Hunting

Congress has an opportunity to reauthorize a program that has provided billions of dollars to conservation projects for over 50 years, all at no expense to the taxpayer. Set up to improve access to the outdoors, as well as conserve fish and wildlife habitat, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has dedicated almost $4 billion to a mix of state and federal programs.

Nearly 30 years later, on Feb. 15, 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt decided that some of the wild forests, wetlands and waterways in northeastern Minnesota should be added to America’s protected public lands. He signed Presidential Proclamation No. 848 establishing the 3.9 million-acre Superior National Forest. Today the heart of the national forest is the 1.1 million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), one of the world’s 50 greatest destinations according to National Geographic.

In the waning months of the Obama administration, a Chilean conglomerate was losing a fight with the United States government over a copper mine that it wanted to build near a pristine wilderness area in Minnesota. The election of President Trump, with his business-friendly bent, turned out to be a game-changer for the project.

Host of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers' Hal Herring talks with Mark Norquist of Modern Carnivore and Chef Lukas Leaf, both are BHA Minnesota Board Members and long time advocates of Boundary Waters protection with Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters.