Save the Boundary Waters!

My first real wilderness experience was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in 1994. My high school "Environmental Awareness" teacher, Mr. Sam Bailey, and Mr. Jim Hair, of John Marshall High School, took a group of about 60! high school seniors into the Boundary Waters to canoe, fish, hike, and celebrate our high school graduation in the right way - by connecting with nature. It was a life-changing experience that led me to the wilderness in the Southwestern United States where I met my husband, a Colorado native with Arizona roots. We took our first trip together into the Boundary Waters when my son, Logan, was six months old. My husband was hooked! Being from the Southwest, he was completely enamored with the watery wilderness! We decided to name our first daughter, Lily, after the water lilies that were flowering in magical abundance on the Kawishiwi River. Lily is now almost sixteen, and my son, Logan, spent a week last summer lobbying for the protection of the BWCAW in Washington D.C. with other teenagers from around the country. He spent the rest of the summer working three jobs to help pay for the trip!  Please consider what the Boundary Waters is worth to you and your family, and if you can, make a pledge today! If you have never been to the Boundary Waters, here are a few quick faces to give you an idea of why it is so important to preserve this wilderness area!

• More than 250,000 people visit the BWCAW each year.
• The Boundary Waters comprises over 1.1 MILLION acres of wilderness. It is the largest wilderness area east of the Rockies and north of the Everglades.
• Proposed sulfide mining would actually endanger three wilderness areas - The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Quetico Provincial Park, and Voyageurs National Park. These areas are critical habitat for lynx, wolf and moose among others.
• The 1964 Wilderness Act set aside the Boundary Waters, and in 1978 mining was banned in the BWCAW, but the southern border remains vulnerable and proposed mining on the border of the Boundary Waters could have disastrous effects. 

Please consider helping me in my efforts to Save the Boundary Waters today!