USFS Ranger Jon Benson to be awarded by BWCAW Trail Organization

Duluth, MN; October 11, 2023. The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (“BWAC”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been restoring, maintaining, and advocating for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trails for over two decades. In 2022 alone, BWAC volunteers collectively spent 9,475 hours performing volunteer service on trail, equivalent to over $300,000 in wilderness stewardship value to the public good. Much of this work is done thanks to a partnership with the United States Forest Service (USFS) – Superior National Forest. While BWAC is maintained by volunteers, an integral contact for the organization is the USFS assistant district ranger. 

Since 2008, Ranger Jon Benson has filled this role at the USFS Tofte Ranger District. With his partnership, guidance, and enthusiasm for maintaining the BWCAW, BWAC has contributed tens of thousands of hours of volunteer work towards maintaining BWCAW trails under Ranger Benson’s purview. This, in turn, furthers the public’s recreational enjoyment of the wilderness while also providing substantial cost savings to the public. As a thank you to Ranger Benson for his 15 years of partnership with the volunteer community, BWAC will be presenting Jon Benson with the first ever Mike Manlove Memorial Award. The award will be presented by Mike’s spouse, Rebecca Manlove. 

The award is named after Mike Manlove, a former USFS ranger who was a wonderful partner of BWCAW trail maintenance volunteer organizations in the 1990s and 2000s, prior to his passing in 2007. In his time with the USFS Mike provided constant devotion to and expertise for establishing wilderness trails in the BWCAW—assessing trail layouts, performing back-country rescues, and training trail volunteers. Mike readily partnered with trail clearing and maintaining volunteer organizations to lessen the burden on taxpayers. It is in this spirit of partnership and enthusiasm that Jon Benson was selected for the Mike Manlove Memorial Award. 

Please join BWAC in honoring Jon Benson with this first ever Mike Manlove Memorial Award on Monday, October 23, 2023, at 3:30 p.m., at the USFS Duluth office, 8901 Grand Ave Pl, Duluth, MN 55808. 

Contact: Martin Kubik, Founder, BWAC

 phone 651-214-5849

email martin.kubik@boundarywaterstrail.org

Press Release: Duluth Chapter Events

BWAC News Release 2023

For Immediate Release:

March 21, 2023

Trail clearing workshops to learn about Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness hiking trail work with an opportunity to volunteer on a trip to Eagle Mountain this spring.

Open to the public:

What: Our BWCA Hiking and Backpacking Trails (and what’s in my pack?)

When:  Wednesday, April 5,  6-7:30 pm

Place:   Frost River, 1910 W. Superior St. Duluth

What: Volunteer wilderness trail safety and standards training

When:  Thursday April 20, 6-7:30 pm
Place:   Frost River, 1910 W. Superior St. Duluth
——After Training——
Saturday May 6 all day:  Eagle Mountain Trail clearing day trip with BWAC and Frost River

Exciting Spring news from the Duluth chapter of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee.
Thanks to successful work,  BWAC was recently given a new opportunity - the responsibility to maintain the Eagle Mountain Trail in Northeast Minnesota. The group is asking you to join them on the trail.

BWAC has been working in the BWCA for the last twenty years to reopen the heavily damaged Powwow Trail. That trail had been ravaged by the Pagami Creek wildfire in 2011. Since that time, BWAC volunteers have been hiking deep into the wilderness to clean up literally thousands of charred deadfalls that blocked the 30 mile hiking trail each spring after winter storms, using only hand saws.

New this year the U.S. Forest Service has expanded the BWA Committee’s charter to do more trail work in the wilderness, the Eagle Mountain and Sioux Hustler trails.

Eagle Mountain is the most visited trail in the Boundary Waters, so it is a privilege that the Forest Service expanded BWAC’s operating area to include Eagle Mountain.

The summit is the highest point in Minnesota and remained unknown until the 1960’s when the peak was discovered as the state’s tallest at 2,301 feet above sea level and only 15 miles from Minnesota’s lowest elevation, Lake Superior at 600 feet.

