ecosystem in the United States. It is a land
Wilderness for help.
where Canada Lynx, Pine Marten, Fisher, Moose, Black Bear, Beaver,
The newsletter was written entirely by Miron “Bud” Heinselman,
Otter, Bald Eagle, Raven, eastern Timber Wolf and other forest
a field ecologist who later wrote The Boundary Waters Wilderness
animals are present in full complement to the native vegetation. Here
Ecosystem, considered to be the model description of that ecosystem
in a living biological laboratory the relationship of these animals to
by current Friends Board member and University of Minnesota forest
their environment can be studied
ecologist, Lee Frelich. Lee writes
relatively free of man’s influence.
about this year’s fire later in this
“Logging and road-building
issue and Lee attributes much of
are destroying the last large
our knowledge about fire’s role
virgin wilderness in the eastern
in the wilderness to Bud’s
United States, and motorboat
research.
and snowmobile use are destroyIn 1976 fire burned through
ing the sense of peace and
some of the area we know as the
solitude in large portions of
Boundary Waters Canoe Area
the area. Mining remains an
Wilderness. But the appeal in our
ever-present threat.”
first newsletter wasn’t for help to
Help arrived, in part because
put out the fire. Bud knew that
of Bud’s words, which are still
fire was good for the ecosystem.
true and prophetic today. A bill
The appeal was for help
– Bud Heinselman
designating the 1,098,057 acre
to pass a bill in congress that
Boundary Waters Canoe Area
would create the Boundary
as the Boundary Waters Canoe
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Area Wilderness passed on October 14, 1978. One week later
The word “wilderness” was critical; it would determine the managePresident Carter signed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
ment, use, and legal protection of the area.
Act into law. The law intended to bring quiet to nearly 75 years of
Bud explained what was at stake. “The BWCA offers unique
land-use controversy. In a way, it did.
opportunities for recreation, wildlife, research, education, and
Honorable people still raise our voices in disagreement, even
inspiration. It is our only lakeland wilderness – a land where canoeist,
between friends. But now we all have this international treasure
hiker, snowshoer, and skier can leave the cares of urban life behind and
called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – a quiet place
experience Nature on her own terms – a land of rugged three-centurywhere we all can find peace – and that could make all the difference
old pines and jutting glacially-formed cliffs, dotted with a thousand
during the next 30 years, if help continues to arrive. There is still
pristine island-studded lakes – where the mournful howl of the wolf
much to do to keep it quiet.
and the haunting laughter of the loon enchant the senses of the visitor.
“It is our only lakeland
wilderness – a land where canoeist,
hiker, snowshoer, and skier can leave the
cares of urban life behind and experience
Nature on her own terms – a land with great
potential for spiritual regeneration.”
•
Masthead photo: JimBrandenburg.com • Printed on paper using 100% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine free.
Dear Friends:
On June 22nd we received an e-mail
message from one of our members that
has increased our resolve to protect and
preserve the Boundary Waters Canoe
Area Wilderness. The e-mail was sent
by Ryan Goei (Duluth, MN), who wrote:
“Dad, I miss the silence.”
Grace Ryan Goei in the Boundary Waters
Canoe Area Wilderness, August 2005
“My daughter Grace Ryan Goei
and I shared one of the most amazing
experiences together in the Boundary John Roth
Waters on Kawishiwi Lake last
summer. Easily the best time ever spent with my
daughter. She loved it more than anything she has
ever done. She often made us stop paddling the
canoe to float and ‘listen to the silence.’ Grace
never wept, but upon return from the BWCA, she
wept in her bed and begged me to take her back
so she could live there. She said sobbing, ‘Dad,
I miss the silence.’”
“Grace died in an accident when a
semi-truck came across the median of I-94 in
MI and struck our car on June 9, 2006, almost
two weeks ago. In her memory we asked
friends and family to make donations
to the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness to
help you protect and preserve the BWCA for future
generations and so that we might have the opportunity
to visit and commune with her memory.”
Experiences like that give
true meaning to our lives. But too
often wilderness travelers return
after their trips to their normal
lives and keep their experiences
much to themselves. Wilderness
travelers tend to be quiet folk.
