It’s a logical question and there are certainly other things we would rather be doing, like getting ready to go on our first canoe trip in the Boundary Waters as the ice begins to melt. With cars whipping past and the steady cadence of my pedals whirling I came to the conclusion that there are really several reasons that we are “doing this again”. The most important reason is that the Boundary Waters needs our help now more than ever. Paddle to DC, and then our Year in the Wilderness, helped the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters and their partner organizations make a lot of progress towards permanently protecting the Boundary Waters watershed from copper mining, but there is still a lot of work to do. Right now the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM are in the middle of a 2 year scientific review and at the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019 they will decide if copper mining will be allowed in along the edge of the Wilderness, or if the Boundary Waters will remain protected from what the EPA considers our nation’s most polluting industry. A copper mine has never been built anywhere in the world without polluting the water, so a lot is at stake and actions taken during the next year will have ramifications that will last for generations. We can’t stand on the sidelines, we all have to jump in and act. We are putting our skills as adventurers and storytellers to work by Pedaling to DC and inspiring folks across the country to stand up for their public lands and their wilderness by speaking loudly for the BWCA.
Follow the link in our bio to get involved.
