WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has lifted a federal ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, clearing the way for a South American company eyeing the region’s precious metals to begin applying for permits. Environmentalists fear the move will create a precedent for wiping out other protections for public lands across the country. Twin Metals Minnesota…
RED LAKE, Minn. (KVRR) — Red Lake Nation has issued a statement opposing recent federal action to overturn long-standing protections for the Boundary Waters watershed. Last week, the U.S. Senate voted 50-49 to pass a bill to allow mining in the watershed. Red Lake Nation says sulfide-ore copper mining poses a well-documented risk of permanent water contamination. They say any…
Sen. Tina Smith D-Minn., speaks about the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (Senate television via AP)WASHNGTON (AP) – Congressional Republicans have sent President Donald Trump a resolution that would lift a federal ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, hoping to clear the…
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith is holding the floor of the Senate in opposition to legislation that would allow copper-nickel mining in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Smith says that would be devastating to the pristine wilderness area. Her office says a recent poll showed that 70% of Minnesotans agreed that protecting the…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Senate discussed SF 3880, a resolution urging the federal government to not pass the Border Lands Conservation Act. The act would allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to inventory roads within federally-owned land near the U.S. border, and to create more roads as needed to “gain operational control of the southern border and…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans moved closer Wednesday to lifting a 20-year ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, pushing a resolution to end the moratorium through the House despite environmentalists’ warnings that it could devastate a premier destination for campers, kayakers and canoeists. The resolution now goes to the Senate, and approval there would send it…
U.S. Forest Service says about 30 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are currently burning. The Minnesota Interagency Incident Command Team B has been requested to coordinate the extended response to the Spice Lake fire. That’s in the Gunflint Ranger District of the Superior National Forest. The fire is being monitored and at the moment it’s still small,…
FINLAND, Minn. – The U.S. Forest Service has closed a popular recreational wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota as the state’s largest active wildfire threatens the 1-million-acre property. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness stopped issuing entry permits Saturday, but it was not known if campers already in the expansive wilderness area would be evacuated. The Greenwood fire in the forest…
ELY, Minn. — Superior National Forest officials are expanding their closure order for the popular Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness north of Ely, Minnesota because of the threat of wildfires burning across the Canadian border. The newly expanded order, which took effect Sunday, includes 12 more BWCA entry points in addition to the areas around Crooked and Iron lakes that…