We savor the experiences, the
quiet, and so don’t speak out
enough about the value of
wilderness and richness it gives
our lives. We can’t continue that
way. The wilderness, those precious areas of quiet, need our
constant and vocal support. We
need to tell our friends, our
families, the Forest Service,
our elected representatives –
everyone who will listen – that
the wilderness and places where
silence can be found must be protected for people like Grace and her
father and all others in the future. We can’t be quiet about that. The
wilderness needs us to speak out.
Since receiving that heartwrenching message, over forty
individuals and businesses have
sent us donations in Grace’s
honor. She was only seven years
old. It is to her memory that we
dedicate this newsletter and make
our steadfast commitment to protect the silence she so loved.
Indeed, in a world where noise
from motors and human activity is
almost everywhere, the preservation of those few remaining areas
where one can find quiet is critical.
In August I had the opportunity to have a short canoe trip in
the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness with my son. It, too,
was easily the best time I’ve spent
with him. While at camp we would often sit for hours without talking.
We would just stare across the lake or into the woods, reflecting on life
and the beauty of our surroundings. The silence was spectacular.
We need to tell our friends, our
families, the Forest Service, our elected
representatives – everyone who will
listen – that the wilderness and places
where silence can be found must be
protected for people like Grace and
her father, and for all others
in the future.
02 —
•
The Cavity Lake Fire and BWCAW Forests
By Lee E. Frelich
Forest Ecologist, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and
Board Member, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Seagull Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail lies within the rolling
pink granite hills of the Saganaga Batholith; the area has shallow rocky
soils that easily dry out after a few days without rain and has a long
history of large, intense forest fires. The occurrence of fires over the last
four centuries has been documented by the late BWCAW forest
ecologist Bud Heinselman. His data from fire scars on red, white and
jack pine trees, as well as total ages of trees that germinated after fires,
shows that parts of the area have been burned in 1595, 1692, 1727,
1747, 1801, 1815, 1854, 1864, 1903, 1910, 1918, 1976, 1995, and 2005
in addition to the prescribed burns of 2002-2004. Although all of these
fires did not burn the entire area, we do know that any given location
on the ground burned about once every 50-100 years. Thus, this year’s
Cavity Lake Fire ignited by lightning on July 14 was no surprise.
To put the Cavity Lake Fire in perspective, 2006 is the largest fire
year, in terms of total area burned in the BWCAW, since 1910, and the
Cavity Lake Fire, at about 50 square miles, is the largest single patch
that has burned since 1894. However, if one examines the fire history
of the BWCAW over the last several centuries, 2006 is still only a
moderately-large fire year. The Cavity Lake Fire is about half the size
of the fires of 1692 and 1801 that burned the same area around Seagull
Lake, and it has burned only 1/12 the area burned in 1864, the biggest
fire year on record in the BWCAW. If we examine the area burned over
the last century there is a large deficit in the total amount of fire as
compared to the 1600s to 1800s. This was caused by fire suppression,
a shift to a climate less conducive to fire, and changes in the landscape
surrounding the BWCAW, where many of the large historical fires
started before moving into the BWCAW. The Cavity Lake Fire
represents 3-4 years worth of fire in the BWCAW, using the 1600-1900
time period as a standard.
Pine and birch forest in the BWCAW
burn for 20-30 minutes before living tissue under the bark is killed.
Also, their foliage is held high above the forest floor, where it is less
likely to be consumed or scorched by fire than shorter tree species
such as jack pine, balsam fir and black spruce. If some of the old adult
red and white pines survive a fire, they can then shed their seeds onto
the forest floor over the next 1-2 decades, a period during which
brush that would otherwise compete with the new seedlings is less
abundant as a result of the fire. Thus, each time a fire occurs a new
cohort of seedlings enters the forest, so that red and white pine forests
tend to have trees of two or more age classes.
What type of future forests will develop in the 50 square miles
burned by the Cavity Lake Fire? Because this fire has mostly burned
forests that were leveled by the big blowdown of 1999, the cones of
most jack pine trees were down on the ground, and many seeds were
consumed by the fire rather than merely scorched. This will lead to a
Story continues on page 8, The Cavity Lake Fire
Why not log and then burn?
By Bud Heinselman, from our 1976 newsletter
200 year old red pines felled by 1999 blowdown
The BWCAW forest is fire-dependent; it is composed of a number
of tree species that require fire to reproduce. The three pines native to
the area, jack pine, red pine and white pine all reproduce best after
fire. Jack pine has serotinous cones held high in the crown that
open when scorched by a fire, shedding millions of seeds on the
burned forest floor and regenerating a young even-aged stand of
jack pine after a major fire. Red and white pine employ a different
strategy—they resist fire by means of thick bark that on older trees can
FRIENDS OF THE BOUNDARY WATERS WILDERNESS • FALL 2006
Logging followed by fire has far different ecological effects
from fire in the natural standing virgin forest. For example, if red
pine, white pine, jack pine or black spruce are cut for timber first,
when the slash-covered land is burned over their seeds are
destroyed, and it is then necessary to artificially re-seed or replant if these tress are to be regenerated. If this is not done, the
area will be taken over by aspen and birch.
In nature, jack pine and black spruce seeds are stored in closed
or semi-closed cones which open and re-seed the area after the
fire’s heat has unsealed their resin coating. Red and white pine are
very fire resistant, and seed-trees usually escape the fire to regenerate their kind. When a stand is burned after logging, the nutrients in the mature trees, which would have been recycled by fire,
are lost to the system in the timber that is carted off.
If we use logging before fire to manage the BWCA, there
is no way all the interactions of the natural ecosystem can be
duplicated. Although this (logging before fire) type of forestry is
proper in a managed forest or tree farm, it is clearly out of place
in a wilderness.
— 03
Thomas Flint Fund makes
a difference to 15 more kids
By Caron Gibson, Friends’ staff member
where groups plan their own routes; a packing area to
plan and pack food and supplies; and a canoe area that
is used for repairs as well as storage. Most of the canoes
used are wood-canvas canoes, which can weigh up to 85
lbs. After using a wood-canvas canoe, a Kevlar one feels
like a feather, but the Kevlar canoe isn’t often used due
to its vulnerability to rocks. There are many aspects to
running a YMCA camp year round and Paul seems to
come by it naturally.
After dinner and songs of celebration (“Lean on Me”
and “Let it Be”) the SAYLI groups headed to their
lodging to create skits to present at the campfire. The
boys’ skit focused on the numerous bugs that were
bugging them yet seemed invisible to their guide and
Sovatha. The girls focused on camping terminology and
language barriers. Their guide spoke to them in Spanish,
and when they told her they did not understand Spanish
she in turn explained she did not understand their native
SAYLI kids in a Voyageur canoe (not used on their trip) with Sovatha in the stern.
Hmong language. The compromise was to speak
On June 28th I had the pleasure of being a part of the Welcome
English. Examples of ambiguous terms at camp were “tarp,” which
Back celebration at YMCA Camp Menogyn, on Hungry Jack Lake off
was interpreted as “tart” and “stakes” as “Cub food steaks?” They
the Gunflint Trail. Fifteen kids from the Southeastern Asian Youth
also could not discern why they just didn’t iodine the whole lake to
Leadership Initiative had just returned from a wilderness canoe trip
purify water rather than individual water bottles.
with their leader/advocate Sovatha Oum. Sovatha is a Board member
I asked the two groups to share the best and worst of their
of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and is also the
experiences in the BWCAW. Portages and lunch were chosen as the
Multicultural Program Education Specialist at the Amherst H. Wilder
best; mosquitoes, hands down, were the worst. Everyone felt that they
Foundation, St. Paul, MN, where he directs the Southeast Asian
had grown from the wilderness adventure, mainly from the fact that
Youth Leadership Initiative (SAYLI).
the hands-on learning taught them they could be self-sufficient
Since 2002, these wilderness canoe trips have been sponsored by
mentally as well as physically. Many had felt that they might not be
the Thomas Flint Fund, in honor of the deceased son of one of
capable of meeting the challenge of venturing into the unknown with
our founding Board members. Friends of the Boundary Waters
unfamiliar people. Each found their true potential as well as areas in
Wilderness maintains the Thomas Flint Fund, which provides some of
which they needed to improve.
