USFS Ranger Jon Benson to be awarded by BWCAW Trail Organization
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.
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
Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition Recap
Our organization is built on volunteer work, and every year we spend a night recognizing all who make our work in advocacy and maintenance of BWCA’s wilderness trails possible. We had a great turnout for our Annual Meeting/Volunteer Recognition Dinner last Thursday evening! Our 2022 numbers were impressive: 18 clearing trips, 118 volunteers, and 9,475 service hours!
Our organization is built on volunteer work, and every year we spend a night recognizing all who make our work in advocacy and maintenance of BWCA’s wilderness trails possible. We had a great turnout for our Annual Meeting/Volunteer Recognition Dinner last Thursday evening! Our 2022 numbers were impressive: 18 clearing trips, 118 volunteers, and 9,475 service hours!
We attended to some business, including Board of Director elections, naming of our 2022 Volunteer of the Year, and a review of our clearing trips to include a fun fact from each crew.
We took in a wealth of information from Dr. Lee Frelich on all things forest and fire ecology, we heard from one of our enthusiastic volunteers about how much fun they’ve had on our trips, and we even had time after all that for door prize drawings.
Talk about an efficient group! Follow us on MeetUp as we are gearing up to announce spring clearing trip registrations in the coming weeks! https://meetu.ps/c/9wHl/KlTYv/a
BWAC Annual Meeting and Spring Trips
The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee is pleased to invite you to our Annual Meeting, being held this Wednesday, February 10, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Good news: the virtual format allows trail advocates near and far to attend, no matter how below zero the temperature is or how much ice and sleet hazards the roads.
Greetings BWAC Volunteers and Friends,
The Annual Meeting is just around the corner!
The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee is pleased to invite you to our Annual Meeting, being held this Wednesday, February 10, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Good news: the virtual format allows trail advocates near and far to attend, no matter how below zero the temperature is or how much ice and sleet hazards the roads. Link to the virtual meeting.
Two hundred recent trail volunteers and allies received a postcard invitation to the Annual Meeting a few weeks ago. Your postcard is your chance to win one of ten fabulous sponsor-donated door prizes. To claim a prize on Wednesday, look for the discrete raffle ticket number printed on your mailing label. (Sample postcard attached.)
All friends of BWAC are welcome to join the meeting, whether you received a postcard or not.
Presentations include year-in-review reports on advocacy, club finances, and trail accomplishments. Crew Leader John Mattson will give us a glimpse of spring 2021 plans. Keynote speakers are club founder and immediate past president, Martin Kubik; and Superior National Forest Wilderness Ranger Carl Skustad speaking on “The Importance of Partnerships in the US Forest Service.” Rounding out the program will be special guests Nirmal Jain and Rebecca Powell, two of BWAC’s founding board members, highlighting BWAC’s 2002 origins and accomplishments.
We couldn’t accomplish the BWAC mission without our amazing sponsors. Sponsors provide us with discounted or free gear and services. They are trail advocates and like us, do what they can in the nooks and crannies of their personal and professional lives to support BWAC and the BWCAW. I encourage you to visit, and to purchase goods and services, from BWAC’s generous sponsors for this event:
Piragis Northwoods Company (Ely, MN)
Kollath Graphic Design (Duluth, MN)
Trailtopia™ Adventure Food
Lake Superior Trading Post (Grand Marais, MN)
Other BWAC News
Visit the BWAC Meetup site for an overview of spring trips. Our crews will be limited to six members this spring to accommodate social distancing and to stay flexible. Be sure to read trip descriptions and contact the crew leader to discuss if the trip is a good match. Hop on the waitlist if your desired trip is full. If you want to help out, BWAC will do everything we can to make a trip happen for you.
As always, call or email me with any concerns, wild and crazy ideas, to say hello or to introduce yourself. If I don’t “see you” this Wednesday, I hope to catch you at a local hike or on trail in 2021.
Sincerely,
Susan Pollock
President
and the BWAC Leadership Team
The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee