Chronology of Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness within Minneosta's Superior National Forest

INFORMATION BRIEF

Minnesota House of Representatives

Research Department

600 State Office Building

St. Paul, MN 55155

John Helland, Legislative Analyst

651-296-5039 October 2004

Chronology of Historical Actions

for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

within Minnesota’s Superior National Forest

Over the course of the state’s history, the wilderness within the Boundary Waters

Canoe Area (BWCA) has grown with increased protection through the enactment

of laws and several court decisions. This has not happened without controversy

and continued concern over what duly constitutes wilderness within the BWCA.

The following summarizes the history of the major actions occurring in the

protection of the BWCA. Relevant Minnesota Statutes are excerpted on pages 4

and 5.

1857 Enabling act of U.S. Congress grants land to support schools (Sections 16 and 36)

and University of Minnesota

1858 State of Minnesota admitted to the union; it receives ownership of the beds of

navigable waters

1860-1870 Congress grants the state additional swamp and other lands—about five million

acres

1902 U.S. Land Office withdraws 500,000 acres in future BWCA wilderness from

settlement

1904 At request of State Forestry Board, Congress grants 20,000 acres to the state for

the Burntside Forest Reserve. “State Forest Reserves should be devoted not alone

to the business of raising timber, but to the pleasure of all the people.” (Minn.

Forestry Commissioners Report, p. 48, 1905)

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or the Minnesota State Relay Service at 1-800-627-3529 (TTY) for assistance. Many House Research

Department publications are also available on the Internet at: www.house.mn/hrd/hrd.htm.

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Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Page 2

1905-1908 General C. C. Andrews persuades the U.S. Land Office to withdraw 659,700

more acres in future BWCA wilderness from settlement

1909 Superior National Forest (SNF) created by President Theodore Roosevelt

(Proclamation No. 848) from previously withdrawn public domain lands,

including parts of the present BWCA wilderness

1909 Legislature creates a 1,200,000-acre statutory Superior Game Refuge, similar in

area to SNF, including most of the present BWCA wilderness. The refuge was an

attempt to protect and save the threatened moose and caribou population.

1922-1926 Development of roads in roadless SNF—Echo Trail, Fernberg Rd, Upper Gunflint

Trail

1926 Roadless wilderness area (640,000 acres) in the SNF established by U.S.

Agriculture Secretary W. M. Jardine in a policy to “retain as much as possible of

the land which has recreational opportunities of this nature as a wilderness”

1930 Congress passes the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act to protect water levels and

lakeshores by prohibiting dams and logging within 400 feet of recreational

waterways in then existing SNF

1933 State passes “Little Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act” for state lands similar to

federal statute

1927-1936 Boundary changes and purchases increase federal ownership in SNF to over two

million acres, which includes one million acres in the wilderness area

1938 U.S. Forest Service (USFS) establishes Superior Roadless Primitive Area with

boundaries similar to BWCA wilderness

1941 USFS establishes no-cut zone of 362,000 acres along the international boundary

1948 Congress passes Thye-Blatnik Act to buy resorts and private lands in the

wilderness. Also provides for in-lieu-of-tax payments to Cook, Lake, St. Louis

counties for federal wilderness land

1948 Forest Service changes boundaries of roadless area and deletes much land near

Lake Isabella (and Kawishiwi Lake) to accommodate logging needs and roads

1949 President Truman issues an executive order for an air-space reservation over the

BWCA wilderness, which prohibits planes landing on lakes and flights below

4,000 feet over the wilderness

1949 State passes legislation that regulates aircraft and watercraft similar to USFS

regulation

1958 USFS changes name of Superior Roadless Area to Boundary Waters Canoe Area

1962-1964 Controversy over logging, timber roads, motorboats, and snowmobiles in BWCA

increases

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Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Page 3

1964 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman appoints Selke Committee to

recommend changes in BWCA management

1964 Congress passes the Wilderness Act and the BWCA becomes part of the National

Wilderness Preservation System with a clause that allows some logging and use

of motors to continue

1965 Sec. Freeman issues management changes recommended by Selke Committee;

increases the no-logging zone, provides for motorboat zoning and limits some

snowmobiling (36 C.F.R. § 251.85)

1966 Travel permits for BWCA begun by USFS; controversy over proposed copper-

nickel mining

1971 Minnesota passes regulations (NR 1000) establishing state’s right to regulate use

of motorcraft on state waters, similar to the federal rules, and authorizes joint

cooperative agreements with USFS

1972 Lawsuit by Minnesota Public Interest Research Group to prohibit logging of

virgin forest in the wilderness until an Environmental Impact Statement is done

by the USFS

1973 Federal District Judge Phillip Neville rules to prohibit mining in the BWCA in a

lawsuit brought by the Izaak Walton League; reversed on appeal to 8

District

Court in 1974

1975 Federal District Judge Miles Lord bans logging of virgin forests; reversed on

appeal in 1976

1975 Congressman James Oberstar introduces bill to “resolve” BWCA issues by

creating a 600,000-acre wilderness (no logging or motors) and a 400,000-acre

recreation area (allowing motors). Removal of established wilderness for a

recreation area strongly opposed by environmental groups

1976 State passes legislation prohibiting mining and peat harvesting in the BWCA,

unless national emergency declared and prior legislative approval

1978 Congress enacts BWCA Wilderness Act, eliminating logging and snowmobiling,

restricting mining, and allowing motor boats on only a fourth of the water area.