the necessary financial support for economically disadvantaged inner
All felt the experience broadened their perspective of life and
city youth, such as the kids from SAYLI, to experience the Boundary
helped them to empathize with what their parents went through
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
in war torn Laos. The wilderness taught them strength, respect,
The SAYLI group of eight young women and seven young
responsibility and team work. They learned that the unknown can be
men with whom I met were chosen by their peers to experience a
their ally, not their enemy. Throughout the adventure the groups
wilderness adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
always heeded the SAYLI golden rule: “The brother’s keeper takes
(BWCAW). These kids had only known each other for a year when
care of each other.”
they took the bus trip to Camp Menogyn. Yet, by the time I arrived
This generation will be inheriting the national treasures we leave
from the cities for their last night at the YMCA camp, they looked
them. They need to experience the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
like they had been friends forever.
Wilderness in order to see why we need to protect, preserve and
The girls had paddled a loop originating from Seagull Lake (site of
restore their heritage for future generations. The SAYLI program
this year’s fire two weeks later), and the boys began at Missing Links
ended on June 30, 2006 and will now be multi-cultural so that it
Lake and ended at Seagull Lake. Both groups traveled for five days.
includes inner city kids of African American, Asian, Caucasian and
Once the two groups had returned to Camp Menogyn, they took a sauna
Hispanic descent.
(I tried teaching them the pronunciation as "saw ~ nah"), followed by a
Due to a shift in priorities from within the Wilder Foundation, the
jump in the lake and then off to shower for the first time in a few days.
coordinating body for the Thomas Flint Fund trips, there will be less
One of the boys had a prosthetic, yet that did not deter him. With the
funding for these kinds of trips in the future. Therefore, Friends of the
challenges he has already faced in life, the trip to the BWCAW is only
Boundary Waters Wilderness wants to encourage its members to give
one of many goals he has planned to fulfill.
generously to the Thomas Flint Fund so that these wilderness trips
Paul Danicic, Camp Menogyn’s Director, gave me a tour of the
may continue for kids who wouldn’t have the chance for adventure
facilities while the group was occupied with acclimating back to
and development without this program.
semi-civilization. There is a dining hall with great cooks; a map room
•
04 —
How we make a difference
Six Minnesota High School Students
Win Friends’ Essay Contest
The first ever Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness
Minnesota state wide essay contest, Living for the Wild, based on
a curriculum designed to encourage students to explore their
connections between everyday outdoor places and more distant wild,
natural places, produced six winners. Each winner received a
$500 U.S. Savings Bond.
Four year ago, Friends’ Education Committee asked itself why the
majority of Americans feel a strong connection to distant wild lands
even if they never visit such places as the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, Yellowstone, Everglades, or the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness. Most of us have never been to a wilderness area, many
will never go. Yet we care deeply about wilderness.
Why do we care? What is this mysterious connection we have
to wild, natural places? Can we express it? What would happen if
we asked high school students to write about their connection?
Those were our questions as we developed Living for the Wild.
During the spring and summer of 2005, Living for the Wild was
promoted throughout Minnesota high schools and subsequently sent
to 244 teachers, grades 9 thru 12, who requested it for the 2005-2006
school year. The curriculum prepared students to write their essays,
and it included all necessary background materials for teachers.
Participating teachers nominated the top two essays per class for
Friends to judge, two winners per grade. Nominated essays were
based on the author’s: 1. writing skill; 2. originality; and 3. ability to
make the connection between everyday outdoor places and more
distant wild and natural places. We received 50 essays from students
in grades 9 thru 12. During two rounds of judging six winners
were chosen – two each from grades 9, 10, and 12. Winners were
contacted in late May 2006.
Winners were Rorie Arnold, grade 9, Meghan Oakes, grade 9,
whose essay “Mistfire Mornings” is included on the next page of this
newsletter, and Rachel Roe, grade 10, all from Harbor City
International School in Duluth; Amanda John, grade 10, from Eden
Prairie High School; Nat Shepard, grade 12, from Central High in
Saint Paul; and Jeff Hughes, grade 12, from Andover High, whose
essay “I am Out to Sea” is included on this page of this newsletter.
All winning essays can be found on our website.
Friends hopes Living for the Wild will become a long-term
curriculum and tool for helping students understand and express
their connections to wilderness. In that way, respect for America’s
wilderness will be strengthened for generations to come.
