The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is the most visited wilderness in America. You can drink the water straight from the lake without filtering it. You can paddle for days without hearing a single manmade sound. And right now, it’s under threat.

Sam Chadwick — Associate Director of Save the Boundary Waters — joins me to talk about the proposed copper mining at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters, what the House of Representatives just did to undo a hard-won protection, and what we can do before the Senate votes.

A note from Missy: This one hit me hard. The Boundary Waters sits right next to Voyageurs National Park — a place I fell in love with in Episode 60. The idea that copper mining could be approved at its headwaters, with water flowing directly back through the wilderness, is devastating. Sam makes it very clear what’s at stake — and more importantly, exactly how to act. Call your senators. Use the Five Calls app. Do it today.

E64 - website image

Episode Guest

Sam Chadwick, Associate Director
Save the Boundary Waters

Key Facts

  • The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: northern Minnesota, bordering Canada. Adjacent to Quetico Provincial Park (Canada) and Voyageurs National Park. Approximately 4 million acres of fairly wild public land in the region.
  • Most visited wilderness in America
  • You can drink the water straight from the deep lakes without filtering — no industrial pollution
  • People have lived and traveled here for thousands of years — it is not “untouched,” but it is in its wild state
  • 2023: 20-year ban placed on copper mining on 225,000 acres of federal land at the headwaters after years of study, public input, and expert scientific and economic review. Mining leases canceled.
  • January 2026: House of Representatives passed a joint resolution using the Congressional Review Act to undo the ban — the FIRST TIME this mechanism has ever been used to undo a protection like this
  • Senate vote pending at time of recording — could pass with a simple majority
  • The mining company had been test drilling on property adjacent to Outward Bound’s main base
  • The Koi River flows from inside the wilderness boundary, by the proposed mine site, and back downstream into the wilderness — meaning pollution would flow directly through protected waters
  • There has never been copper mining in Minnesota. Copper deposits are typically found in rock and mined in a way that can be much more dangerous to the environment than iron/taconite mining.
  • Minnesota state bird is the loon — with very sensitive hearing; loon calls can be heard miles away on quiet days
  • Potential impacts: water pollution (all copper mines pollute), industrial noise, habitat fragmentation, light pollution, waste rock heaps visible above tree line on shore of Birch Lake

Actions Listeners Can Take

  • Call your senators — repeatedly. DC office AND in-state offices. The staff records your opinion.
  • Use the Five Calls app — provides scripts, links your zip code to your representatives
  • If you’re a business impacted by the region, call your senators — economic voices matter
  • Encourage friends in other states to call their own senators
  • Share your outdoor experiences on social media — parks unite people across politics
  • Visit the Boundary Waters (saveboundarywaters.org for more information)
  • Reference: E25 Sandra Ramos / National Park Patch Lady episode on political advocacy

Show Notes & Links

Episode Transcript

Save the Boundary Waters — Fighting to Protect America’s Most Visited Wilderness
The Parks Podcast, Episode 64 | Sam Chadwick, Associate Director, Save the Boundary Waters

Missy Rentz: I’m really excited to welcome Sam Chadwick to The Parks Podcast. Sam is the Associate Director of Save the Boundary Waters, and as many of you know, the Boundary Waters are under attack right now. Sam, welcome to The Parks Podcast.

Sam Chadwick: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Missy: My social feed has been filled since January about this attack on the Boundary Waters and the current threat this administration is making towards it. What is it?

Sam: What’s catching the headlines right now is the US Congress is looking at rolling back a mining ban at the headwaters of the Boundary Waters. There’s proposed copper mining right on the edge of the wilderness, where the waterways flow downstream right into the wilderness and along the international border at Voyageurs National Park.

Sam: Right now there is a ban that was put in place after much review — public input, scientific and economic input. In 2023, they banned copper mining on 225,000 acres or so of federal public land in that vulnerable area. They removed that from the federal leasing program. And now Congress has taken action and passed in the House of Representatives a resolution that undoes that ban. This is a joint resolution that’s now likely to be heard and voted on in the US Senate in the coming weeks. That’s the alarming proposal on the table.

What the Boundary Waters Is

Missy: Let’s take a step back and talk about the Boundary Waters broadly so people understand where it is and what it is.

Sam: The Boundary Waters is this federal wilderness on the northernmost part of Minnesota. It borders Canada, and then Canada has a wilderness park — Quetico — on the other side of the border, and it’s connected to Voyageurs National Park. So you have a surrounding national forest, about 4 million acres of fairly wild public land. The Boundary Waters as a wilderness area doesn’t have very many roads or motors, just on the edge lakes. It’s a beautiful, wild wilderness area.

Missy: And I’ve read that there are a lot of untouched areas. Is that right?

Sam: The Boundary Waters is fairly accessible for a wilderness area — it’s the most visited wilderness in America, if you can believe that. It’s a few hours from Minneapolis, a major international airport. People from the Midwest, from Chicago, from Iowa can drive there in a day and get in a boat. You don’t have to be an expert. But it is remote in that you can go in there and not see people for a few days if you do a canoe trip into the backcountry. One important thing: people have been living and traveling through the Boundary Waters for many thousands of years. I wouldn’t say it’s untouched — native people and many visitors now go there, but they leave it in its wild state. You can drink the water straight from the lake in the deep lakes without filtering it. People do, because there’s no industrial pollution. It’s a place where you can go and not hear the sounds of jets or machinery or traffic. It’s actually been awarded recognition for the number of minutes or hours you can go without hearing any manmade noise.