Boundary adjustments of 50,000 added to BWCA wilderness; total wilderness

now 1,098,057 acres (formerly just over one million acres)

1979-1982 Challenge to the BWCA Wilderness Act (Public Law 95-495) by the State of

Minnesota and others upheld by 8

District Court; U.S. Supreme Court refused to

review this opinion in 1982

1980-1990 Congress appropriates $84 million for state and federal implementation of BWCA

Wilderness Act

1991-1993 Court decisions require motorized portages to be closed as stipulated by 1978 act

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Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Page 4

1992 State passes law governing maintenance of campsites on state land in the BWCA

wilderness

1993 BWCA wilderness Management Plan approved by SNF; appealed and upheld by

District Court

1996-1997 Federal mediation process over motor portages as sought by Sen. Wellstone; no

consensus

1998 Congress allows two motorized portages to continue through a rider on

transportation bill

1998 Recreational Fee Demonstration Program (user fee) starts; fees applied to BWCA

wilderness management

1999 BWCA wilderness reappraised under 1948 Thye-Blatnik Act; yearly payment to

counties now $2,115,000

1999 Huge blowdown of timber on July 4 affects 300,000 BWCA wilderness acres

with 32 percent of area extensively damaged

2003 Legislature designates 18,000 acres within BWCA as “wilderness” within the

statutory classification of the Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Area Act (Laws

2003, 1st spec. sess., ch. 13, § 1)

Source: Boundary Waters Wilderness Ecosystem, by Myron Heinselman, 1996, University of Minnesota Press and

information supplied by Janet Green, Duluth.

Minnesota Statutes Related to the BWCA Wilderness

1933 – “Little Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act” (Minn. Stat. §§ 103G.545, 92.45,

282.018)

“Dams and water level control in Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties”

(Minn. Stat. § 103G.545)

• “specific authority must be given by law … to control structures or water levels with

or bordering on the area of Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties designated in the Act

of Congress of July 10, 1930, United States Code, title 16, section 577” (Minn. Stat.

§ 103G.545, subd. 2)

“State land on meandered lakes withdrawn from sale” (Minn. Stat. § 92.45)

• “The commissioner must reserve the timber and impose other conditions the

commissioner deems necessary to protect watersheds, wildlife habitat, shorelines, and

scenic features. Within the area in Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties described in the

Act of Congress approved July 10, 1930… the timber on state lands is subject to

restrictions like those now imposed by the act on federal lands.”

“Land by public waters, nonforested marginal land, wetlands” (Minn. Stat. § 282.018)

• “All land which is the property of the state as a result of forfeiture to the state for

nonpayment of taxes… within the area in Cook, Lake, and St. Louis counties

described in the Act of Congress approved July 10, 1930 (46 Stat. 1020), the timber

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Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Page 5

on tax-forfeited lands shall be subject to like restrictions as are now imposed by that

act on federal lands”

1949 – Regulation of aircraft and motorboats in the “Wilderness area” (Minn.

Stat. §§ 84.43 and 84.44)

“Wilderness area” shall mean any of the following areas or parts thereof:

• (1) all those portions of the Superior National Forest described in section 2 of Public

Law Number 733, 80

Congress, approved June 22, 1948, and all public waters

included therein or bordering thereon except the following: Crane Lake, Moose Lake,

Snow Bank Lake, Sawbill Lake, Brule Lake, Big Lake Saganaga Lake, Seagull Lake,

Clearwater Lake, East Bearskin Lake [emphasis added]

• (2) such other areas as may be designated by the commissioner of natural resources…

within the present boundaries of the Superior National Forest and the Kabetogama and

Pigeon River purchase units”

“Declaration of policy” (Minn. Stat. § 84.44)

• “It is hereby declared that regulation and control of the operation of aircraft and

watercraft upon or over any wilderness area and public waters therein is necessary for

the protection and promotion of public health, safety and welfare and other interest of

the public therein for the protection and conservation of natural wilderness conditions

and other natural resources therein for the public benefit”

1976 – Prohibition of mining and peat harvesting in the BWCA (Minn. Stat. §

84.523)

“Definition”

• For the purposes of this section, the term “boundary waters canoe area” means that

area of lands and waters included within the boundaries designated in federal

regulations REG U-3, Code of Federal Regulations, title 36, section 293.16, as

regulation provided on January 1, 1975.” (Subd. 1)

“Determination”

• In the event of a national emergency declared by Congress which requires, for the

protection of national interests, exploitation of natural resources of the type found in

the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the commissioner of natural resources shall

investigate and determine if there are reasonable alternative methods for providing the

needed resources. If the investigation shows there are reasonable alternatives to

exploitation of natural resources in the area, no permit for development shall be

issued. If the commissioner of natural resources determines there is a need to provide

resources from within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and that there is no

reasonable alternative available to meet the need, a permit may be issued upon

approval by the state legislature. (subd. 5)

For more information about the state’s natural resources, visit the environment and natural

resources area of our web site, www.house.mn/hrd/issinfo/environ.htm.