The Larson Foundation of West Hartford, CT, and Friends of the
Boundary Waters Wilderness sponsored Living for the Wild.
•
Early morning mist and breakfast on the rocks in the BWCAW
FRIENDS OF THE BOUNDARY WATERS WILDERNESS • FALL 2006
The story below, by distinguished anthropologist Loren Eiseley,
reminds us how we make a difference – one person at a time.
The Star Thrower
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the
ocean to walk on the beach before he began his work each day. One
day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and
saw a human figure moving like a dancer.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was a young man, and
that what he was doing was not dancing but reaching down to the
sand, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean. He
came closer and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that
you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish
into the ocean.”
“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
And the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going
out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man,
do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are
starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!”
At this, the young man bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a
difference for that one.”
•
I Am Out to Sea
By Jeff Hughes, Andover High School, 12th Grade
Living for the Wild essay winner.
I awake with the sun. The morning dew allows me to slip my canoe
noiselessly towards the shoreline. I slip my canoe into the water; it
causes the glassy surface to ripple, as I paddle away from the world.
An eagle lazily stretches its wings, soaring to welcome the morning.
A kingfisher swoops to the surface, retrieving his breakfast. I paddle,
within five minutes everything in the world has been forgotten.
I am now a mere part of the lake I am so fond of.
The fish jump and swirl, I cast. The line flies purposefully,
spraying a cool stream of water on my hands. The fish give chase to
my lure, following and darting away. It is a dance we have played out
many times. Eventually it bites, I spend minutes relishing the fight,
retrieving my prize, oniy to let her go. As she swims away,
I head home. We will meet again, and we shall play our parts in
this endless chain.
My lake is my backyard, it has always been there for me, and always
will be. The ducks and the fish, the plants, all are perfectly intertwined;
all are at peace with themselves. I can find peace in these waters, every
stress and pressure of life melts away as I coast aimlessly about. I am
two minutes from my house, but I am a million miles to sea.
It is this placid region, only moments from my home, where I can
briefly enjoy the solitude I lack in the city where I live. This lake, a
seemingly pointless puddle in the Minnesota scenery is where
I am reminded of the wilderness. Without this minute escape from
civilization, I put nature out of my mind. I need these waters to
gently awaken my senses to the true wilderness areas around. Only a
handful of true wilderness areas remain, they are as important as any
piece of land. If we as humans are to remain sane, and true to this
earth, then we need our everyday wild place to keep thoughts of the
true untamed wilderness fresh in our minds. If we lose our conscious
thoughts about the wilderness, then we lose the wilderness itself.
•
— 05
Mistfire Mornings
What does a Wilderness Specialist do?
By Meghan Oakes, Harbor City International School, 9th Grade
Living for the Wild essay winner
By Duane Lula
Recreation and Wilderness Project Manager, U.S. Forest Service
Bleary eyed and slightly flustered, I stumble from my home, offbalanced by a large, overstuffed backpack precariously perched on
one shoulder. I look like a three legged tortoise as I make my way to
my bus stop. One icy block later I am at my stop, standing in the
stomped-out place where I stood yesterday and the day before. This is
the place where I spend my mornings, where I wake up and clear the
rotting fuzzies from my thoughts. This is the place where my mind and
the beauty of the new morning can take me to a primeval world of
untamed glory and wild things.
This morning’s sun has just risen above the floating mist on the
lake I can see from my station through the leafless trees. A frozen
strand of hair rudely pokes me in the eye as the wind stirs through the
trees across the black river road that lies in front of me. Watching over
my shoulder a towering pine stands guard, its tall peak much higher
than the other surrounding pines whose tops have been cut off due to
the power lines that run down the street and provide perches for the
same four black birds every morning. The black river road parts in
front of me. It eddies and swirls smoothly into a silver stream that
curves behind me towards a row of silent houses, and its other fork
becomes rough gravel, dusty in the warm seasons. Just before the river
roughens into gravel the row of stunted pines ends abruptly, making
way for a hidden road that slopes down into what seems to be a grove.
The occasional truck rumbles past, disturbing my peace with its
growling and smog. The sun is alight on the mist now, creating the illusion of a bursting star upon the hidden water, a brilliant conflagration
that captures, for a moment, the glory of morning. I inhale; a wave of
peace overwhelms me. I am brought back to all the magnificent
forests that I have seen in nature programs, read about in books, captured in my mind: places of untamed perfection.