The 2023 Mining Ban — and How the House Just Undid It

Missy: In 2023 there was a 20-year moratorium on mining that went into effect. What was the catalyst?

Sam: For many decades, mining companies have held federal mineral leases on the southern edge of the Boundary Waters and its headwaters. In 2012 and 2013, our local group challenged those old leases. We helped build a national movement — with businesses and organizations around the country — to send the message that this is the wrong place for a copper mining district on the edge of America’s most visited wilderness. We went to DC, we still go to DC like every month. The Obama administration and then the Biden administration took a hard look at whether this is the right or wrong place for copper mining — and initiated the same kind of process that has been done to protect other landscapes near precious outdoor areas like the Grand Canyon, the Methow Valley, the Livingston Valley near Yellowstone. Years of study by experts, listening sessions, public comment periods. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in that process leading up to 2023, when those old leases were canceled and the ban was put in place.

Missy: What does it do to mine copper near the Boundary Waters? What does it do to the environment?

Sam: There has never actually been copper mining in Minnesota or near the Boundary Waters. We have a long history of iron and taconite mining in parts of Minnesota, but not copper mining. And the copper deposits are typically found in rock and mined in a way that can be much more dangerous to the environment. The mining company was at one point test drilling in the driveway of Outward Bound — one of their main bases is right on the path of pollution. The water there flows through the Koi River, which comes out of the designated wilderness area through lakes and rivers on the edge of the Boundary Waters, and then back through a chain of lakes into the Boundary Waters again. Water from the wilderness would flow by a mine site there, and then back downstream towards the wilderness.

Sam: The impacts you’d get from a mining zone there — water pollution is the chief concern. All copper mines pollute, and in this water-rich, interconnected area, it’s just very vulnerable. And then you have other impacts: building an industrial site there, potentially storing the waste rock that they pull out of the earth in heaps you can see above the tree line on the shore of Birch Lake. Noise pollution from drilling and blasting and machinery. Habitat fragmentation. Just a lot of cascading impacts right on the edge of a wilderness area where it would be felt not only there but through the invisible wilderness boundary — where it’s supposed to be protected and not interrupted in any way. That’s what wilderness means: no degradation of its air, water quality, or wilderness character.

Missy: And I would think it also has an impact on the plant and animal life in the region.

Sam: Yeah. A lot of the input that went into these studies were about the impact on fisheries and on the bird life. Our state bird is the loon. They have very sensitive hearing, and their calls can be heard on quiet days miles and miles away. Machinery noise and habitat fragmentation can impact the critters quite a lot.

Missy: So on January 21st, the House of Representatives passed this joint resolution. And so now it goes to the Senate. Do we know when?

Sam: First I want to say — this is the first time this mechanism has ever been used to undo a protection like this. The administration went through the formal legal process to designate this area as protected. And the Congressional Review Act is now being used to just say nope to an administrative protection — that’s never been done before for a mining ban. So that’s really concerning, and it could pass in the Senate with a simple vote because of this mechanism.

Sam: We don’t know exactly when the vote will be. It’s really important that people are calling their senators wherever they live, and asking your friends in other states to call their own senators too. We need to rally enough votes to defeat this if and when it comes up. We’ll let people know when the vote is on the schedule. But in the meantime, we don’t want people to stop advocating.

What You Can Do Right Now

Missy: Senator Kaine was on the podcast and he said, “squeaky wheel, just keep calling.” Just keep calling — whether your representatives are for it or against it. What else besides calling your representatives can we do right now to help save the Boundary Waters?

Sam: You can call repeatedly — every day if you want, or at least every week. I would also say you can call different offices. So call the DC office, but most senators have three to six offices in different parts of their state. Those offices are staffed by people who then talk to the senator. So you can call and leave messages in the office that’s closest to where you live. And with your friends out of state — you may be comfortable calling your Congress people now, but a lot of people still find that intimidating. So really hold their hand. Give them the phone number. Maybe practice with them. Give them a little script. Assure them that it’s not going to be a test — the staff person who answers your call is not going to grill you. They’re going to record your opinion. You just say where you live and what you think.

Missy: And there’s the Five Calls app — it gives you a script, you put in your zip code and it pulls up all your representatives.

Sam: Yeah, we’re on there. And I do think — whether you’re a business and your business impacts or is impacted in different areas, you have value to those representatives too.

Sam: Otherwise, I would say just come visit the Boundary Waters and keep going to your favorite outdoor places and sharing it on social media. It doesn’t have to all be doom and gloom — parks and wild places unite people because so many people from different backgrounds and all politics actually love these places.

Missy: Absolutely. This is a great time of year to start planning a summer trip up to the Boundary Waters. Sam, thank you. I appreciate it. It’s a big fight. Hopefully we can move quickly to resolution and continue to enjoy the beautiful Boundary Waters.

Sam: Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks everybody for being part of protecting this place and we hope to see ya.

Missy: Make sure you call your representatives and help us protect our Boundary Waters. And until next time — we’ll see you in the parks.

Music for The Parks Podcast is performed and produced by Porter Hardy. Follow us @TheParksPodcast or visit TheParksPodcast.com.