“Martin Kubik will share photos, maps, stories and more about the Kekekabic, Powwow, Sioux Hustler and Eagle Mountain/Brule Lake trails.”

The April 5 presentation will  also include a hiking Mini Workshop: Tiffanie Ellis will show "What's in My Pack", gear and clothing items for a safe day trip in the Boundary Waters wilderness.”

Reporters will like the visual of Tiffanie’s pack.

Presenters Bios:

Martin Kubik is the founder of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) and the Kekekabic Trail Club. He is a lifelong advocate for the BWCAW hiking trails and recipient of several environmental awards. Retired after a 39 year career at 3M Co., Martin enjoys hiking, outdoor adventures and sewing camping gear.

Tiffanie Ellis, is a middle school teacher in Duluth and member of the Duluth Chapter of the BWA Committee. She is an avid BWCAW backpacker and volunteer maintenance crew leader for the BWA Committee.

Rob Bowe has been an avid outdoorsman for several years, exploring the Adirondacks, and Algonquin mountains to desert canyons in Colorado, and now the Boundary Waters and Quetico. He is retired from a 33 year IT career, and teaches Yoga when he's not helping out BWAC.

BWAC - The Boundary Advisory Committee is a nonprofit 501(c)3 volunteer organization with active chapters in Duluth and the Twin Cities.  It was founded in 2001 by Martin Kubik who also started the Kekekabic Trail Club.  The BWA Committee works under volunteer service agreement with the USDA Forest Service. In 2022 BWAC volunteers contributed more than 9,000 hours worth more than quarter million dollars to maintain the Powwow Trail in the Superior National Forest.

Details on all these events can be found at:
Duluth Chapter of BWAC (Duluth, MN) | Meetup

https://www.meetup.com/Duluth-Chapter-of-BWAC/


For more information:

Press contact: Martin Kubik

Email:  martin.kubik@boundarywaterstrails.org

Cell:  651-214-5849 c 

Events contact:  

Email:  duluthchapter@boundarywaterstrails.org

US Forest Service and BWA Committee Celebrate 10 Years of BWCAW Powwow Trail Restoration on October 30

For Immediate Release:

US Forest Service and BWA Committee Celebrate 10 Years of BWCAW Powwow Trail Restoration on October 30

Event Date: Saturday, October 30

Time: 1 PM – 2:30 PM

Location: Powwow Trail trailhead at Forest Center, near Isabella, Minnesota

Please RSVP Today at https://www.meetup.com/Friends-of-BWCA-Trails/events/281073808/

October 18, 2021. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) in collaboration with the US Forest Service invites all outdoor enthusiasts to celebrate 10 year anniversary of the Pagami Creek Fire and the multi- year effort by volunteers to restore the Powwow Trail.

After the Pagami Creek Fire obliterated more the 95% of the 30-mile-long Powwow Trail, the Forest Service cleared the trail, but ceased the maintenance in 2016 citing prohibitive cost. That’s when the BWA Committee offered to step in and help ever since. Volunteers saw the Powwow Trail as historically unique because it combines old logging roads joined by a connecting link to make it a loop trail. Powwow Trail is a legacy trail because it was built in the aftermath of the BWCA Wilderness Act of 1978.

After the fire, several thousands of dead trees fell across the trail. At the same time, millions of post fire jack pines choked the path rendering the path increasingly impassable. Hikers in 2014 reported either turning back or spending one hour to bypass tangle of treefalls that stretched only 50 yards in the path. Clearing of the trail called for an approval by the US Forest Service and for an unprecedented organizing effort that stretched over several years. BWA Committee contacted the office of the Representative Rick Nolan, and the Forest Service approved clearing a six-mile segment to Pose Lake. After two seasons Forest Service gradually approved further re-clearing of the trail and BWA Committee responded by organizing 150 crews that cut more than 20,000 dead falls and as many new jack pines in past three years.