The clumsy start to my day is always followed by a display of
nature’s splendor and beauty. There, in my stomped-out hole, I am
reminded. A bus stop is not the most obvious place to become connected with the wild places of the world, but in my little stomped-out
perch, all it takes is one of those mistfire sunrises to be reminded of
the grandeur of the long past and far-off greater wild.
In the Superior National Forest, the Forest Service manages many
different natural resources, and employs wildlife biologists, foresters,
geologists, hydrologists, and a host of other resource specialists.
Because the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) is
such a large and important part of the Superior National Forest, the
Forest Service has a large staff dedicated to managing the wilderness.
While many people deal with specific tasks needed to manage the
wilderness, there is one person who coordinates and keeps an eye on
the entire wilderness and its management. That person is Wilderness
Specialist, Ann Schwaller, who works in the Superior National Forest
Supervisor’s office in Duluth, Minnesota.
Ann has been working in Minnesota for about a year and a half.
She came to the Boundary Waters with an extensive background in
wilderness management, having worked on the Salmo-Priest
Wilderness in Washington, the Anaconda-Pintler in Montana, Grand
Canyon in Arizona, the LaGarita and Weminuche in Colorado, and the
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho. Ann has undergraduate degrees
in photojournalism and natural resources and conservation, and a
Master’s degree in wilderness and recreation management. With a
wilderness as large, complex and sometimes controversial as the
BWCAW, there is no typical day in the life of a Wilderness Specialist.
The BWCAW has 200,000 visitors annually. Making sure that all of
those visitors can get a reservation, get correct visitor information,
understand wilderness rules and ethics, collect their permit, find a
campsite each day, and experience the unique character of the
BWCAW is all part of Ann’s job. An even more important task is
ensuring the protection of the wilderness as an ecosystem.
•
Geologically the BWCAW occupies the lower portion of the
Canadian Shield. It is located on the remains of the ancient
Laurentian Mountains, some of the oldest rock in North
America. The Laurentian Divide separates two major drainage
basins in the BWCAW: the Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes.
About 90% of the BWCAW lies with in the Hudson Bay basin
and the remaining 10% flows into the Great Lakes. The
BWCAW contains the highest point in Minnesota: Eagle
Mountain (2,301 feet).
Leave A Legacy
Include Friends In Your Estate Plans
If you or your advisor would like information on how to name
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness as a beneficiary of your
estate or about the benefits of a planned gift, please call 612-332-9630
or email the Friends at info@friends-bwca.org.
Two good resources for general information on planned giving are:
Minnesota Tool Kit for Giving at: www.minnesotagiving.org and
Leave a Legacy Minnesota at: www.leavealegacyminnesota.org.
•
06 —
Excerpts from a day in the life of a Wilderness Specialist:
• Developing wilderness and visitor management plans.
• Coordinating and approving wilderness research applications.
• Providing leadership in wilderness training for
Forest Service employees.
• Developing and implement wilderness visitor education,
such as the Leave No Trace video that was cooperatively
developed with several groups, including the Friends.
• Developing partnerships with other governments, wilderness
groups and other interest groups to further wilderness
protection and management.
• Providing wilderness expertise and advice to District Rangers
and their field staff.
• Developing and implementing a program to achieve the
10 Year Wilderness Challenge.
• Finding answers to the tough technical and philosophical
questions that visitors sometimes ask.
Ten percent of all visitors to our nation's National Wilderness
Preservation System come to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness, though it represents just 1% of the 104 million protected
acres among 630 places in 44 states. It is the only large lake-land
wilderness in the country.
Visitor studies indicate the top motives for visiting the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are nature appreciation, personal
development, escape/solitude, companionship, adventure, and
fishing. Fortunately for all visitors, Wilderness Specialist Ann
Schwaller is helping the Forest Service make sure that all who come
will continue find these qualities in the Boundary Waters Canoe
Area Wilderness.
