The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park in northeast Minnesota are irreplaceable natural treasures vitally important for people and the planet.
Thankfully, in January, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland protected federal land around the Boundary Waters from destructive mining for 20 years.
But the Boundary Waters faces continued threats and attacks: we call on you to oppose and defeat Rep. Stauber’s anti-Boundary Waters bill H.R. 3195. This bill puts America’s most popular wilderness at risk by opening the headwaters to sulfide-ore copper mining—a destructive and poisonous type of mining that has never been done before in Minnesota.
Rep. Stauber’s efforts go directly against the robust science, overwhelming public support, and the sound legal basis of wilderness protection. This legislation also sets a dangerous precedent for all our nation’s cherished places.
Protecting the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs is the right thing to do. This irreplaceable and critical landscape and deserves the protections recently set out by the Biden administration. Rep. Stauber’s to roll back vital protections shows the necessity of permanently protecting the Boundary Waters watershed through an Act of Congress. We stand by to support you in opposing Rep. Stauber’s bill and ensuring the Boundary Waters and Voyageurs will be protected for all generations to come.
Why is this important?
The Boundary Waters region in northeast Minnesota is a vast wildland refuge critical to people and the planet. The Boundary Waters Wilderness is a rare treasure: a million acres of pristine lakes and forests, unmarred by roads, development, and most motorized use. Yet uniquely accessible to people of all backgrounds and abilities - making it the most visited Wilderness in the entire U.S. and the backbone of the sustainable regional economy.
Anishinaabe people (also known in this region as Chippewa or Ojibwe) have lived in the area for countless generations and have a deep relationship to these lands and waters. Indigenous people continue to harvest wild rice in the Boundary Waters region and maintain treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather. As sovereign nations, tribes play a central role in protecting the Boundary Waters.
This wild and beautiful place is threatened by copper mining, but we can protect it forever if people take action and “speak loudly for this quiet place.”
Visit www.SavetheBoundaryWaters.org to learn more.