The miracle on the Powwow Trail is truly remarkable considering that after the fire there were sceptics who doubted that anyone could accomplish the herculean task. This year the US Forest Service renewed efforts to restore several campsites along the trail and recently replaced aging kiosk at the trailhead. Another collaboration project involving the BWA Committee and the Forest Service was replacing the decaying bridge at Diana Lake. The new bridge was built from locally sourced tamarack trees that are naturally rot resistant and is expected to last for several decades before it will need to be replaced again.

Speaking at the event will be John Benson, USFS recreation planner, Martin Kubik, founder of the BWA Committee and of the Kekekabic Trail Club, Susan Pollock, BWAC president, BJ Kohlstedt, Pagami Creek fire coordinator. Shannon Rische, Superior National Forest Deputy Forest Supervisor and other USFS officials will be attending. A cake and hot beverages will be served at the event.

BWA Committee is a volunteer run nonprofit dedicated to preserving the existing, historic, and naturally beautiful trails of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of the Superior National Forest.

For more information, contact Martin Kubik, martin.kubik@boundarywaterstrails or on 651-214-5849 c.

Volunteer Group to clear on the BWCAW Powwow Trail Again This Spring

Volunteer Group to clear on the BWCAW Powwow Trail Again This Spring

Minneapolis, MN. Minneapolis-based nonprofit, the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (“BWAC”), plans to send ten crews to maintain the legacy Powwow Trail in May this year, the ten-year anniversary of the Pagami Creek Fire. This year BWAC recruited more than 55 volunteers for trips in May.

Recruiting during the COVID19 pandemic represented a challenge to BWAC as traditional avenues of recruitment (i.e., presentations at outdoor retailers or colleges) were not possible. The club retooled its recruitment strategy to increase its presence on social media and the change paid off. Although the pandemic shows signs of abatement, BWAC will still limit crews to six people rather than nine as in the past for spring trips.

Susan Pollock, BWAC President, stated: "Joining a trail clearing crew is experiencing the magic of a wilderness trail in a special way, by being part of something bigger than yourself. BWAC is living its mission is to preserve and educate the public about historic trails in Minnesota’s BWCAW. “At the end of the 2020 hiking season, a survey crew counted fewer than 500 treefalls. This is a is markedly lower number as compared to several years ago when thousands of treefalls blocked the trail, making it extremely challenging for even the most expert and fit hikers.

This year, the U.S. Forest Service has tentatively agreed to restore several fire-destroyed campsites so that backpackers have access to water and latrines when they camp. Last year a BWAC volunteer crew, with the help of the U.S. Forest Service, replaced a decaying 22 foot-long log bridge at Lake Diana creek with locally sourced tamarack logs. Because tamarack is naturally rot-resistant, the bridge is expected to last for several decades.

Backpackers should now have a much easier time both navigating and camping along the Powwow Trail. To assist, BWAC has a free on-line guide to the trail on the website www.BoundaryWatersTrails.orgBWAC is a non-professional non-profit founded in 2002. Its mission is to preserve the existing historic and intrinsically beautiful trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest. BWAC has chapters in the Twin Cities and in Duluth, Minnesota. BWAC volunteers work with the U.S. Forest Service under Volunteer Service Agreement.

For more information contact:

Martin Kubik, Founder

Volunteer Group Declares BWCAW Powwow Trail Rescued; More Work Ahead.

Minneapolis, MN. Minneapolis based non-profit, the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWAC), had to table plans to put more than eighty volunteers to work on the Powwow Trail in the Boundary Waters this past May. Instead, two small crews ventured on the Powwow over Memorial Day weekend, concerned that winter had left a slew of tree falls blocking the trail again since the destruction of the Pagami Creek Fire in 2011.

