Boundary Waters Stories Needed

[Maren]

Hello,

My name is Maren and I’m Gold Award winning Girl Scout and Lifetime Member from the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Additionally, my brother is a Scouts BSA Life Scout and my father is a long time BSA committee member, both are members of the OA. Growing up in a family that valued the lessons scouting had to teach opened up many opportunities for me, including my current position at the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. Respectfully, I wanted to ask if any folks from a variety of congressional districts would be willing to chat with me, and potentially, your congressional representative to share personal anecdotes about time spent in the BWCA. All this with the intention of preserving the integrity and the experiences that Northern Tier High Adventure Camp offers scouts for years to come.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about the organization feel free to visit https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/ or send me a message. I’m specifically looking for groups out of California, New Mexico, Virginia, Florida, New York and Massachusetts, but every story is important an I’d be glad to chat with anyone.

Best,

Maren V.

maren@campaigntosavetheboundarywaters.org

[RememberSchiff]

On behalf of the moderators of scouter.com, welcome.

[mrjohns2]

On 6/15/2021 at 11:45 AM, Maren said:

Gold Award winning Girl Scout

I assume you didn’t win it, but worked hard to achieve it!

Thanks for reaching out. Is there some current effort to specifically “hurt” the boundary waters?

[Maren]

Yes! Currently there are several toxic Copper Nickel Sulfide mines proposed at the edge of the Rainy Lake Watershed where the BWCA is located. Harmful chemicals (including sulfuric acid) from these mines will flow directly into the heart of the Boundary Waters. Even conservative models of pollution show that waterways would carry contaminants into the Wilderness. A single mine in this watershed will continually pollute the wilderness for at least 500 years. As you well know the BWCA provides formative experiences to people from all walks of life, and provides critical habitat to many endangered species. Overall its in the areas best interest both economically and ecologically that these mine don't move forward. If you have more questions i'd be happy to chat further but linked below is the site of the org I work for that contains many more specifics. 

https://www.savetheboundarywaters.org/the-threat