Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA or BWCAW, sometimes simply the bee-dub) is a 1.09 million acre (4400 km²) wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota (USA) and is under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service. The BWCA is renowned as a destination for both canoeing and fishing on its many lakes, and is the most visited wilderness in the United States.

Geography

The BWCA is located on the U.S.-Canadian border, and along with Voyageurs National Park to the west and the Canadian Quetico and La Verendrye Provincial Parks to the north, they make up a large area of contiguous wilderness lakes and forests called the "Quetico-Superior country", or simply the Boundary Waters. Lake Superior lies to the east of the Boundary Waters.

The continental divide between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay watersheds runs northeast-southwest through the east side of the BWCA, and was an important landmark for the fur-trading Voyageurs of the 18th and 19th centuries. The wilderness also includes the highest peak in Minnesota, Eagle Mountain (2,301 feet / 701 m).

The two main communities with visitor services near the BWCA are Ely and Grand Marais, Minnesota. The smaller town of Tofte is another gateway community. Several historic roads, such as the Gunflint Trail, the Echo Trail, and Fernberg Road allow access to the many wilderness entry points.

Recreation

The BWCA contains over a thousand lakes and attracts visitors with its reputation for canoeing, canoe touring, fishing, backpacking, dog sledding, and remote wilderness character. Permits^* are required for all overnight visits to the wilderness area. The BWCA is one of Minnesota's top tourist attractions, drawing visitors from all over the United States as well as abroad.

Canoeing

Although there are numerous campgrounds surrounding the wilderness, most campsites in the BWCA are accessible only by water. As of 1999, about 75% of the BWCA's water area was reserved for non-motorized boat travel. Most lakes and rivers are interconnected by portage trails, resulting in over 1000 miles (1,600 km) of canoe routes. Routes are easily chosen by selecting chains of lakes and portages of any length and difficulty. Some of the most popular entry points include Lake One, Trout Lake, Moose Lake, and Snowbank Lake near Ely, Saganaga Lake and Seagull Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail, and Sawbill Lake near Tofte.

Canoe campers usually use Duluth packs, designed for easy portaging and loading in canoes, to carry their gear.

Fishing

Fishing in the BWCA can be some of the best in Minnesota. Game species include northern pike, walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow perch, whitefish, and lake trout, among others. Popular lures include rapalas, jigs, and spoons, while live bait such as leeches are also used. When fishing in the BWCA, a multiple-sectioned or collapsable fishing rod is easiest to carry while portaging.

Hiking

In addition to shorter trails to Eagle Mountain, Magnetic Rock, and Angleworm Lake, the Boundary Waters has several long-distance trails. The Border Route Trail runs east-west for over 60 miles through the eastern BWCA, following the ridges between the long border lakes such as Loon, South, and Rose. Eventually, a connection is planned from the eastern end of the Border Route Trail to the northern end of the Superior Hiking Trail. The Kekekabic Trail traverses the Boundary Waters from the Gunflint Trail on the east to Snowbank Lake on the west, and is the only footpath through the center of the wilderness. These trails see a variable amount of maintenance; current conditions should be determined locally before using.

Natural history

The plants and animals of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area are representative of the boreal forest biome, and their ranges continue into southern Canada and the rest of the upper Great Lakes region.

Forest ecology

Trees found within the wilderness area include red pine, eastern white pine, jack pine, birch, balsam fir, white spruce, and white cedar. Blueberries are common in many parts of the BWCA, as are raspberries. Forest fires were a natural part of the Boundary Waters ecosystem before fire suppression efforts during the 20th century, with recurrance intervals of 30 - 300 years in most areas.

On July 4, 1999, a powerful wind storm, or derecho, swept across Minnesota and southern Canada, knocking down millions of trees and affecting about 370,000 acres (1,500 km²) within the BWCA. This event became known officially as the Boundary Waters-Canadian Derecho, commonly referred to as "the Boundary Waters blowdown". Although campsites and portages were quickly cleared after the storm, an increased risk of wildfire continues to remain a concern due to the large number of downed trees. The U.S. Forest Service has undertaken a schedule of prescribed burns to reduce the forest fuel load in the event of a wildfire.

The first major wildfire within the blowdown occurred in August 2005, burning approximately 1400 acres (5.7 km²) north of Seagull Lake in the northeastern BWCA. Lightning-ignited fire returned in July 2006 with a 3,000 acre (12.1 km²) fire currently burning southwest of Seagull Lake.

Wildlife

Animals native to the region include moose, beaver, bears, bobcats, bald eagles, peregrine falcons and loons. The Boundary Waters is within the range of the largest population of wolves in the continental United States, as well as an unknown number of Canada lynx. Woodland caribou once inhabited the region but have since disappeared due to loss of habitat and encroachment by deer.

Geology

The lakes of the BWCA were carved from Precambrian bedrock of the Canadian Shield by advances of ice sheets during a succession of ice ages during the past two million years. Many varieties of this ancient bedrock are exposed, including granite, basalt, greenstone, gneiss, as well as metamorphic rocks derived from Precambrian volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Greenstone located near Ely, Minnesota is up to 2.7 billion years old.

The size and shape of most lakes in the BWCA are dictated by the bedrock, due to the ability of glacial ice to erode softer and weaker rocks more easily, creating depressions later filled with water.

Human history

Native peoples

Within the BWCA are hundreds of prehistoric pictographs and petroglyphs on rock ledges and cliffs. The BWCA is part of the historic homeland of the Ojibwe people, who traveled the waterways in canoes made of birch bark. Grand Portage, just east of the BWCA, is home to a number of Ojibwe to this day.

The fur trade

In 1688, the French explorer Jacques de Noyon became the first European to travel through the Boundary Waters. Later during the 1730s, La Verendrye and others opened the region to trade, mainly in beaver pelts. By the end of the 18th century, the fur trade had been organized into groups of canoe-paddling Voyageurs working for the competing North West and Hudson's Bay Companies, with a North West Company fort located at Grand Portage on Lake Superior.

Development and protection

In the 1920s Edward Backus, a local industrialist, proposed building several dams in the region, which was successfully opposed by Ernest Oberholtzer. By 1926, the Superior Roadless Area had been designated by the U.S. Forest Service, offering some protection from mining, logging, and hydroelectric projects. The Wilderness Act of 1964 made the BWCA legal wilderness as a unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System, while the 1978 BWCA Act established the Boundary Waters regulations much as they are today with motors allowed only on a few large entry point lakes.

Several aspects of the management of the BWCA remain controversial today, including the use of motorboats, snowmobiles, motorized portages, permit availability and allocation, as well as suggestions to expand the wilderness area.

Notable people

Sigurd Olson, Minnesota author and conservationist, wrote extensively about the Boundary Waters and worked to ensure preservation of the wilderness. Dorothy Molter, known as the "Rootbeer Lady," lived alone in the BWCA for 56 years until her death in 1986.

References

[http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/lar/LAR04/ Land Areas Report, U.S. Forest Service, 2004
Heinselman, Miron. The Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem, University of Minnesota Press, 1996. ISBN 0816628041
Pauly, Daniel. Exploring the Boundary Waters: A Trip Planner and Guide to the BWCAW, University of Minnesota Press, 2005. ISBN 0816642168

External links

Superior National Forest: BWCAW
The BWCAWiki, a wiki compendium of BWCAW knowledge
Wilderness.net: BWCAW
Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness (political advocacy)
Conservationists with Common Sense (political advocacy)
the Boundary Waters Journal (magazine)
Canada lynx research at the University of Minnesota - Duluth

Geography of Minnesota | Parks in Minnesota | Wilderness Areas of Minnesota | Canoeing

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