“We were pleasantly surprised after tallying tree falls along the 30 miles long wilderness trail,” said Susan Pollock, BWAC’s new president. “We counted only 1,300 tree falls across the trail, and even more rewarding for our volunteers, we met three groups of backpackers along the way. We expected to find double that number of tree falls. Meeting backpackers on the trail interior--unheard of in the past five years--is a testimonial to BWAC work crews finding and clearing the impassable path over many seasons.”

BWAC has organized volunteers in both the Twin Cities and in Duluth for the past several years to rescue the Powwow. The effort is paying off. Organizers believe that they have turned the corner: the trail is now more welcoming as maintenance becomes increasingly manageable. In 2019 alone, BWAC recruited more than 180 volunteers to clear the path of dead trees and new growth. The number of dead standing trees is dwindling, but there is still more work ahead. BWAC is now working to develop screening and social distancing protocols with a goal of calling on volunteers for late summer and fall work crews.

Now that the trail is passable, BWAC is working with the US Forest Service to rehabilitate several closed campsites. Fire grates from eight campsites have survived, but new latrines and removal of hazard trees for safe camping are needed. There are also plans to replace an aging log crossing at a Powwow Trail interior destination, Diana Lake.

Hot summer months are not the best time to backpack the Powwow, but there are still opportunities to venture on the trail from the parking area at Isabella Lake; or from the portage from Lake Three to Horseshoe Lake, where a wilderness hike will now bring you to breathtaking views at either Rock of Ages or North Wilder Lakes.

Fall will be an easier time to circumnavigate this challenging trail. Most backpackers will be able to complete the loop in three to five days on what is undoubtedly the toughest wilderness trail in BWCAW if not in the Midwest. To make that challenge easier, volunteer organizers are busy this summer writing and preparing a hiker’s guide to the Powwow Trail. It will be posted on the club website and available for free to the public. Treefall density maps and other trip planning tools will be posted on the BWAC website in July, at www.BoundaryWatersTrails.org.

BWA Committee is a non-professional non-profit founded in 2002. Its mission is to preserve the existing historic and intrinsically beautiful trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest.  BWAC volunteers maintain hiking trails in the Boundary Waters under Volunteer Service Agreement with the USDA Forest Service.

Volunteers Are Making Progress to Restore the Powwow Hiking Trail in BWCAW

While most people think of the Boundary Waters as a haven for canoeists, fewer are aware that BWCAW has more than 200 miles of backpacking trails.  One such trail is the 30 mile long Powwow Hiking Trail near Isabella. Although most of the trail burned down in the August 2011 Pagami Creek Fire, it is making a comeback thanks to volunteers working with the US Forest Service.

After the fire, the Powwow Trail was cleared by the Forest Service and the Minnesota Conservation Corps in 2012. Since then thousands of dead, charred trees fell over the path. In seven years, hundreds of young jack  pines have grown five to eight feet tall, obscuring rock cairns and making the Powwow Trail impassable by even expert hikers.

“Backpackers and hunters alike have prized the Powwow Trail for its solitude and number of campsites that can’t be reached by a canoe.  This year, on the 40th anniversary of the BWCA Wilderness Act of 1978, volunteers are working hard to make this legacy trail hikeable again for our and future generations,” said Martin Kubik, founder and president of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWA Committee).

Indeed, close to one hundred volunteers, including a crew sponsored by Frost River, Duluth,  have cleared more than two thirds of the 30 mile trail, removing several thousand treefalls with hand saws and loppers from the path.  The organization plans five more trips this fall and hopes to make a clean sweep through the entire trail. For more information contact Martin Kubik, 651-564-8279 or email to: wtrails2@yahoo.com

BWA Committee is a 501 c3 non profit organization with a mission “to preserve the existing, historic and intrinsically beautiful hiking trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest.” Its members volunteered on Kekekabic, Sioux Hustler, Brule Lake and Eagle Mtn. trails, and more recently on the Powwow Trail.

Martin Kubik, a long time BWCAW trails advocate, is a retired engineer from 3M, St. Paul.  He is a founder of the Kekekabic Trail Club, the 3M Outdoor Club, BWA Committee and recipient of several outdoor leadership and volunteering awards.  

