Community Stories: Will Lyman
Since 2014, I’ve visited the Boundary Waters annually. The most impactful experience I’ve had in the BWCA was a two-week trip I took in 2015. I spent those two weeks with total strangers, paddling and portaging from lake to lake. During each nighttime talk and every mid-day lunch stop, I fell in love with the way the undisturbed waters can humble you and can bring you closer to those around you, including yourself. I came back from the trip feeling extremely nostalgic, empowered and complete with a need to return to the waters.
Each year my passion for the natural landscape of the Boundary Waters grew. I learned that in 2014, the same year I started going to the BWCA, a Chilean mining company began efforts to build sulfide-ore copper mines on the edge of the Boundary Waters. These mines have a history of polluting surrounding waterways and the Superior National Forest holds 20 percent of the National Forest system's fresh water. Polluting what one of the natural treasures of Minnesota would devastate the water that people come from across the country to see. These people hire outfitters and rent canoes from Ely-based camps and business. I went to Ely and Grand Marais for the recreation and culture of the Boundary Waters, and I didn’t want to see this national treasure be polluted.
I found out about the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters just after I had returned from the area. I couldn’t stand to see something that I had come to love be polluted for the profits of a mining company. I and another 126,000 people made comments to the Forest Service during an ongoing two-year study to learn about the potential risks of a sulfide-ore copper mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters, telling them why I want to see the Boundary Waters protected. The Forest Service and our elected officials want to know what we think of this, and now is the time to speak up for this quiet place.
Sign the petition to Save the Boundary Waters here, and the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters will tell your elected officials that we all want to see the Boundary Waters protected from mining on the Wilderness edge. I want to be able to keep going to a place that so many Minnesotans love, use and need to keep protected for the next generation of Americans, so let your elected officials know today.
Please join us at Dunn Brothers this Sunday, 12/10, at noon for a discussion about permanent protection for the Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore copper mining.
Will Lyman is a junior at the Blake School and a Wilderness Warrior with the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. Interested in volunteering on a regular basis?
