{"id":2799,"date":"2020-03-24T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/habitat.fisheries.org\/?p=2799"},"modified":"2020-03-24T05:00:03","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:00:03","slug":"a-bill-for-boundaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/a-bill-for-boundaries\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bill For Boundaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Born and raised in the Great Lakes area, I have a poor grasp of how well people from other regions know the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of northern Minnesota, and how well they know of the management issues in the region. I like to think that most people are familiar with the BWCAW, especially those who work with fisheries or wildlife \u2013 after all, this is the nation\u2019s most visited wilderness area (https:\/\/sportsmenbwca.org\/the-boundary-waters\/<\/a>), and contains over 1 million acres of waterbodies and northern boreal forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the megafauna (gray wolves, moose, and black bears),\nthis area also contains one of the largest concentrations of native trout lakes\nin the contiguous United States. Lake trout and brook trout have sustained\nnatural populations here since the glacial retreat, and are close neighbors\nwith the warmwater species of walleye and northern pike. It\u2019s an area packed\nwith complex fish habitat, where deep and sprawling lakes may be joined by\nspiderwebbing, beaver-choked creeks. Over two thousand lakes are found here and\nrange from 10 to 10,000 acres in surface area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Smallmouth bass are one of the primary targeted sportfish in the BWCAW. Many anglers are surprised to learn that they are not native to the region. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is also an area rich in minerals; the Duluth Complex that lies underneath the region is thought to contain 4 billion tons of copper and nickel ore. Several international conglomerates (Twin Metals Minnesota, owned by Chilean-based Antofagasta; and PolyMet, owned by Switzerland-based Glencore) are pursuing major copper mining proposals in the region. PolyMet would be located within the greater Lake Superior watershed, while the Twin Metals mine would be within the greater Hudson Bay Watershed (the same watershed as the BWCAW). These are controversial projects with fierce advocates on both sides. Although iron mining has long been a staple of the northern Minnesota economy, copper sulfide mining is new to this area and presents unique challenges that include a high risk of mine tailings leakage and groundwater acidification. Resource extraction, fisheries, and tourism are all important economies with powerful lobbies; mining proposals quickly become politicized and progress erratically with changing administrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 14, 2020, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN)  and Francis Rooney (R-FL) introduced H.R. 5598\nto the House of Representatives: the \u201cBoundary Waters Wilderness Protection and\nPollution Prevention Act\u201d. This bill would prevent copper-sulfide mining in\nmuch of the Superior National Forest where the Twin Metals mine would be\nlocated. It has been co-sponsored by forty-one Democrats and two Republicans\nand, although marginally bipartisan, would ultimately require President Trump\u2019s\nsignature after his previous decision to cancel environmental reviews of the\nproject. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Moon sets over a lake in the wilderness area<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the question of mining within these watersheds is\nreflective of how Minnesotans and citizens of the United States prioritize\nincome for this region \u2013 will we continue to rely on consumptive resource\nextraction, or will we increasingly invest in an outdoor tourism-centric\neconomy? The stark differences in how these resources are used will not only\nhave consequences for the local inhabitants, but for the fisheries and wildlife\nof the region as well. In an age with increasing importance of electronics that\nrely on copper and semi-precious metals, the location of new mines will\ncontinue to be a pressing question in the outdoor and environmental fields. Although\nno mines operate in the BWCAW itself, iron mining in the area has become an\nentrenched part of the culture in northern Minnesota. Both sides of this debate\ncite jobs as a major decision-maker in the process; Twin Metals\u2019 website claims\nthat the mine project will bring \u201c700 direct full-time jobs and 1,400 spinoff\njobs to residents of Ely, Babbitt and the greater northeast Minnesota community\u201d\n(http:\/\/www.twin-metals.com\/about-the-project\/<\/a>),\nwhile opponents of the mine cite an estimated $100 million in annual revenue\nfrom tourism within the Boundary Waters area (http:\/\/www.nmworg.org\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Outdoor tourism to the BWCAW is primarily canoe-powered and is a significant economic factor to the region. Wildfire effects are visible upon trees in the background.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Conflict between resource use on public land is not a new battle, and the long-term future of these lands will be decided by what we prioritize and where we decide to pursue consumptive practices such as mining. There is also an important lesson here for fisheries managers and scientists: historic bastions of fish habitat will continue to face challenges if the incentive is high enough, even in areas with the highest degree of legal protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any opinions expressed in this article belong to the\nauthor and do not necessarily represent the American Fisheries Society. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos are the property of the author and may not be\nused or distributed without permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Born and raised in the Great Lakes area, I have a poor grasp of how well people from other regions know the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) of northern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[855,9],"tags":[169,220,436,508],"class_list":["post-2799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information","category-news","tag-boundary-waters","tag-conservation","tag-legislation","tag-mining"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.fisheries.org\/habitat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}