BWAC Celebrates 15 Years of Hiking Trail Stewardship, Education and Advocacy

Minneapolis, Minnesota – Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWAC) 15th anniversary celebration kicks off with talk from noted author Stephen Wilbers. The event was well attended including representatives from allied hiking trails and clubs including the Kekekabic Trail Chapter of North County Trail, Border Route Trail Association, 3M Outdoor Club and Wilderness in the City. The event emphasized the value of wilderness spaces and the importance of preserving them. 

BWAC has spent the past 15 years protecting wilderness spaces by performing trail stewardship and advocacy. Since it’s inception in 2002, BWAC has organized more than 100 trail clearing trips involving over 500 volunteers to preserve wilderness trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Over it’s lifetime BWAC has maintained almost every major trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

BWAC was founded by Martin Kubik whose interest in wilderness trail stewardship dates back to the 1980’s when a retired outfitter, Bill Rom from Ely, posted an award of $500 to anyone who would clear the interior 20 miles of the 40 mile long abandoned Kekekabic Trail. The award went to the Kekekabic Trail Club, led by Martin Kubik, after he organized more than 100 volunteers to clear over 3000 tree falls and reopen the Kekekabic Trail. At the BWAC 15th anniversary event, Kubik along with other BWAC board members, honored Bill Rom by contributing $2000 to save another trail, the Pow Wow Trail, which burned and became impassible after the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire.

To support the trail and protect wilderness spaces the “Partnership to Reopen the Pow Wow Trail” was announced during the event. This partnership is a consortium of volunteer organizations, outdoor businesses and corporations that support reopening the Pow Wow Trail to make it passable once again. 

“Returning the Powwow trail in the Boundary Waters to a safe and navigable path for future generations is an ambitious but doable task. Our all-volunteer nonprofit invites everyone, from college clubs to outfitters to businesses and others, to join our Partnership to Reopen the Powwow Trail. More volunteers, more feet on the tread, and more people learning about this trail's place in history creates a more valuable hiking experience.” - Susan Pollock, Vice President, Boundary Waters Advisory Committee.

About Boundary Waters Advisory Committee
Founded in 2002, The Boundary Water Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the backpacking and hiking trails of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest. BWA Committee helps hikers to explore and develop a deep appreciation of the natural world. More information is available online at http://www.meetup.com/Friends-of-BWCA-Trails/ or by contacting Martin Kubik at wtrails2@yahoo.com

With more than 800 members in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the BWA Committee offers low cost wilderness backpacking trips with emphasis on safety, Leave No Trace philosophy and deep appreciation of nature.

Volunteers Clear Hiking Trail in Boundary Waters in Time for National Trails Day

Minneapolis, Minnesota – At their own expense, spending personal vacation days and driving over 400 miles round trip, three crews of nine people each, spent several days in the BWCA clearing the Pow Wow Trail in May to open the trail for the AHS National Trails Day. Trail stewardship volunteers performed the difficult work of removing the hundreds of trees that fall across the trail each year using only hand tools, large pruning shears and hand saws. The work was made tougher due to the large number of tree falls from the Pagami creek fire which occurred six years ago.

“The forest will come back without the help of volunteers. But not the trail. In fact, the trail will be consumed by the new forest and lost forever if not for your efforts.” Dan Handke, BWAC Crew Leader 

The BWAC trail clean up crews completed clearing the USFS approved "Section 1" of the Pow Wow Trail. BWAC is steadily progressing towards its goal to clear the entire Pow Wow next year on the 40th anniversary of the BWCA Wilderness Act of 1978.

The Pow Wow Trail was adopted by Fournier Outdoor Services in February 2016. Trail clearing is also made possible by our sponsors. BWAC appreciates the sponsorship of Buck's Hardware and Lake Superior Trading Post in Grand Marais and that of Kawishiwi Lodge at Ely.  Thanks also goes to 3M, Thrivent Financial, Best Buy, and outdoor industry sponsors Midwest Mountaineering, Marmot, Outdoor Research, Smartwool, Cascade Designs, Steripen and Katadyn. 