•
Issues Update
Echo Trail Logging
South Fowl Lake Snowmobile Trail
As part of the General Management Plan, the Forest Service
South Fowl Lake is on the farthest eastern end of the wilderness
proposes logging along the Echo Trail west of Ely in some places
boundary separating the U.S. from Canada. Two miles directly west of
adjacent to the wilderness. Friends, along with other groups,
South Fowl Lake is McFarland Lake. Twenty private homes surround
commented on the draft Environmental Impact Statement published
McFarland. Between the two lakes is a thumb-shaped section of
this spring. Today we are waiting to read the Forest Service’s final
wilderness. In the years since the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Environmental Impact Statement. Friends is doing all it can to work
Wilderness Act of 1978 established the wilderness boundary and use
with the Forest Service to find a solution to proposed logging in
restrictions, snowmobilers have illegally driven on a preexisting
roadless areas along the Echo Trail.
trail between McFarland and South Fowl lakes through that
thumb-shaped section of wilderness. Last year the Forest Service
Mining
asked for public input to decide whether to build a new trail or widen
Currently
there
are
at
least
five proposed mining operations south
an existing trail, both outside the wilderness, to access South Fowl
and west of the wilderness. Questions being asked by environmental
Lake. After much debate from all sides, this spring the Forest Service
organizations are How much heavy industry is too much for
announced it would build the new trail along a high ridge above Royle
Northeastern Minnesota's natuLake and within a few hundred
ral resources? And what might
feet of the wilderness. It is the
the combined effects be on the
shortest route between
region's air and water quality,
McFarland and South Fowl
wetlands, wildlife and forests if
Lakes. Friends argued for
“The laws that apply to the Boundary Waters, the manage- all or some of the projects
widening an existing trail one
mile south of the proposed
ment system that administers it, the map boundaries defining advance? Friends is a part of a
coalition of groups that will
new trail for a variety of
it, and the emotions surrounding it are all very complex.
insure these questions are debatenvironmental reasons – chiefly,
“The lakes, flora, and fauna of the Boundary Waters have ed satisfactorily while permitpreserving quiet in the wilderness.
their own set of complex laws to live by. Unwritten and ting processes work through the
As the issue stands today, the
Izaak Walton League and other
unspoken, their laws have prevailed for thousands of years Minnesota D e p a r t m e n t o f
Natural Resources, Minnesota
groups have filed suit to prevent
and have maintained a place of incredible beauty, variety, Pollution Control Agency, Forest
the implementation of the Forest
and stability.
Service and Corps of Engineers.
Service’s plan.
“The Boundary Waters is a clear reminder of how little we We will require these public
General Management
know about the intricate relationships of the natural world. agencies to say "NO" to any and
all proposals if the most stringent
Plan for Superior
Because much of the Boundary Waters is still a complete controls and guarantees are not
National Forest
natural ecosystem, it is a rare laboratory in which man can firmly in place. We will help our
By law the General
members and the public-at-large
study those relationships.
Management Plan for the
“There will never be a law so perfect and immutable that learn about the consumer
Superior National Forest must
demand for the minerals, so as
the Boundary Waters can be considered "saved" forever. But consumers we can find ways to
be revised at least every 15 years.
The most recent 2004 revision
good protective laws and informed citizens can do the job.”
reduce the demand, perhaps
was initiated by the Forest
even eliminate the demand.
– By Bud Heinselman
Service in 1997. In conjunction
Condensed from Bud’s 1976 newsletter article “In Conclusion”
with the revision, in 2003 the
Please see Issues Updates
Forest Service began preparing
on
our website for ongoing
a draft Environmental Impact
updates
of all issues that
Statement (EIS). A broad
affect
the
Boundary Waters
coalition of environmental
Canoe
Area
Wilderness.
groups, including Friends, commented on the EIS. There was no
provision for keeping logging out of roadless areas identified by
Friends and President Clinton’s Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
The Rule listed 62,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas, most of
which are adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Because of its unique characteristics the BWCAW was
Overriding our objections, the Forest Service approved the Plan in
included
in a list of the 50 greatest places to visit in a lifetime put
July 2004. In November 2005, a group of plaintiffs, including Friends,
together
by
the National Geographic Society in 1999. The NGS
filed an Administrative Appeal of the Forest Service’s approval of the
identified destinations that "no curious traveler should miss" and
Plan. In August 2005, our appeal was rejected. On August 15th, 2006,
the BWCAW was included alongside places such Antarctica,
a coalition of plaintiffs, including Friends, filed a lawsuit requiring the
the Amazon, the Grand Canyon, the Giza pyramids, the Great
Forest Service to improve the Plan by, for example, protecting the
Wall of China and the Taj Mahal.
wilderness from the noise of logging on adjacent roadless areas.
