Today is Give to the Max Day, Minnesota's biggest day of giving. Last year, hundreds of you showed support for the protection of the Boundary Waters on Give to the Max Day and we're so grateful. Please give again today and support our efforts to protect this beloved Wilderness for future generations. Give to the Max Day offers an exciting opportunity for those far and wide to give to support the Campaign. Here are stories from longtime supporters to help inspire you.
Walter Mondale
Vice President, 1977-1981
We’ve been fighting to protect the Boundary Waters for nearly a century. Today’s threat dwarfs them all. Sulfide-ore mining has never — never — been undertaken without serious environmental consequences. Sulfide-ore mining is dangerous everywhere and most dangerous in wet environments. And the Boundary Waters is nothing if not wet.
The consequences of such mining are perpetual. They will surely outlive all of us and will just as surely outlive the mining company’s pledges, promises and sureties. We must do what Minnesotans before us have done: defend the wilderness. I hope you’ll join me in this fight by making a donation to help ensure that the Boundary Waters Wilderness remains the place it is today.
Mining could cost us the soul of this splendid place that we have thought well-protected. Let’s not let that happen.
Joseph Goldstein
Youth Supporter
My name is Joseph Goldstein and I'm 15 years old. Two years ago I was diagnosed with what’s officially known as “High Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.” That is doctor-talk for, “Wow, bad luck, mate. This is gonna stink.” I’d tell you about the experience, but most people aren’t terribly interested in the particulars of hair loss and vomit. The important detail is that I’m still here, and I’ve made it my mission to help save the Boundary Waters!
There’s an obvious metaphor here: the toxic runoff from sulfide-ore copper mining on the borders of the Boundary Waters is a cancer that will kill our Wilderness. Unlike my hair, once the Boundary Waters is gone, it will be gone for good. There will be NO recovery from the poison that will leach from the mines planned along the borders of our perfect waters.
We cannot allow this to happen. Not Here. Not Ever. And that’s why we need you to give what you can to protect this special place.
Becky Rom
National Campaign Chair
The Boundary Waters is my home. No matter where I have lived and traveled, I have always returned here. I grew up in Ely and took my first canoe trip at the age of two. I explored the Boundary Waters by canoe and by foot as much and as often as I could as a child.
If we allow sulfide-ore copper mines to be built on the edge of this canoe country, it will never recover. The cleanest water in the world would be polluted. Woods and wetlands would be destroyed. Wildlife and fish would suffer. My home would no longer be a place for families to enjoy.
Because of everything you’ve helped us accomplish, we’re hopeful that the US Department of the Interior Forest Service will deny the leases Twin Metals’ leases needs to mine on the edge of the Wilderness. We will continue to advocate for the removal of the lands in the watershed of the Boundary Waters from the federal mining program. The edge of the Boundary Waters is simply the wrong place for an industrial mining district. But unfortunately, that is only a temporary solution. We will be working harder than ever before in the coming years to win permanent protection for this incredible Wilderness.
Steve Piragis
Piragis Northwoods Company
Soon after coming to Ely, Nancy and I fell in love with Ely, its people and especially the surrounding wilderness. We’ve now been residents for 40 years. We started our retail business and canoe outfitting company, Piragis Northwoods Company, in 1979 on the main street of Ely.
The threat that sulfide-ore mining represents hits me and our business at the core of our existence. Hundreds of paddlers pass through our doors each summer, telling us how important this pure wilderness is to their lives and their psyches. The Ely Chamber of Commerce advertises Ely as “the last pure experience.”
When I heard that the Boundary Waters was threatened by sulfide-ore copper mining, I couldn't sit back.
Dave and Amy Freeman
Explorers and wilderness guides, Paddle to DC 2014 & Year in the Wilderness 2015-2016
During our 366 continuous days in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, we made huge progress towards protection of this incredible place. On day 167 in the Wilderness, Governor Dayton publicly announced his support of protecting the Boundary Waters. On day 210, Sally Jewell added her voice. And on day 265, the Forest Service announced they were “deeply concerned” about the threat of mining on the edge of the Wilderness.
Although our fight isn’t over, this is a lot to be proud of.
Please help save the Boundary Waters. Stand up for what is truly important. Our time here on earth is short and precious, but the decisions we make right now will have a ripple effect long into the future.
Paul and Sue Schurke
Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge & Wintergreen Northernwear
I have been fortunate to travel to some of the most remote and incredible places on the planet. I've completed six North Pole expeditions, and trekked across Alaska and Siberia. Yet I have found the same silence and immersion in nature right at home in the Boundary Waters that I have found in more remote places. Sigurd Olson made the same observation; this place is as beautiful and pristine as any place out there.
For 30 years, my wife Sue and I have owned and operated Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge. We offer guided dogsled vacations to more than 500 people each year. People come from all over the world to experience the Boundary Waters as a place "untrammeled by humans."
Our lodge is just five miles downstream from Twin Metals’ proposed mine sites. Mining threatens the wildness, serenity and pristine lakes and streams that are so unique to the Boundary Waters.
With every step and stroke into the Boundary Waters, visitors can experience the beauty and grandeur of this canoe country and the solitude and quiet that you can only truly find in wilderness.
Please help us protect this national treasure. Make a gift today.
Thank you to everyone who has given to support the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. Please consider giving today!