During this National Trails Day, remember the hard work of the dedicated volunteers working to keep these trails open to all.

About Boundary Waters Advisory Committee
Founded in 2002, The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the backpacking and hiking trails of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest. BWA Committee helps hikers to explore and develop a deep appreciation of the natural world. More information is available online at http://www.meetup.com/Friends-of-BWCA-Trails/ or by contacting Martin Kubik at wtrails2@yahoo.com

With more than 700 members in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the BWA Committee offers low cost wilderness backpacking trips with emphasis on safety, Leave No Trace philosophy and deep appreciation of nature.

BWCA Wilderness Backpackers Hold "Kickoff" Workshop at Lebanon Hills Regional Park

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Close to fifty backpackers and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) enthusiasts spent an afternoon together last weekend at the beautiful Camp Sacajawea Retreat Center, tucked into the trails and woods of Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Veteran trail advocates captivated the audience with presentations on the North Country Trail, the Kekekabic Trail, the Border Route Trail, the Powwow Trail, and an educational slide show, “What Happens on a Trail Clearing Trip.” Listeners learned about trail conditions, plans for volunteer clearing trips, and were encouraged to get out and hike some of the over 200 miles of BWCAW trails. The event was sponsored by the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWAC), a non-profit all-volunteer organization established in 2002 to promote BWCAW trails through advocacy, education of the public, and organizing trail clearing trips in Minnesota’s wilderness.

Matt Davis, Regional Trail Coordinator for the Minnesota and North Dakota Chapter of the North Country Trail Association, gave the keynote address. The North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) crosses seven states from North Dakota to New York. Minnesota includes long sections of the most premier wilderness hiking along the 4500 mile footpath: the Border Route Trail and the Kekekabic Trail. The Kekekabic trail was an abandoned fire-fighter footpath connecting the Gunflint Trail and Snowbank lake when visionary Martin Kubik, now BWAC President, organized volunteers to clear it 1990. It has been cleared by volunteers every year since then, and now, more than a quarter century later, is a foundation for routing the National Scenic NCT through the BWCAW.

Davis described how severe 2016 summer storms left some sections of long distance trails in the Boundary Waters impassable. The U.S. Forest Service is taking steps to clear a number of stricken trails in 2017 with crews from other states, and volunteers from the NCT’s Kekekabic Trail and Border Route Trail Associations and the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee, in collaboration with the Forest Service, are organizing volunteers now for spring trips to clear the damaged trails.

"It was fantastic to see so much interest in the hiking trails of the Boundary Waters from a diverse group,” Davis enthused after the kickoff event.  “Many BWCAW trails desperately need more 'boots on the ground' and the Kekekabic and Border Route Trails need more trail clearing volunteers to help keep this vital unofficial link in the North Country National Scenic Trail open.  Hopefully Congress will do its job this year and pass the legislation that would officially take the NCT up the North Shore and through the Boundary Waters as they are very fitting locations for a National Scenic Trail. Thanks to the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee for pulling together such a great program."

Keeping the trails open can be challenging.  For example, the Powwow Trail has more than 6,000 tree falls on the thirty mile trail, an undesirable legacy of the Pagami Creek Fire of 2011.  “That’s equivalent to twenty to forty times an average annual treefall rate as a result of the fire. We can recruit volunteers, but what we really need is to train more crew leaders. Crew leaders need wilderness, safety and people skills to do the job well,” says Kubik.  Kubik is encouraged by the recent passage of the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, HR 845. “There is terrific potential with the new law that should help address cooperation between the Forest Service and established volunteer groups,” said Kubik. 