•
FRIENDS OF THE BOUNDARY WATERS WILDERNESS • FALL 2006
— 07
The Cavity Lake Fire Story continued from page 3.
lower proportion of jack pine in the future forest than there was
historically. There are a number of groves of red and white pine near
lakeshores that survived the big blowdown, and if they also survive the
Cavity Lake Fire (it is too early to tell as I write this article) they will
be able to shed their seeds up to 1/4 mile in every direction,
creating future stands of those species. Based on my experience with
the blowdown and the prescribed burns of 2002-2003, paper birch
will likely be the big winner within the Cavity Lake Fire. This is
because paper birch is one of the species most resistant to windthrow.
Adult seed-bearing trees are prolific seed producers. Their seeds can
blow for miles on the wind, perhaps even arriving from outside the
burned area, and its seedlings do very well on charcoal created by
fires. Thus, as a forest ecologist, I predict that a birch forest, with some
pines, and a few other conifers that also have a surviving seed source
along lakeshores (balsam fir, black spruce, white cedar) will predominate
in the area. The pines have really taken a hit in the BWCAW over the
last century due to logging before the area was designated as
wilderness, the lack of fire for most of the 20th Century, and the big
blowdown. The chances for recovery of pines are modest in the Cavity
Lake Fire, but they have no chance at all without fire. The unburned
parts of the blowdown are densely stocked with thickets of hazel,
dogwood, and saplings of balsam fir that are preventing reproduction
of the pines.
There will also be more area of exposed rock on hilltops, because the
soil in those areas consisted of moss which creeps out from the
surrounding forest in the absence of fire, but was burned away by the
fire. It is a natural state of things for hilltops on the Canadian Shield
to fluctuate back and forth from moss cover to bare rock in response to
Staff:
Caron Gibson
John Roth
Randolph Tatum
Wever Weed
Board of Directors:
Scott Anderegg
Doug Anderson
Gustave Axelson
Paul Aslanian
Jeff Evans
Lee Frelich
Peter Jung
Darrell Knuffke
Lynn MacLean
Mike Matz
Jon Nelson
Sovatha Oum
Mary Probst
Carolyn Sampson
Steve Snyder
Kris Wegerson
Honorary Board Members:
Richard Flint
Herb Johnson
Jon Nelson
Becky Rom
Minnesota Environmental Fund
Helps Protect the BWCAW
If your company does not have MEF as a giving option,
please contact Friends at 612-332-9630.
fires. Another
feature of interest after boreal
forest fires is a
native species
of geranium, Bicknell’s Geranium
Bicknell’s Geranium, the seeds of which have been buried in the soil
since the last fire. When fire burns off the duff, these seeds are exposed
to sunlight and they germinate in vast numbers, covering the forest floor
with geranium plants and their bright pink to magenta flowers. On
Threemile Island in Seagull Lake, these geraniums covered the landscape after the prescribed burn of 2002, even in areas where the last fire
was in 1801 or 1864, so that the seeds were up to 200 years old.
The Cavity Lake Fire is the biggest fire in a century in the BWCAW.
It will allow us to see the type of post-fire landscape that was common in
the days of the Voyageurs. It has also initiated 50 square miles of new
forest and will afford a major opportunity for research into how fires
impact forest growth and development. As a forest ecologist at a major
university, I will be involved with this research for the foreseeable future.
My research program in the Seagull Lake area began in 1991 with the
help of Bud Heinselman, and started out as an examination of structure
and function of old growth pine forests. Those old growth forests were
leveled by the 1999 blowdown, and we established more than 700 plots
to monitor forest response to the blowdown. Those plots were burned
by the Cavity Lake Fire on July 16 and 17, and have now become the best
pre-fire data set anyone could possibly ask for. Once again Mother
Nature has provided a major disturbance and changed the look of the
landscape and the direction of our research program.
401 N. Third Street, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-1475
P: 612.332.9630
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