Keeping the trails open can also be rewarding. The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee is excited to be introducing hikers to the unique Powwow Trail and the opportunity to experience the post-fire environment. “Each year since the fire, visits to the Powwow Trail reveal more and different healthy growth. Initially we saw fireweed and asters, then the jack pine, and in 2016 the feathery juvenile black spruce appeared. This chance to walk the tread and to watch the boreal forest regenerate is a gift,” said Rebecca Powell, BWAC member who was presented with the 2016 BWAC Volunteer of the Year at the Kickoff event. Rebecca should know: she has fifteen years’ experience with BWAC and wilderness trails and, she says, “the multitude of dedicated volunteers I continue to meet who work to preserve our BWCAW trails. Volunteering for a trail clearing crew is not a small commitment, but I have never met a crew member who didn’t enjoy their time on trail, and the satisfaction of restoring even a small section.”

About Boundary Waters Advisory Committee
Founded in 2002, The Boundary Water Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the backpacking and hiking trails of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest. BWA Committee helps hikers to explore and develop a deep appreciation of the natural world. More information is available online at http://www.meetup.com/Friends-of-BWCA-Trails/ or by contacting Martin Kubik at wtrails2@yahoo.com.

With more than 700 members in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the BWA Committee offers low cost wilderness backpacking trips with emphasis on safety, Leave No Trace philosophy and deep appreciation of nature.

BWAC Requests Formal Priority Area Designation for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Trail

Minneapolis, Minnesota – In response to new federal law H.R. 845, the National Forest Systems Trails Stewardship Act, The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee submitted a formal request to the Secretary of Agriculture asking that Boundary Waters Canoe

Area Wilderness trails and the Pow Wow Trail in particular, be designated as a priority area for maintenance. H.R. 845 directs the USDA to publish a strategy to significantly increase the role of volunteers and partners in trail maintenance and allows selection of specific areas to be designated as priority areas.

BWCAW trails and the Pow Wow Trail in particular meet all criteria for selection as a “priority area”. These criteria include areas where the lack of trail maintenance has reduced access to public land; led to an increase, or risk of increase, in harm to natural resources; jeopardized public safety; resulted in trails being impassible by the intended managed users; or increased future deferred trail maintenance costs.

The Pow Wow Trail was heavily damaged in the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire which burned 92,000 acres of land including the majority of the Pow Wow Trail. The fire left large quantities of burned and dead trees standing along the trail corridor that continue to fall and block the trail. Rapid regrowth of vegetation is now threatening to make the trail impassible to hikers. Clearing the young overgrowth now is needed to avoid a much larger task when the overgrowth matures.

“The Pow Wow Trail is an incredible hiking trail that combines historic origins that span a century – from the logging days to the BWAC Wilderness act that gave birth to this legacy trail. Few people know that BWCAW has more than 200 miles of hiking trails, and the Pow Wow Trail is prized by hikers for its solitude and campsites that are away from canoe routes. We are thankful for the many man hours of work on this trail by the Kekekabic Trail Chapter of the North Country Trail and the Fournier Outdoor Services. Their hard work is keeping this trail open to hikers.”

Designation as a priority area will allow local, federal and volunteer organizations to work together and provide resources to restore the Pow Wow Trail to a safe and passable condition so that it may once again attract trail users to visit this once beautiful and historic trail. “To date only one campsite has been restored five years after the fire.

There is much more work to be done to conserve this trail popular with hikers before the Pagami Creek Fire.” The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee stands ready to work with local and federal agencies to help restore this historic trail.

About Boundary Waters Advisory Committee

Founded in 2002, The Boundary Water Advisory Committee (BWA Committee) promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the backpacking and hiking trails of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest.

BWA Committee helps hikers to explore and develop a deep appreciation of the natural world. More information is available online at http://www.meetup.com/Friends-of-BWCA-Trails/ or by contacting Martin Kubik at wtrails2@yahoo.com

With more than 700 members in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the BWA Committee offers low cost wilderness backpacking trips with emphasis on safety, Leave No Trace philosophy and deep appreciation of nature.